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Character development introduction
Character development introduction
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n Chicago, Illinois, in the 1980’s, there is a 12 year old girl named Esperanza Cordero. She and her family have recently moved to a new house on Mango Street. Esperanza and her family were forced to move out after the water pipe in the apartment broke. The landlord of the apartment did not want to fix the water pipe. Esperanza does not like the new house; it is not big and fancy. All six of her family have have to share one bedroom. Mama and Papa said the house is temporary, but Esperanza does not believe her parents. Esperanza does not like her new house. She dreams to have a better life. Esperanza struggles to make new friends in her neighborhood. Esperanza and her siblings do not talk to each other outside of the house.
Boys and girls live in separate worlds. Esperanza hangs with her little sister Nenny, but is too young to be her friend. Esperanza does not have any friends close to her age and feels like a balloon tied to an anchor. Making friends is hard because her friends are too young or are older than her. Esperanza does not like her new house. She dreams to have a better life Esperanza’s name in Spanish means hope. She is named after her great-grandma. Esperanza says her great-grandma was strong and independent. She explains that after her great-grandma married her great-grandpa, she stayed at home and spent her whole life looking out the window. At school, her teacher and her classmates do not say her name right. She wished she could change her name to ZeZe the X. Esperanza does not like her new house. She dreams to have a better life. Esperanza meet one her neighbors, Cathy. Cathy is around the same age as Esperanza. She claims she is the great great grand cousin of the Queen of France and owns lots of cats. Cathy gossips about the neighbors that live in the neighborhood. She promises to be friends with Esperanza till next Tuesday because she and her family are moving out. She says the neighborhood is getting bad. Esperanza does not like her neighborhood. Esperanza does not like her new house. She dreams to have a better life.
I believe Esperanza thinks she is an ugly daughter because she is not like she is expected to be, and she does not want to be. Her hair is always messy and she always gets her clothes dirty. A quote from the book goes as follows: "Nenny says she won‘t wait her whole life for a husband to come and get her, that Minerva‘s sister left her mother‘s house by having a baby, but she doesn‘t want to go that way either. She wants things all her own, to pick and choose. Nenny has pretty eyes and it‘s easy to talk that way if you are pretty." I believe this quote supports the idea that Esperanza thinks she is not pretty. I think Esperanza believes that she is taking the most different route to independence, which is acting like a man. She says she leaves
Modern society believes in the difficult yet essential nature of coming of age. Adolescents must face difficult obstacles in life, whether it be familial, academic, or fiscal obstacles. In the House on Mango Street, Esperanza longs for a life where she will no longer be chained to Mango Street and aspires to escape. As Esperanza grows up on Mango Street, she witnesses the effect of poverty, violence, and loss of dreams on her friends and family, leading her to feel confused and broken, clinging to the dream of leaving Mango Street. Cisneros uses a reflective tone to argue that a change in one’s identity is inevitable, but ultimately for the worst.
Catcher in the rye: A 16 year old boy suffers from a mental illness. Holden Caulfield tells the story of his life from a mental hospital. Throughout the novel he learns to be dependable. The main theme is loneliness.
Over and over Esperanza battled with how people perceived her and how she wished to be perceived. In the beginning of the book Esperanza speaks of all the times her family has moved from one place to another. “Before that we lived on Loomis on th...
The author of The House on Mango Street and the producer of The Color Purple are able to integrate numerous important thematic ideas. Many of these ideas still apply to our current world, teaching various important lessons to many adolescents and adults. The House on Mango Street is a collection of vignettes written by Sandra Cisneros, a Mexican-American writer. The novel depicts many aspects of Sandra Cisneros’ life including racism, and sexism that she and the main character face. The novel revolves around Esperanza Cordero, a young Latina girl, who is growing up in Chicago as she faces the various struggles of living in America. The various vignettes reveal many experiences Esperanza has with reality and her navie responses to such harsh
“I don’t set out to be different, I set out to be me people think it’s different.” Lil Wayne expresses how he feels about his career. Meanwhile, this quote is saying that everyone is trying to be themselves whether people think it’s different or not. In House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros the motivation for those in poverty is dreams; therefore, those who struggle economically overwork those who are economically stable to obtain their goals and dreams. Cisneros uses her choice of words to display the attitude about how the characters feel about their dreams and goals.
As humans grow and mature, they obtain knowledge of the world around them as they go through self-discovery and learn from past events. In the story, “The House on Mango Street,” by Sandra Cisneros, Esperanza undergoes a series of transformations from someone who was clueless about the world, to someone who is experienced. Cisneros uses transformation to show how Esperanza changed from a clueless inexperienced girl, to an experienced adult. As one grows older, they go through self-discovery and experiences that help them gain knowledge of reality.
There was another time when Esperanza wanted to eat lunch in the canteen at school. She was not allowed to eat at school, because she lived close enough to walk home for lunch. But, Esperanza wanted to feel special like the other kids, so she convinced her mother to write a note to the nun in charge giving her permission to eat in the school canteen. The mother wrote the note, but the nun was not convinced. So, she made Esperanza go to the window and point to her house. She was too ashamed to point to the old-run-down home where she lived. This was one of her most embarrassing moments. Not to be outdone, Esperanza said, "I knew then I had to have a house. A real house. One I could point to" (page5).
