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). Cathy and her family were about to move from Mango Street, because they no longer liked the status they portrayed while living there. Despite what Cathy believed, the readers can pick up from subtle hints in the text that
her family is poor, and her father only told her differently to help her accept the flaws in her life. It seems as if even her own father wanted to believe the stories he told Cathy, so to escape their poorer position, they moved to give off an image of superiority, no matter how false. But while they may have moved from the “bad” neighborhood, that doesn’t mean Cathy and her family are any less poor than they used to be. Another character who learned that you can’t always escape your problems was Sally. Sally lived in an abusive household, so she married with the hopes of escaping. But even with this new house and new family, and the ability to buy things she wanted, she was now trapped by yet another abusive man. Even the main character Esperanza learns this lesson, despite keeping the same status throughout the story. She dreams of a large, white house, with a yard and fence, and plenty of space. Even though she has not yet achieved this dream, she comes to realize that even when she does, she will not be free of Mango Street, instead she will return for everybody else. Lastly, this quote also connects to our world. People don't realize that status does not equal freedom, so they fight to rise from where they are, and realize too late that their weights have risen with them.
Esperanza, the main character of The House on Mango Street, a novella written by Sandra Cisneros in 1984, has always felt like she didn’t belong. Esperanza sought a different life than the ones that people around her were living. She wanted to be in control of her life, and not be taken away by men as so many others around her had. Esperanza wanted to move away from Mango Street and find the house, and life she had always looked for. Through the use of repetition, Sandra Cisneros conveys a sense of not belonging, that can make a person strong enough to aspire to a better life.
“The House on Mango Street” emphasizes on this issue, even broadens to explain other controversial matters such as abuse, misogynistic views, and stereotypes. The protagonist, Esperanza Cordero moves to Mango Street where she must witness the abuse affecting her friends, neighbors, and family. Either Sally a close friend, Mamacita a neighbor, or her own mother handling 4 children. Over the course of the novel Esperanza changes physically and mentally. Through the use of imagery as well as complex, descriptive vignettes Cisneros epitomizes the misogynistic views within Esperanza’s
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.
Throughout life, many hardships will be encountered, however, despite the several obstacles life may present, the best way to overcome these hardships is with determination, perseverance, and optimism. In The House on Mango Street, this theme is represented on various occasions in many of the vignettes. For this reason, this theme is one of the major themes in The House on Mango Street. In many of the vignettes, the women of Mango Street do not make any attempts to overcome the hardships oppressive men have placed upon them. In opposition, Alicia (“Alicia Who Sees Mice”) and Esperanza are made aware that the hardships presented as a result of living on Mango Street can be overcome by working hard and endless dedication to reach personal hopes
Symbolism is the key to understanding Sandra Cisneros’ novel, “The House on Mango Street”. By unraveling the symbolism, the reader truly exposes the role of not only Latina women but women of any background. Esperanza, a girl from a Mexican background living in Chicago, writes down what she witnesses while growing up. As a result of her sheltered upbringing, Esperanza hardly comprehends the actions that take place around her, but what she did understand she wrote in her journal. Cisneros used this technique of the point of view of a child, to her advantage by giving the readers enough information of what is taking place on Mango Street so that they can gather the pieces of the puzzle a get the big picture.
A role model an influential person whom one imitates. Role models contribute key life lessons to anyone looking up to them. Role models provide basic structure both to achieve greatness and to learn from the mistakes that they have made in their lifetimes. Role models provide many benefits to those who look up to them, making life decisions easier because of the examples they have set. The book The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros reveals many role models for the young, female Latina protagonist, Esperanza. As expected, the women in the Mango Street neighborhood significantly influence Esperanza. She has a variety of female role models. Many are trapped in abusive relationships, waiting for others to change their lives. Some are actively trying to create change on their own. Through these women and Esperanza’s reactions to them, Cisneros not only shows the hardships women face, but also explores their power to
Sandra Cisneros's writing style in the novel The House on Mango Street transcends two genres, poetry and the short story. The novel is written in a series of poetic vignettes that make it easy to read. These distinguishing attributes are combined to create the backbone of Cisneros's unique style and structure.
In "Bums in the Attic," a chapter from her novel The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros discusses the differences between groups in which the upper class ignores anyone not belonging to the same leisure status. Those belonging to the lower classes however, has had to work to gain success and cannot forget the past in which he struggled. In chasing the American dream, the lower class realizes that the only way to gain true happiness from monetary success, one cannot forget his past and must therefore redefine the traditional attitude of the upper class.
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.
way to escape the lives they lived. The residents of Mango street all had their
In the book The House on Mango Street, written by Sandra Cisneros, the main character, Esperanza, was affected by many external forces, including family. Esperanza is a young teen who just moved to Mango Street, and she doesn’t like her house because it’s ugly, and she dreams of another house that her family has promised one day. “I have inherited her name, but I don’t want to inherit her place by the window (Cisneros 11). This was in reference to her great grandmother who didn’t want to marry, but Esperanza’s great grandfather kidnapped her and forced her to marry, where Esperanza’s great grandmother never forgave him and looked out a window for the rest of her life. Esperanza didn’t chose her name, her family did, and she didn’t chose who her family is either. The external force of family is an issue in real life just as it is in this novel, and the teens learn to either love it or hate it.
The change in a social class is something that is shown in every day life and the media. It is the American Dream to move upward in society. The movie Sweet Home Alabama is a prime example of social mobility in the main character. The main character Melanie Carmichael left her small town Alabama home and achieved an impressive upward social mobility. She began her life as a daughter of a respectful working class family to become a world famous fashion designer in New York City. At the beginning of the movie, Andrew, the mayor’s son, proposes to Melanie. She says yes, but before she can marry him, she has to clear up a not so final divorce with Jake, her high school sweetheart she left behind. Melanie is now caught between two classes and two cultures, the working class that she grew up in and the upper class she has now placed herself in. As the film continues, her dilemma will require her to acknowledge and reconnect with her mother who lives in a trailer park while still trying to impress h...
In class we read the book House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, the main character Esperanza lives in a lower working class neighborhood and street called Mango Street dealing with poverty. Her house is an important symbol in House on Mango Street. It represents Eperanza’s process of maturing as a person and the change in her perspective of poverty and struggle being shameful, to it being something to embrace and use as motivation. This is a very important part of the story because it is in many aspects where we are from that make us who we become. This is interesting to see in the book as her opinions and perspective of things inside and outside of her neighborhood are shaped by her experiences.
The women of Mango Street are looked down upon by men based on their lack of respect for women. Marin and Minerva feel trapped and will not leave to restraints of Mango Street. Sadley even in 2015, this happens to women all over the world, not just Mango Street. Cases of these abuse crimes come up everyday in the newspapers, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, no one is
The main themes that are explored in this novel are socio-economic status, positivity and resilience, and defiance.