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Literature helps one's life
How literature changes society
How literature changes society
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How Living In Mango Street Has Changed Esperanza’s Life Esperanza is the heart and soul of this story. She changes and develops new habits over the course of the book. Because of how the book is written, she’s also the main character who gives the story it’s unity. Everything in the story is told in her perspective anyway so she could be the narrator and the protagonist. Even the stories about other characters have some sort of connection with Esperanza. She is The House On Mango Street, she is Esperanza. Esperanza is a young girl who struggles with feelings of loneliness and feeling that she doesn’t fit in because she is poor. She always wanted to fit in with the other kids and feel like she was one of them. She loves to write because it helps her feel better about herself writing about her life and her community. Writing helps her with …show more content…
feeling better about incredibly painful events like her relatives dying and even when she experienced rape at a very young age. Esperanza has many traits that makes her unique and different from other kids. She’s an ethnic minority in the United States and she has a latin background. While Esperanza’s cultural heritage plays a big part in establishing her feelings of connection to her family and community, we still read Esperanza as a person that everyone can connect to. Being made fun of and feeling ashamed, awkward, and ugly, and we all have hopes and dreams as people. When Esperanza and her family move to Mango Street. Esperanza tells us about many places she has lived in her entire life and why she thinks it's necessary to have a nice house that she can be proud of and tell her peers about. Whenever people asked her about her poor house she would feel ashamed and didn’t feel that her house was worthy of “pointing at”. She would always dream about having a nicer and cleaner house that she could be proud to call her home. Esperanza begs her mother to let her eat lunch at her school. Her mom agrees and writes her a note to take to Sister Superior, but Sister Superior doesn’t let her eat school lunch because Esperanza lives too close to the school and can easily walk home. When Sister Superior starts talking about Esperanza’s run down home, Esperanza starts crying. So the nun lets Esperanza stay that day, and when mom gave Esperanza the note she also packed her a rice sandwich to eat at school. So Esperanza spends her lunch in the canteen crying and eating her cold and soggy rice sandwich for lunch. A woman from a very wealthy family decides to give Esperanza and her friends some beautiful new high-heeled shoes. Esperanza and her friends decide to wear them to town expecting to get some attention from boys but instead of boys they get some unexpected attention from some creepy old men and it creeps Esperanza and her friends out. Later that day they decide to abandon the shoes and they are not upset when Lucy and Rachel’s mom throw them away, Esperanza’s aunt decides to get Esperanza a job at the photo lab and on the first day of her new job she gets really nervous and is constantly worrying about all of the negatives that come from this job. Unexpectedly, an old man shows up and offers to be her man and when he does she starts to feel better about the job until he suddenly forces Esperanza to kiss him and this can be very traumatizing for a young girl. Esperanza decides to go and visit this witch woman named Elenita to see if there’s anything in the future about a beautiful house that she may own. Elenita only sees “a home in the heart”, and when she tells Esperanza this she becomes very disappointed with the statement and leaves. Esperanza begins to stop traveling with her family to rich people neighborhoods because she feels ashamed to look at things she cannot afford. She always dreams of having a big house to point at with a big attic that she will let bums sleep in for free because she understands the struggle of having either a poor house or no house. Esperanza has a very embarrassing moment when she tries to help Sally from a small group of boys who persuade her to kiss all of them in a garden.
When Esperanza tries to help Sally she tells Esperanza to go away and that she doesn’t need to be rescued. Esperanza feels ashamed and hides in the garden to cry by herself. At the carnival, Esperanza arranges to meet Sally to hang out, but Sally never shows up to meet with Esperanza. While she was waiting for Sally to show up, a group of boys show up out of the blue and grab her, and one of them decides to rape her. Esperanza is really young so she doesn't understand what sex is like yet and gets mad a Sally for lying to her what it’s really like. Esperanza meets up with 3 elderly sisters at a wake. One of the older women affirms Esperanza’s secret wish to leave Mango Street, but makes her promise that she will come back one day. Esperanza tells Alicia that she feels like she doesn’t have a home but Alicia convinces her that like it or not that Mango Street is her home and no matter what she will have to come back to make Mango Street a better place because the mayor is
failing. Esperanza acknowledges that though she fully intends to leave and is making plans to leave Mango Street that one day she will return and will help the ones that have been there for her and that she will be leaving behind. To summarize Esperanza’s early life from beginning to end, she always thought that she deserved better than what she had such as a better house and better food her her and her family. She had a lot of traumatizing moments as a child such as being raped and experiencing neglect from friends. She’s passionate and she is planning to leave Mango Street and wont let anyone tell her otherwise. But she will be back and reward the people who treated her with respect and the people she abandoned when she leaves Mango Street.
