Ala In The House On Mango Street Analysis

RSE PARAGRAPH 2

There are a couple different stereotypes presented in this text. One of the more prominent stereotypes throughout the book is the reliance of women on men. In the vignette “Marin”, there is a young girl who is waiting to get married to her boyfriend in Puerto Rico. She thinks being young and beautiful will solve all her problems. In the last paragraph of the vignette, Esperanza says about Marin "Marin... Is waiting for a car to stop, a star to fall, someone to change her life." This shows both how Marin, by waiting for a man, is losing her already limited possibilities and, she is relying on a man in order to make her life better. The second stereotype I found within this text was also connected to gender roles. In Alicia

who Sees Mice, all Alicia wants to is get educated and avoid being a stereotype, but her father doubts her and says “Anyway, a woman's place is sleeping so she can wake up early with a tortilla star.” In this vignette, her father stereotypes her as a woman whose only job is to care after the men and take care of the children, so basically be a housewife. The third stereotype is about men. Something that I noticed throughout the book was almost all the men in the story are creepy and more or less “bad” men. Emphasizing this point, there is a quote that says: “But Sally doesn't tell about the time he hit her with his hands just like a dog, she said, like if I was an animal. He thinks I'm going to run away like his sisters who made the family ashamed. Just because I'm a daughter, and then she doesn't say.” While sometimes men can be not the greatest people, there is the stereotype within this book that shows that most to all men are bad.

RSE Paragraph 3

In the House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros writes in a very fluid and poetic manner.

For example, when esperanza wants to describe what it’s like having to tote around her annoying sister, she sums up her loneliness by saying "Until then I am a red balloon, a balloon tied to an anchor". By using such fluid and poetic writing, Sandra gives us a great mental image of how Esperanza is feeling. This helps us understand Esperanza more as a character and it once again sums up Esperanza’s feelings of loneliness. Sandra Cisneros writes in a very short and choppy way that makes reading her book very easy but still contains the same power in her sentences. For example, “There was a family. All were little. Their arms were little, and their hands were little, and their height was not tall, and their feet very small.” This quote is short and choppy, but still gets the point across. It helps us to understand what this family looks like and makes the sentences easy to read and understand. Also, Sandra’s writing style as in writing vignettes makes the book more powerful. The reader only knows certain points throughout the character life, and mostly those that change the character or effect them in some way. This makes it easier to see how the character changes throughout the book and which things affect the character the most. Esperanza's mom tells her to not "lay her [her neck] on the threshold waiting for the ball and chain" of marriage. This is a sample of a vignette and poses as a good example of a powerful sentence the author uses to give you a good mental

image.