Esperanza's The House On Mango Street

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The writing style is difficult to categorize throughout the novella. One can view The House on Mango Street as a novella made of series of congruent related short stories about a neighborhood where the young girl Esperanza lives. The vignettes are as chapters of the book, each vignette means something different either about or to Esperanza. The recurring image of a home or house becomes a metaphor for the independence that Esperanza desires. The vignettes have no specific order, the first one and the last one are permanent and the rest of the vignettes in between can go in any order. Not only did Cisneros relate every chapter back to Esperanza's neighborhood, but as every vignette relates to Esperanza wanting a home to live in, not a house. …show more content…

Esperanza feels frustration throughout the novella. The image of a red balloon tied to an anchor is a picture of freedom that Esperanza's loneliness imagine of soon being free. The red balloon symbolizes Esperanza and the anchor symbolizes Nenny. As the anchor holds the balloon back, Nenny is holding Esperanza back. Esperanza is limited to her interactions with other boys and girls. Nenny is Esperanza’s responsibility because she is older. Esperanza says, "Someday I will have a best friend all my own. One I can tell my secrets to. One who will understand my jokes without me having to explain them. Until then I am a red balloon, a balloon tied to an anchor." Esperanza exfoliates that her interactions with others are limited due to the responsibilities she has being an older sister. Just as Esperanza wants to be free, other characters experience the same …show more content…

“The boys and girls live in separate worlds. The boys in their universe and we in ours. My brothers for example. They've got plenty to say to me and Nenny inside the house. But outside they can't be seen talking to girls,” exfoliates the truth that opposite genders live in different worlds and are usually not treated in agreement. The often theme throughout the novella that Esperanza would like to have a nice house and be better off in is important, representing that just because one is a child in poverty, one does not have to stay that way. Gender roles are not equal, the man is supposed to have the job, well Esperanza would like to have a job and accumulate money on her own. Not only does Esperanza want gender inequality, but also would like to strive further than her

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