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
In the story the house on mango street there are both young girls, Sally and Esperanza. Both girls desire adventure, love, and beauty. However, Sally is more outgoing and confident than Esperanza. She has confidence that she is beautiful. She play the role of a strong female that never get hurt by any boys. Esperanza admires and looks up to Sally. Esperanza does not want to be a "weak woman" and she sees Sally as her role model. Their home lives contrast also Ironically. Sally is physically abused by her father each time he catches her with a boy. On the other side Esperanza and her family communicates well. Sally sees her self as a women and not the type of women a person that isn't confident of herself and that's what Esperanza likes.
Esperanza finally comes to the conclusion that she does not need to fit into the mold of Mango Street. She also realizes that by making her own world, she can do bigger and better things and come back to help others on Mango Street. Not everybody can fit into the same mold and Esperanza made her own. . Esperanza leaving shows that she is a leader and hopefully she will have the others from Mango Street follow in her path. Maybe other people will fit into Esperanza’s mold or they will use her as an example. Esperanza used the other women as an example to make something of herself so all of the negative people she meets and has in her life, they made her the person she wanted to be.
To begin, Esperanza first realizes how trapped she is in Mango Street in one of
“I was so scared to eat alone in the company lunchroom with all those men and women looking.”(Pg. 54) She is worried about being judged by others that she can’t eat alone. She doesn’t think she belongs. “Most likely I will go to hell and most likely I deserve to be there.”(Pg. 58) She doesn’t believe in herself and doesn’t think anyone believes in her. Later in the story, Esperanza and Sally were hanging out with a few boys. Esperanza wasn’t comfortable and told Sally to come hang out with the younger kids. Sally ignored Esperanza and got into some trouble. The boys took Sally’s keys and said she could only have them back if she kissed all of them. Sally, being her daring self decided to kiss all the boys. Esperanza did not want Sally to kiss all the boys and went to one of the boy’s mother’s. The mother didn’t do anything and left Esperanza. When Esperanza came back they all told her to go home. Esperanza having no confidence to stand up to them, ran away. “I wanted to will my blood to stop, my heart to quit it’s pumping; I wanted to be dead, to turn into the rain, my eyes melt into the ground like two black snails.” Esperanza’s self esteem was so low that just one person can make her burst into
Esperanza, the most liberated of the sisters, devoted her life to make other people’s lives better. She became a reporter and later on died while covering the Gulf Crisis. She returned home, to her family as a spirit. At first, she spoke through La Llorona, a messenger who informed La Loca that her sister has died. All her family members saw her. She appeared to her mother as a little girl who had a nightmare and went near to her mother for comfort. Caridad had conversations with her about politics and La Loca talked to her by the river behind their home.
Esperanza's overwhelmed tone reveals her fear and doggedness to adversity when sally's game defiles the garden's innocence/purity, exposing Esperanza to the realization that she cannot remain a kid forever.
“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” (9). These are the longing words spoken by Esperanza. In the novel The House on Mango Street, Esperanza is young girl experiencing adolescence not only longing for a place to fit in but also wanting to be beautiful. This becomes complicated as Esperanza becomes more sexually aware. Throughout the novel, Cisneros argues the importance of beauty and how Esperanza deals with beauty as a part of her identity. When Esperanza meets Sally a new friend, Esperanza’s whole world is turned upside down. Esperanza’s views on beauty change from a positive outlook to a negative one by watching how beauty has damaged Sally’s life.
In the House on Mango Street, Esperanza is very close to her neighbors and family members. Throughout Esperanza’s life, she has experienced death of a close friend or family. The first death Esperanza experienced was when one of her neighbors, Angel Vargas, died. Esperanza did not take Angel’s death too serious, but it made her
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.
Mango Street consists of mostly female characters. These characters are strong and inspirational, but they are unable to escape the suppression of the surrounding environment. According to one critic, "The girl's mother, for instance, has talent and brains, but lacks practical knowledge about society because, says Esperanza, Mexican men 'don't like their women strong' " (Matchie 69-70). It is Esperanza's mother who tells her to never be ashamed because shame can only hinder her dreams. In "The Three Sisters", the women tell Esperanza that she is special and remind her not to forget where she came from when she finally makes it out of Mango Street. This inspiration makes Esperanza understand that she must help others who aren't as fortunate to leave as she is.
Sandra Cisneros' strong cultural values greatly influence The House on Mango Street. Esperanza's life is the medium that Cisneros uses to bring the Latin community to her audience. The novel deals with the Catholic Church and its position in the Latin community. The deep family connection within the barrio also plays an important role in the novel. Esperanza's struggle to become a part of the world outside of Mango Street represents the desire many Chicanos have to grow beyond their neighborhoods.
In the book, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, almost everyone has their own expectations to what they’re supposed to be or that they can’t change who they already are.
This written passage is an ideal depiction of how much Esperanza’s character changed by the end of this story. Her character began as a childish girl and transformed into a mature young lady, a lady who gained a great deal of compassion, empathy, and self-esteem.