The symbol found in Sally’s story is shoes, which represents the sense of sexuality and adult femininity. It also symbolizes Esperanza’s sexuality and her inner conflict of her feeling between her emerging sexual attractiveness and her desire for independence. When Esperanza wants to be friend with Sally, who is sexually mature, she describes Sally’s black suede shoes and wonders if she can convince her mother to buy her a similar pair. When Sally abandons Esperanza in the monkey garden in order to fool around with boys, Esperanza thinks her own feet look foreign. Finally, in Esperanza’s vision of her dream house, her shoes are placed beside the bed, suggesting that she has or will have some control over her own sexuality, only in her imagination.
The next character is Rafaela, Esperanza’s neighbor who lives on the upper floor. She is locked up in the room by her husband for she is so beautiful that her husband is afraid she would run away. She always leans on the window, listens to the music from the bar around the corner wishing she could go there and dance. This shows that Rafaela longs for the freedom she will never get. From time to time she asks the Esperanza to buy coconut or papaya juice for her by throwing a dollar bill down and then bringing the juice up by using a paper bag and a cloth lines. Rafaela represents the possible fate of what could become on Mango Street. Rafaela is forced to abandon her own dreams because of her husband. The only slight freedom she has is when she daydreams by the window listening to the music. Rafaela is stuck in the oppressive relationship, where her husband is in complete control, because she is only familiar with this kind of relationship. Therefore, no matter what, Rafaela is always tie...
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...arly, they all perceive writing as a way to escape from reality, as well as a way to express themselves, their dreams, and wishes.
In conclusion, “The House on Mango Street” manifests the differences between men’s and women’s roles in Mexican culture through Esperanza’s point of view. All of the female characters mentioned in the story are oppressed and overpowered by men, whether husbands, fathers, or even children. The story is both astounding and emotional, as it astonishingly reveals Esperanza’s process of growing up by observing and learning the valuable life lessons from her female neighbors. These women are portrayed as a negative role model for Esperanza. Unfortunately, most of them offer her the examples of a person she does not want to become. Yet, these women teach Esperanza many life experiences and have an important role in shaping her identity as well.
Sally is the prettiest girl at Esperanza's school, and one of Esperanza's friends. She has pretty black suede shoes that Esperanza envies. What Esperanza really envies is Sally sexual maturity, which is why she wants the suede shoes. Her next story with Sally, “The Monkey Garden” continues to emphasize this symbol. Sally and Esperanza are at the neighborhood garden when Sally starts talking to some boys. They take her keys and tells Sally she has to kiss them to get them back. Sally agrees and Esperanza runs to an adult, who doesn't seem to care. Esperanza then grabs some large sticks and a brick to fight. “But when I got there Sally said go home. Those boys said leave us alone. I felt stupid with my brick. They all looked at me as if I was the one that was crazy”(pg 97). Esperanza doesn't understand what is going on, and runs to the other side of the garden. She cries herself to sleep under a tree. When she wakes up she ends the chapter saying “I looked at my feet in their white socks and ugly round shoes. They seemed far away. They didn't seem to be my feet anymore. And the garden that had been such a good place to play didn't seem mine either”(pg 98). Esperanza doesn't recognize her feet because those are the feet of a child, the child she used to be. This event is when Esperanza realizes that she can't play in the garden anymore, or be a child. She needs to grow up, mentally and
Esperanza sees all of the women around her, and most of them are the same. The overall idea of the women on Mango Street is they are property to their husbands. They cannot do anything unless their husbands allow them to. It also starts out at a young age. The young girls like Esperanza see the women that live around them and think that is the way to live. They admire them so they start to mature faster than they should. Sally is one of them. Sally loves the attention that she gets from boys, but her father does not like that. Sally grew up and got married at a young age.
“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
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.
Esperanza was able to provide the audience with an image that was vivid of her surroundings through her diction and tone. Esperanza presents a series of stories that she deals with in her neighborhood as she grows up. Esperanza arose from poverty and always dreamt of having a house of her own. Sandra Cisneros' strong cultural and gender values have a tremendous influence on The House on Mango Street. Cisneros feels that the Mexican-American community is very abusive towards the treatment of women because men are seen as the powerful, strong figure.
