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My name analysis
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After reading “ My Name” by Sandra Cisneros I realized something i really never thought was important was indeed important. In this excerpt Esperanza states how she doesn't want to be like her great-grandmother whom has the same name but she wants to be different, she wants to break free from the meaning that her great-grandmother gave to the name. From her saying this I found out that I related to Esperanza more that what i thought. I relate because I know what it's like to have inherited a name and have to try to exceed in being the meaning of that name, but like Esperanza “I don't want to inherit a seat by the window’’, instead i want to break free from the chains of the meaning of the name and create a new meaning. The excerpt “ My Name”
taught me about my relationship with My moms best friend and how we’re almost exactly alike, But having this relationship is like a fish drowning in water. Before i read this excerpt i was ok with her meaning to the name, but now I feel like i have this immense burden on my back to live up to the expectations that my mom and her friend has me upholding, I want to let go of their meaning and create my own. With me feeling like this has changed my relationship with my mom and her friend, not in a negative way but in a positive way. I think that wanting to change the meaning has bettered my relationship, i intend to uphold my new meaning to my name.
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 article “The Name Is Mine” by Anna Quindlen, she explains her story about her name, why she chose to keep it, and why it has such meaning to her. As a result of keeping her maiden name, there were many positive and negative aspects that went along with it.
Whether it be a family member, friend, or stranger, the loss of a person is hard. Everybody, from all walks of life has –in some way- been affected by loss. Its profound effects on human cycology have been one of the most influential elements in literature. Three novels, Geraldo No Last Name, Typhoid Fever, and Night Calls, explore the effects of loss through the voice of the narrator, as well as the author’s personal experiences.
Imagine being born into a rich, wealthy family, where your last name is respected and well-known by many. To say, living in a big, beautiful house and able to wear fancy silk dresses, so fortunate, that you have servants to cook and clean for you, and every year when it’s your birthday, it’s celebrated big, just as Esperanza Ortega did. Throughout the story of Esperanza Rising the author Pam Munoz Ryan ( 2013) illustrates an image to the reader of a young, rich, Mexican girl who is forced to mature and grow up much faster than expected. Correspondly, at the beginning of the book, Esperanza lives a rich life, to say, she had it “all,” but a sudden tragedy quickly changed her and her family’s life, whereas by the end of the story, Esperanza
Esperanza must define herself both as a woman and as an artist, and her view of her identity changes over the course of the novel. In the beginning of the novel Esperanza wants to change her name in order to define herself on her own terms, instead of accepting a name that expresses her family heritage. “I would like to baptize myself under a new name, a name more like the real me, the one nobody sees” (Cisneros 11). She wants to separate herself from her parents and her younger sister in order to create her own life, and changing her name seems to her an important step in that direction. Later, after she becomes more sexually aware, Esperanza would like to be “beautiful and cruel” so that boys will like her but not hurt her, and she pursues that goal by becoming friends with Sally. After she is assaulted, she doesn’t want to define herself as “beautiful and cruel” anymore, and she is, once again, unsure of who she
Throughout these three texts, it is apparent that people often find themselves being treated differently if they have uncommon or unfamiliar names. In My Name, for example, Cisneros explores this idea through Esperanza’s struggle with her peers’ treatment of her name: “In English my name means hope,” she begins, in stark contrast to later in the story, where she writes: “At school they say my name funny as if the syllables were made of tin and hurt the roof of your mouth.” (1; par. 1, par. 5) This instance exemplifies the issue of
In some ways it resembles immigrant culture, but unlike Americans of Jewish culture or Indian culture, for example, Chicanos have been consistently excluded from the American mainstream. The author, Cisneros uses language as a recurring cultural barrier throughout the story. This barrier is shown immediately in the beginning of the story when Esperanza observes the people around her on Mango Street and realizes that if not knowing or not mastering the language creates powerlessness, then having the ability to manipulate language will give her power. After that Esperanza has the desire to change her name so that she can have power over her own identity. This action implies Hofstede’s Dimensions of Cultural Variability and Esperanza puts to action individualism by valuing her independence and thinking in terms of “I” choices.
My Name: In this short story the author still uses techniques to craft a quality piece of writing. One technique that is common in this short story is the use of Cliche. The expression of sadness is apparent through the story. She hates her name and would do anything to change it. She does respect
Esperanza had troubles with accepting her identity. She hated her name and she hated the fact that her and her parents lived in poverty. She struggled with her ethnicity, sexuality, and her economic status. As she gets older she starts to become aware that what defines her is writing. When she writes she can feel comfortable about herself and let go emotionally.
I chose the first quote about Esperanza name because it shows the importance of language. I believe that language is the number one symbol of cultures and it is an expression of who we are as individuals. In this passage, Esperanza struggles to find her identity through the history of her name. We learned that Esperanza had inherited the name of her grandmother, but does not want to inherit her grandmother place of being locked into a house through marriage, and spending the rest of her life looking out the window in sadness. Esperanza says her name mean hope in English, which has a positive connotation, but then, chooses negative words such as sadness, too many letters, and a muddy color to associate with the meaning of her name in Spanish.
She explains how her sister could at least be called Nenny “But I am always Esperanza. I would like to baptize myself under a new name, a name more like the real me, the one nobody sees. Esperanza as Lisandra or Maritza or Zeze the X. Yes. Something like Zeze the X will do” ( Cisneros My Name). When Esperanza visits her neighbors aunts, they remind her why her name is so important. She will always be Esperanza and she cannot escape it. As part of the sisters’ advice, they told Esperanza; “When you leave you must remember to come back for the 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 The Three Sisters). This is one of the most important lines in the whole novella because for the throughout her life, Esperanza wanted a change, a place she could leave and go to, a place where she could be her. This shows her that no matter where she goes, she will always be a part of Mango Street, the experiences she has encountered and the lessons she has learned were made there. Her past, makes her
For instance, Esperanza did not like her name or appreciate the new house she has. Esperanza states, “A real house. One I could point to. But this isn’t it. The house on Mango Street isn’t it.”(5). She also states that “I would like to baptize myself under a new name”(11). Esperanza is shown how she is being all selfish and unappreciative of the things around her. She does not appreciate what she has, her name, and her life and wants more and better things. Her naïve and young behavior led to this making her oblivious to the good life she
Her name was one of the main reasons she rejected her identity. She did not want to end up like her grandmother, who she was
In The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, conflict is utilized to present the notion that the challenges we face in our lives contribute to the shaping of our identity. This idea is presented early in the novel when readers are introduced to the root of Esperanza’s conflicts – her house on Mango Street. This street is where the novel takes place, and it is where a patriarchal society thrives, thus making it a primary conflict that Esperanza, along with other women, must deal with. This problem is first addressed when Esperanza explains the meaning behind her name: “It was my great-grandmother’s name and now it is mine. She was a horse woman too, born like me in the Chinese year of the horse – which is supposed to be bad luck if you’re born female – but I think this is a
Esperanza expresses the conflict between having two cultures in her life through the vignette “My Name”. “In english my name means hope. In spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting. It is like the number nine. A muddy color. It is the Mexican records my father plays on Sunday mornings when he is shaving, songs like sobbing” (Cisneros 10). Esperanza expresses how she is feeling towards herself in this quote because it describes how she is confused of where she stands in society because of all the different meanings of her name. Esperanza has many different meanings of her name as shown within the vignette “My Name”. the reason why she has so many different meanings is because of her two different cultures. She simply does not know which culture that is her name. In life when one may be confused or overwhelmed they may travel down a path of uncertainty and have to turn to others for