In many cases, girls are pushed to grow up and leave their childhood behind at a young age. This is especially true in Sandra Cisneros The House on Mango Street. The culture that is portrayed in this small latino community in Chicago shows most of its women being dragged into adulthood no matter how young or ready. These adolescent girls are forced to grow up far too quickly.
Sexual maturity is a major milestone in the grow of a youth. It marks the point in one’s life where he/she has put his/her early years behind him/herself. On Mango Street, this point is untimely for most. There are girls like Sally who make the choice to leave these moments behind though. Sally is a friend of Esperanza who seeks love from boys on the street because she does not receive any from her father at home. An instance of this is when some boys took her keys, “One of Tito’s friends
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said you can’t get the keys back unless you kiss us and Sally pretended to be mad at first but she said yes. It was that simple,” (96). She is only in middle school yet she is kissing boys just because they ask her to. Then before she is even in eighth grade she gets married to a business man. Sally not only looks for love since it is not at home but also seeks it because it is expected of her. Those boys would not have asked her to kiss them if they did not think that she was going to do it. Ultimately she is the one who is responsible for her sexual maturity because, even though it is a part of her culture to grow in this way, she made those choices herself. While some girls choose to grow in their sexual maturity, others are forced into it. Esperanza does not like the way Sally lets the boys treat her or how it feels to have that kind of attention from men. She knows that what Sally is doing is wrong, “I don’t know why, but something inside me wanted to throw a stick. Something wanted to say no when I watched Sally going into the garden with Tito’s buddies all grinning… Only how come I felt angry inside. Like something wasn’t right,”(96-97). But when Esperanza tries to save Sally from the boys, she is told to go away. She is made to feel stupid and wrong for going against the normal process of growing up on Mango Street. Eventually sex is pushed onto her, “What he did. Where he touched me. I didn’t want it, Sally,” (99). The author is showing that after one fights against his/her culture for long enough, that person either escapes it or is forced into it. In Esperanza’s case she is thrusted into a level of sexual maturity that she did not want nor was ready for. Not everyone wants to conform to the culture around them but some do involuntarily. Growing up is more than just sexual.
It pertains to one’s emotional and psychological development as well. Mango Street does not let kids stay kids for long. After Esperanza’s grandmother dies she is burdened with the responsibility of telling her siblings and comforting her father, “Because I am the oldest, my father has told me first, and now it is my turn to tell the others. I will have to explain why we can’t play. I will have to tell them to be quiet today,” (56-57). It should be her parents who do this but she is to does anyways. Another example of this is another girl named Minerva who is just a little older than Esperanza. She is already a mother of two with a husband who keeps leaving. The level of maturing it takes to become a mother is tremendous. But the stress of this can be too much sometimes, “Her mother raised her kids alone and it looks like her daughters will go that way too. Minerva cries because her luck is unlucky. Every night and every day. And prays,” (84). A girl her age is not ready for the responsibility of motherhood yet because of the culture, she is forced to accept her
fate.
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.
I believe Esperanza thinks she is an ugly daughter because she is not like she is expected to be, and she does not want to be. Her hair is always messy and she always gets her clothes dirty. A quote from the book goes as follows: "Nenny says she won‘t wait her whole life for a husband to come and get her, that Minerva‘s sister left her mother‘s house by having a baby, but she doesn‘t want to go that way either. She wants things all her own, to pick and choose. Nenny has pretty eyes and it‘s easy to talk that way if you are pretty." I believe this quote supports the idea that Esperanza thinks she is not pretty. I think Esperanza believes that she is taking the most different route to independence, which is acting like a man. She says she leaves
In the society that Esperanza and her friends live in, love takes a back seat
Cisneros depicts Mango Street as a rough neighborhood, but she also conveys a sense of community. She writes down that “we are safe,” (Cisneros, 28) to indicate that she can find the sense of community. Even if the author does not think she belongs to Mango Street, she does not deny that her community lives there. At the beginning of The House on Mango Street, Cisneros states that “I had to have a house. A real house,” (Cisneros, 5) illustrating that after knowing the American society’s evaluation criteria of success, she wants to follow the upward mobility and be viewed as a successful figure not only because she wants to be appreciated but also because white people will change their stereotypes of Hispanic people if they see that a Hispanic woman can be as successful as other whites. Her ambition triggers her to want to explore the meaning of being a Hispanic girl in the real world. Furthermore, in the “My name” session, the author depicts her great-grandmother’s life. “She looked out the window her whole life… but I don’t want to inherit her place by the window.” (Cisneros, 11) Cisneros wants a marriage formed because of love, like most white people do; her desire indicates that she wants to live like the whites, so that they will respect her and the Hispanic race later. In addition, Cisneros points out that she
laughter obnoxiously loud and out of unison. Below the surface of the quote, the quote
Conflicts are a part of many peoples' everyday lives. Some are big and some are small. Some involve death and some involve an argument. The purpose or argument for my topic is to prove that all conflicts/problems are important and everyone has a conflict at some point in their life. My thesis states that a conflict is some kind of a problem or quarrel; many people have these, no matter what age or race. My 1st reason is that people might have mixed feelings about your conflict, but you won't. For example, Esperanza says, "Bricks are crumbling in places and the front door is swollen you have to push hard to get in" (4). This quote illustrates that Esperanza's house is a problem because it's old and falling apart. Some people might not think that this is a conflict because they themselves might not have a house at all!!! However, some people might want to help. My next reason is, as you get older, your conflicts might get bigger. Esperanza says, "Aunt Lala said she found a job for me and to show up tomorrow saying I was a year older" (54). This shows that it is hard for Esperanza to get a job without lying. Obviously, she is too young to have a job. My last reason is death and abuse are major conflicts because they hurt people physically and emotionally. For example, Sally is having a very hard life, "Sally got married she likes being married except sometimes her husband gets mad and once he broke a door she is afraid to go outside without his permission" (101-102). This shows that Sally is having a big conflict and its hurting her personal life.