Who does not want a home? A shelter to sleep and a roof to dine under. Of course no one wanted to stay home forever, but once in awhile and even when far away, they will long to return to that sacred place, the place where they grew up and the place they have left behind, home. The desire for a home (or house to be precise, though there was not much of a different for this case) was realistically reflected through a fiction work of Sandra Cisneros, a Mexican American write, a story called The House on Mango Street, where we shall discuss about its setting, plot and character.
Over time, the image of men has changed. This is due mostly to the relaxation of rigid stereotypical roles of the two genders. In different pieces of literature, however, men have been presented as the traditional dominate figure, the provider and rule maker or non-traditional figure that is almost useless and unimportant unless needed for sexual intercourse. This dramatic difference can either perpetuate the already existing stereotype or challenge it. Regardless of the differences, both seem to put men into a negative connotation.
“Home is where the heart is.” In The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros develops this famous statement to depict what a “home” really represents. What is a home? Is it a house with four walls and a roof, the neighborhood of kids while growing up, or a unique Cleaver household where everything is perfect and no problems arise? According to Cisneros, we all have our own home with which we identify; however, we cannot always go back to the environment we once considered our dwelling place. The home, which is characterized by who we are, and determined by how we view ourselves, is what makes every individual unique. A home is a personality, a depiction of who we are inside and how we grow through our life experiences. In her personal, Cisneros depicts Esperanza Cordero’s coming-of-age through a series of vignettes about her family, neighborhood, and personalized dreams. Although the novel does not follow a traditional chronological pattern, a story emerges, nevertheless, of Esperanza’s search to discover the meaning of her life and her personal identity. The novel begins when the Cordero family moves into a new house, the first they have ever owned, on Mango Street in the Latino section of Chicago. Esperanza is disappointed by the “small and red” house “with tight steps in front and bricks crumbling in places” (5). It is not at all the dream-house her parents had always talked about, nor is it the house on a hill that Esperanza vows to one day own for herself. Despite its location in a rough neighborhood and difficult lifestyle, Mango Street is the place with which she identifies at this time in her life.
At first, Esperanza is young, insecure, and immature. Her immaturity is apparent when she talks about her mom holding her, saying it is, “sweet to put your nose into when she is holding you and you feel safe” (Cisneros 6-7). This shows Esperanza’s insecurity because her mom is still a big comfort source to her. She feels a false sense of comfort because her mom is there and will protect her. In addition, Esperanza’s immaturity is shown through her dislike for outsiders of the neighborhood when she says, “They are stupid people who are lost and got here by mistake” (Cisneros 28). This indicates how defensive and protective Esperanza is towards her barrio by calling outsiders stupid for reacting the way they do, even though she dislikes Mango Street....
In the novel, The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros describes the problems that Latino women face in a society that treats them as second class citizens. A society that is dominated by men, and a society that values women for what they look like, and not for what is on inside. In her Novel Cisneros wants us to envision the obstacles that Latino women must face everyday in order to be treated equally.
The definition of ‘family’ changes throughout the storyline from bad to good relationships within her family. One of the first beginning chapters explains how excitement was brought upon Esperanza as she notices all this things that made her different from her family. Knowing everyone is unique made her happy in this situation rather than others. She firsts views herself as too insignificant to be allowed to speak to own brother or friends; bad self esteem and negative vibes also came from the wrath she desired for her sister Nenny, the excuse for her unfortunate self that caused Esperanza to be a lonely girl with no friends. The separation was formed by lack of communication and passive aggression. Exclusion and hatred came from this triangle of siblings, no one belonged. Later in the novella, Esperanza connects with her Uncle. He forces her to change her habits of being the only one depressed while the rest of the world was spinning. Already down sided over a pair of shoes, Esperanza was drawn to the dance floor while her Uncle showed her off. Her talent had shown. Uncle Nacho brought out a different side of her that had not been experienced before. Graceful and joyous, she was applauded by an audience and her mother, a hard worker providing shelter, food, and warmth for her children. The two were proud of little Esperanza. All the attention towards her helped shape her respect for her uncle and those around her. As shown in this vignette of the support from her mother, it is also shown in one of ending vignettes, titled “A Smart Cookie”. Mrs. Cordero uses her daughters young age to teach her how the future works. A dream come true today might be trash on the road tomorrow. “Nothing turns out as it seems” was the point her mother was trying to get across. This is one of the most important vignettes in this book because it represents her
" They always told me that one day we would move into a real house, that would be ours. A house with trees, a white picket fence, real stairs and running water. The house on Mango Street isn't it. " (Cisneros, 4). This quote gives the reader a better understanding on why Esperanza is so frustrated with her poverty. Esperanza is constantly being let down because her poverty gets in the way. Her parents make all these promises to her that they cannot keep, because they do not have the money. Esperanza is still young and so far her life has been full of disappointment. When Esperanza's family moved into The House on Mango Street Esperanza's was excited, she expected to be moving into her dream house. Yet, once again her family's poverty gets in the way and they move into a shabby house. Esperanza's constant disappointment causes her a great deal of emotional pain, and all this pain leads back to her family's