“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.
The House on Mango Street is the tale about a young girl named Esperanza who is maturing throughout the text. In it Esperanza documents the events and people who make up Mango Street. It is through this community that Esperanza’s ideas and concepts of the relationships between men and women are shaped. She provides detailed accounts about the oppression of women at not only the hands of men who make up Mango Street but also how the community contributes to this oppression. As the young girls and women of Mango Street try to navigate the world they must deal with a patriarchal society that seeks to keep them confined. By growing up in this environment where women are confined Esperanza seeks desperately to depart from Mango Street for fear
The vignette “beautiful and Cruel” from The House On Mango street by Sandra Cisneros, helps the reader to visualize the personality of Esperanza as an independent thinking and non conformist girl, “ugly girl” (88), using figurative language, imagery and, descriptive language. Esperanza has an inner conflict thinking about her future role, she "decides not to grow up tame like the others who lay their necks on the threshold waiting for the ball and chain" (88). In the words “waiting for the ball and chain” the author makes Esperanza use figurative language in order to highlight her frustration and her independent personality viewing the world differently from others. Esperanza rejects the idea of being feminine and beautiful. Her mother told
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.
In The House on Mango Street, Cisneroz agitates the theme of diversity through her use of characters and setting. Cisneroz paints a multitude of events that follow a young girl named Esperanza growing up in the diverse section of Chicago. She is dealing with searching for a release from the low expectations that the Latino communities often put women whether young or old are put against. Cisneroz often draws from her life growing up that she was able to base Esperanza's life experiences on and portray an accurate view on Latino societies today. Cisneroz used the chapter “Boys and Girls” and “Beautiful and cruel” to portray Esperanzas growth from a young curious girl to a wise woman. She came into her own personal awareness and her actions that she has to now be held accountable for.
As Sandra Cisneros describe in the introduction of who Esperanza is, her vision is the same vision of most women who seek life outside a male dominant world, “Which way?” I didn’t know exactly, but I knew which routes I didn’t want to take – Sally, Rafaela, Ruthie-women whose lives were white crosses on the roadside” (xxiv). Her dreams and hopes of the non-patriarchal life doesn’t include her taking responsibility toward her family or the people she has encountered. Esperanza realizes that Mango Street, the women, and the community are just as important to her as to where she is going . She becomes accustomed with the people in her neighborhood and begins to feel affection and a sense of responsibility to come back to Mango street to bring the women and the community hope. She no longer sees herself as a woman motivated for self-determination. Instead, she identifies herself as part of community who must give back to the women of Mango street to break the cycle of the patriarchal system that plagues the neighborhood. The vignette “The Three Sisters” she speaks with the three sisters, its then when Esperanza realize that helping the neighborhood women will be a lifelong effort. “When you leave you must remember to come back for the others…You must remember to come back. For the ones who cannot leave as easily
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.
Steve Jobs once said “Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” In The House on Mango Street, a novel by Sandra Cisneros, adolescent Esperanza as she reviews her neighbors with an naïve eye and tries to understand what is happening around her. As Steve Jobs said, Esperanza learns to follow her dreams and intuitions and not pass her power to control her future to men as many on Mango Street are influenced to do. Using vignettes, Cisneros explains Esperanza’s realizations about how gender
One recurring theme in the House on Mango Street is independence. In the novel, Esperanza dreams of the day she will leave Mango Street and the oppression from men, to become truly free. However, as she matures, she begins to desire love from men. In the vignette, “Beautiful and Cruel”, Esperanza describes her admiration for the women in the movies who are beautiful, desired my men, yet retain their own power. Sally Rafaela is an important character because she teaches Esperanza that such a dream is an insurmountable challenge. At first glance Sally Rafaela embodies the traits of the movie heroines; she is gorgeous, dresses nicely, and has the attention of the boys, but as we dive deeper into her life, we discover that she is not free. Scared that Sally will run away, her abusive father dominates her life by constant and savage beatings over miniscule issues.
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.