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The house on mango street esperanza character analysis
The house on mango street esperanza character analysis
The house on mango street esperanza character analysis
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In the book, “The House on Mango Street” Esperanza possesses many aspects of her identity that affect her life. The most prominent being her socioeconomic class. In the book Esperanza is describing her old home and says, “We had to leave the flat on Loomis quick, the water pipes broke and the landlord wouldn’t fix them because the house was too old.” (4) She later states “Our house would have running water and pipes that worked.” when describing her dream house. It’s clearly proven here that her family has been living in a place where there was no running water. Esperanza views running water as a luxury and not a basic human need, whereas wealthier people can easily obtain running water while she cannot. Secondly, Esperanza describes her neighborhood
and location and says “Those who don’t know any better come into our neighborhood scared. They think we’re dangerous. They think we will attack them with shiny knives.” Because Esperanza lives in a low-class neighborhood, crime is more common and has an influence on the neighborhood’s residents. Even though the preconceptions that outsiders have about Esperanza’s neighborhood are not always true, they still affect Esperanza’s life and how people view her and the people around her. Lastly, on page 14, Esperanza discusses how she is going to buy a bike with her sisters money. To quote Esperanza’s sister, Nenny, “If you give me five dollars I’ll love you forever.” Due to the fact that in a wealthier society having five dollars is not valued greatly, it’s obvious Esperanza’s sister has different views on money and it’s value than compared to other classes. To Esperanza having a bike is a valuable item, yet to someone of a higher class, having a bike is not a luxury but a common “toy”. As proven with the evidence here, one can conclude that Esperanza is of a lower socioeconomic class and that her class and wealth directly contribute to how her family lives life
When Esperanza is struck by the realization that she is not accepted in society, she aspires to bring a more hospitable environment to fruition. At the beginning of The House on Mango Street, Esperanza is questioned by a nun about where she lives. The condemning tone of the harridan shakes Esperanza, causing her to state, “There. I lived there… I knew then I had to have a house. A
In the book, Esperanza doesn’t want to follow the norms of the life around her; she wants to be independent. Esperanza states her independence by stating, “Not a man’s house. Not a daddy’s. A house all my own,” (Cisneros 108.) The syntax of these sentences stick out and are not complete thoughts, yet they convey much meaning and establish Esperanza’s feeling of not belonging. Esperanza’s feeling of not belonging is also emphasized when her sisters tell her that the events of her life have made her who she is and that is something she can not get rid of. Her sisters explain that the things she has experienced made her who she is by saying, “You will always be esperanza. You will always be mango street. You can’t erase what you know” (105.) What her sisters are trying to tell her is that the past has changed her but it doesn’t have to be a negative thing; it can be used to make her a better person who is stronger and more independent. Esperanza realizes that the things around her don’t really add up to what she believes is right, which also conveys the sense of not
but in the end she knew that if it weren’t for those small gifts she
Have you ever seen someone going from rich to poor? If not, then this might be new to you. I read about this girl named “Esperanza”, from the book Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan, who has experienced this. She is a rich girl. She doesn't do anything by herself, her servants do everything for her. She only has her mom, dad, and her grandmother in her family. Her mom’s name is Ramona, Esperanza calls her dad “Papa”, and her grandmother’s name is Abuelita. She is living in Mexico. The change from innocence to experience can be painful.
Esperanza begins as a very wealthy girl in Mexico, and doesn’t think about how lucky she is to have the privileges that she has. She can have almost anything she wants and has to do little work. Esperanza barely even thinks about the lower classes. They are not part of her life. But when her ranch is burned down and her father killed, she has to leave Mexico and enter the United States as an illegal immigrant. But by doing so, she is forced into contact with many people far less wealthy and well-off than her. When Esperanza enters Zacatecas to board the train, she is surprised that they are not in the fancy section. Instead, they are in a car with peasants and beggars. “Esperanza had never been so close to so many peasants before. When she went to school, all of her friends were like her. When she went to town, she was escorted and hurried around any beggars. And the peasants always kept their distance. That was simply the way it was. She couldn’t help but wonder if they would steal her things.” (p. 67). Esperanza has an obvious suspicion of the peasants during her train ride. She tells her mother that she cannot travel in this car , and that the people didn’t look trustworthy. A little bit into the trainride ...
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.