In The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros tells the story of a young girl named Esperanza living in Chicago. The story begins with Esperanza and her family moving into their new house on Mango Street. This house is made of crumbling red brick, and isn’t what Esperanza had hoped for when she envisioned a new house. As the story continues in a series of vignettes, a more complex theme begins to emerge. Cisneros suggests in a refection on her own experiences that being subjected to sexism and viewed in a sexual way is a negative influence. This becomes evident in the young girl's’ actions in “The House of Little Feet,” Marin’s actions in “Marin,” and Esperanza being forcefully kissed by her coworker in “The First
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros puts in perspective what it is like to grow up in a Latino neighborhood. Esperanza Cordero, the protagonist, is a young Chicana that lives in a Latino neighborhood in the city of Chicago. Esperanza comes from a big family that is constantly on the move from house to house until they get to the house on Mango Street. The neighborhood that Esperanza and her family find themselves in is one where the opportunities are low. In The House on Mango Street, the setting impacts Esperanza’s views on roles of women, violence, and the economy in the Hispanic culture.
In the novel, The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros describes the problems that Latino women face in a society that treats them as second class citizens. A society that is dominated by men, and a society that values women for what they look like, and not for what is on inside. In her Novel Cisneros wants us to envision the obstacles that Latino women must face everyday in order to be treated equally.
Never be afraid to start over.many immigrants had to leave everything and everyone they knew to go to a new land.Esperanza ortega from Esperanza Rising by Pam munoz Ryan is no different. She was forced to leave her began her difficult new life.While Esperanza began her life with no worries, as she got older she had to deal with challenges such as mama getting sick with valley fever and not knowing how to work in the fields.
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros with all respect is not my favorite book out of our curriculum, but it was enjoyable to read. During this year we had learned about literary elements that can help us enhance the story. To us younger readers, it may be easier to connect to since its mostly a journey of self discovery. Along with this, The House On Mango Street was different to read because its writing style made you think more about the structural form rather than just the words. The author leads you into a journey of
In Sandra Cisneros’ novel, “The House on Mango Street,” Ezperanza Cordero relates her day-to-day experiences as she enters adolescence in a poor urban neighborhood. She introduces her family and friends, presenting their stories and giving a full picture of the community by doing so. The reader sees her grow significantly during the year – from a child content in the many adventures offered by the small Latino neighborhood
n Chicago, Illinois, in the 1980’s, there is a 12 year old girl named Esperanza Cordero. She and her family have recently moved to a new house on Mango Street. Esperanza and her family were forced to move out after the water pipe in the apartment broke. The landlord of the apartment did not want to fix the water pipe. Esperanza does not like the new house; it is not big and fancy. All six of her family have have to share one bedroom. Mama and Papa said the house is temporary, but Esperanza does not believe her parents.
Recently i stumbled upon a book called the house on mango street, by Sandra cisneros. The fictional novel follows the life of Esperanza Cordero, a young latina living in a neighborhood in Chicago.The novel is full of surprises, each one describing a certain event that Esperanza goes through. From her shamefully eating a rice cake alone at her private school, to driving a stolen car, to being cat called by older men just because she wore heels, to having her sister get married at 14 and in eighth grade, Esperanza’s life is a spiral of tragic events that causes her to mature. For example Esperanza strolls around the street in heels followed by two other young girls, and is signaled over by a bum. When he asked for a kiss, Esperanza is able to
Imagine constantly moving from place to place and never been able to consider somewhere “home”, while trying to defy the perception that people have about your neighborhood. Imagine living in an area in where you are discouraged from following your dreams and that you are never allowed to leave this place because everybody will be mad at you or cannot believe you cannot succed. These two stories unfold in The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. The novels describe how young adolescents try to defy their destinies by pursuing the unexpected. The protagonists, Esperanza and Junior, disprove the negative attitudes that others have of them and their cultures by showing