Similarities Between The Odyssey And The House On Mango Street

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Proving Through Promise


Allies are the most important aspect to overcoming hardships, besides a will to do so. Trust and loyalty are best traits of a good friends, the most supportive and thoughtful can be achieved through promise, and easily lost through it too. Sally does not keep her word and Odysseus finds only a few people who remained loyal to him in his homecoming. Those who betray him are given what they deserve. And Esperanza is left alone at the fair. Their bad experiences in friendship played a major role in the development of the characters in the
Odyssey and The House on Mango Street

In the Odyssey, the goddess, Calypso lets Odysseus return home after his many requests for her to do so, but Odysseus restrains himself from accepting …show more content…

In Sandra Cisneros’s story, Esperanza is the supporting ally. This coming from the advice the Three Sisters gave Esperanza: ‘“When you leave you must remember to come back for others. A circle, understand? You will always be Esperanza. You will always be Mango Street. You can’t erase what you know. You can’t forget who you are.”’ (Cisneros, 105). The one with “marble hands” (Cisneros, 105) told her. Esperanza tries to support her family and friends, then comes back to Mango Street after she fulfills her lifelong goal. No matter how much she wanted to escape Mango Street once and for all, she is Mango Street. And this will forever remain a part of her. In Homer’s Odyssey, the lost hero makes his crew swear a great oath that they agree to take, then dive into Circe’s gratuitous food, but will eventually start to question this important promise and break it, “‘If we find any cattle or sheep on this island. No man will kill a single cow or sheep/ In his recklessness, but will be content/ To eat the food immortal Circe gave us.’/ They swore they would do just as I said…” (Lombardo 12.305-311). Little did they know that Odysseus was doing this for their own good. In this hero’s classic tale, he loses more and more of his crew’s trust along their trip. This was not a result of breaking promise, but resulted from leadership issues which foreshadowed the act of his crew abandoning their word, ““‘If he becomes angry/ Over his cattle and gets the other gods’ consent/ To destroy our ship, well, I would rather/ Gulp down saltwater and die once and for all/ Than waste away slowly on a desert island’”” (12.357-361). With this betrayal comes an even more doomed fate for both captain and crew. Since Odysseus breaks the crew’s hopes for a promising leader, it’s only fair if the crew doubts the leader’s orders. A position in leadership mistreated can have the same effects of a broken promise, in

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