Throughout The House on Mango Street Esperanza learns to resist the gender norms that are deeply imbedded in her community. The majority of the other female characters in the novel have internalized the male viewpoint and they believe that it is their husbands or fathers responsibility to care for them and make any crucial decisions for them. However, despite the influence of other female characters that are “immasculated”, according to Judith Fetterley, Esperanza’s experiences lead her to become a “resisting reader” in Fettereley’s terminology because she does not want to become like the women that she observes, stuck under a man’s authority. She desires to leave Mango Street and have a “home of her own” so that she will never be forced to depend on a man (Cisneros 108). During the course of the novel Esperanza eventually realizes that it is also her duty to go back to Mango Street “For the ones that cannot out”, or the women who do not challenge the norms (110). Esperanza eventually turns to her writing as a way to escape from her situation without having to marry a man that she would be forced to rely on like some of her friends do.
In the first short story The House on Mango Street, Esperanza is outside her apartment building where she lives with her siblings and parents. They six were Mama, Papa, Carlos, Kiki, Nenny, and Esperanza. She describes the place they were living in by saying that it was on the third floor of an old building and as well said " The water pipes broke and the landlord wouldn't fix them because the house was too old...We were using the washroom next door and carrying water over in empty milk gallons" (Cisneros 4). Esperanza and her family are going through hardships because of the landlord, even when they are paying their rent. She describes the apartment building as old and useless to the owner, this means that the building has to be very torn down for someone who owns it not to care about it. Esperanza begins to experience difficulties at a young age by having to shower with water from the washroom, they did not even use buckets which can indicate that they did not own one. Usually it is minorities who as well recycle the bottles they buy to give them...
Although Esperanza is constantly reaffirming that she wants to move away from Mango Street, we know by the end novel that she will one day return to help those who will not have the opportunities Esperanza has had in her life. Indeed, in the closing pages Esperanza admits that she cannot escape Mango Street. She can never again call it home, but it has influenced her dreams, formed her personality, and she has learned valuable life lessons from its inhabitants. That is why, explains Esperanza, she tells stories about the house on Mango Street, revealing the beauty amidst dirty streets and unveiling her true inner self, the peace of knowing that her “home is where her heart is.”
Esperanza, a strong- willed girl who dreams big despite her surroundings and restrictions, is the main character in The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Esperanza represents the females of her poor and impoverished neighborhood who wish to change and better themselves. She desires both sexuality and autonomy of marriage, hoping to break the typical life cycle of woman in her family and neighborhood. Throughout the novel, she goes through many different changes in search of identity and maturity, seeking self-reliance and interdependence, through insecure ideas such as owning her own house, instead of seeking comfort and in one’s self. Esperanza matures as she begins to see the difference. She evolves from an insecure girl to a mature young lady through her difficult life experiences and the people she comes across. It is through personal encounters and experiences that Esperanza begins to become sexually aware and acceptance her place and self-definition in her community.
Esperanza struggles with finding who she is. She is a young girl who moves a lot. Moving from house to house gets hard, especially for Esperanza. Being less fortunate and not owning a nice house like the wealthy can play a huge role on the way you view yourself. Esperanza is from Paulina, Keeler, Loomis, and now Mango Street. She lives with a family of a total of six. On Mango Street, they live in a small, red house. But, being in this house helps Esperanza find her identity. Mango Street is also a memory that Esperanza will never forget.
To many people, status is a vital symbol in life, but what those same people don’t realise is that even when your status rises, you don’t escape everything you wished to leave behind. Sandra Cisneros knows that, and she captured it perfectly with a quote in her book “The House on Mango Street.” A young, naive character named Cathy says, “I’ll be your friend. But only till next Tuesday. That’s when we move away. Got to. Then as if she forgot [Esperanza] just moved in, she says the neighborhood is getting bad” (Cisneros 13).
Sandra Cisneros was born in 1956 in Chicago, Illinois. She was the only daughter in her family. She had six brothers and zero sisters. She would visit Mexico most of her childhood. She has taught creative writing for many years. Which made her want to be a author. Sandra Cisneros educates about what it’s like in the working class through her literary works including The house on mango street, Woman hollering creek, and caramelo.
The book shows the hard truths about growing up in a silenced, struggling community. That is completely right. However, this books more prominent ideals that it shares across the many vignettes is the idea that these people actually struggle amongst their selves more rather than the new land they have to inhabit. Over the course of this powerful book, it is shown many a time over that the people in the surrounding society silence and marginalize their own people. This presents the real, true struggle within the book and actually focuses less on Esperanza trying to fit in amongst her peers and more so on the people and how they treat each other. The House on Mango Street and the culture in the book are silencing and marginalizing itself and the Latinos presented in the
The keepers of an orphanage charged with smuggling drugs and abuse to children. Jorge Holland and Carlos Junior were caught at the hospital on November 1, 2137, with the help of fellow members of the orphanage, Ton-Ton Lopez, Fidelito Norse, Chacho Woods, and Matt Alarcon. Also one of the member of the police force, Ezparanzo.