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Women's role in literature
Women's role in literature
Women Inequality in Literature
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Esperanza is mature for her age because she demonstrates an understanding of poverty, race, and gender roles despite her living situation and her insecurities about her appearance. Esperanza expresses her maturity when she shows her sense of what’s right and what’s wrong. She knows what’s beneficial and appropriate for her own age. Esperanza shows her knowledge towards poverty when she makes the decision of taking matters into her own hands, so she’s able to succeed in the future. She thinks about her education and decides to “find an easy job, the kids other kids had, working in the dime store, or maybe a hot dog stand” (53). Esperanza can be able to go to Catholic school, which provides a better education and doesn’t have to depend on her parents to pay for her to go to school. She is aware of their living situation that is not fully figured out yet. …show more content…
Esperanza explains how Mamacita “sits all day by the window and plays the Spanish country” (77). Esperanza expresses the emotions that Mamacita feels since she is homesick and doesn’t fit into the new society she was brought into. Instead of shaming Mamacita for the way she acts and the way she feels, Esperanza takes into consideration the hardship of being a person of color in an environment that doesn’t accept her for who she
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
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros is about a girl who struggles finding her true self. Esperanza sees the typical figures like Sally and Rafaela. There is also her neighbor Marin shows the “true” identity for women on Mango Street. She also sees her mother is and is not like that at the same time. The main struggle that Esperanza has is with beauty. This explains why most of the negative people that Esperanza meets on Mango Street, and her gender, helped her see the mold she needed to fill in order to give herself an identity.
Esperanza is a young girl who struggles with feelings of loneliness and feeling that she doesn’t fit in because she is poor. She always wanted to fit in with the other kids and feel like she was one of them. She loves to write because it helps her feel better about herself writing about her life and her community. Writing helps her with
Esperanza begins as a very wealthy girl in Mexico, and doesn’t think about how lucky she is to have the privileges that she has. She can have almost anything she wants and has to do little work. Esperanza barely even thinks about the lower classes. They are not part of her life. But when her ranch is burned down and her father killed, she has to leave Mexico and enter the United States as an illegal immigrant. But by doing so, she is forced into contact with many people far less wealthy and well-off than her. When Esperanza enters Zacatecas to board the train, she is surprised that they are not in the fancy section. Instead, they are in a car with peasants and beggars. “Esperanza had never been so close to so many peasants before. When she went to school, all of her friends were like her. When she went to town, she was escorted and hurried around any beggars. And the peasants always kept their distance. That was simply the way it was. She couldn’t help but wonder if they would steal her things.” (p. 67). Esperanza has an obvious suspicion of the peasants during her train ride. She tells her mother that she cannot travel in this car , and that the people didn’t look trustworthy. A little bit into the trainride ...
Esperanza, a Chicano with three sisters and one brother, has had a dream of having her own things since she was ten years old. She lived in a one story flat that Esperanza thought was finally a "real house". Esperanza’s family was poor. Her father barely made enough money to make ends meet. Her mother, a homemaker, had no formal education because she had lacked the courage to rise above the shame of her poverty, and her escape was to quit school. Esperanza felt that she had the desire and courage to invent what she would become.
This is one of the most important chapters because this is where Esperanza shows that she is growing up from a girl to a woman. Esperanza says that someday she “wants to be all new and shiny.” She says that she wants to sit out bad and have a boy hanging all over her. I find this interesting because I’m sure that everyone goes through something like this where we want to be rebellious and defy our parents. These are just some of the signs that Esperanza does not want to accept what her parents say is law, and she wants to try out some things of her own. For example, in the beginning of the chapter, Esperanza does not say that Sire is a punk, her father does. With children, this is not a good way to be. This just makes Sire seem exciting and sparks Esperanza’s interest to be around him.
When Esperanza’s mother has to go to the hospital I wonder if her depression will get worse if she is away from her family. It is so sad that Esperanza feels like she failed her mother. That must be the worst feeling. I think that the mother is going to die and I don’t know how Esperanza is going to take care of herself. It is impressive that she starts to work.
Women are seen as failure and can’t strive without men in the Mexican-American community. In this novel you can see a cultural approach which examines a particular aspect of a culture and a gender studies approach which examines how literature either perpetuates or challenges gender stereotypes. Over and over, Esperanza battled with how people perceived her and how she wished to be perceived. In the beginning of the book, Esperanza speaks of all the times her family has moved from one place to another. “Before that we lived on Loomis on the third floor, and before that we lived on Keeler.
The first challenge that Esperanza faced as an immigrant was she did not know how to do daily chores.”La Cenicienta! Cinderella! She laughed. Burning with humiliation, Esperanza dropped the broome and ran back to camp,” page (117). Esperanza was so embarrassed that Marta called her out for not being able to do chores, and she ran back to camp.”I said I could work. I told Mama I could help, but I can’t even sweep the floors.” page (117). Esperanza is having trouble doing chores, because all she can think about is Mama. Also she has always had servants to do her chores. Esperanza has grown up now, and mama is back, so she is a pro at doing chores. She Also has people to help her now with her
Esperanza is relying on her childhood to help her through life she feels like “a red balloon tied to an anchor” (9,1,3) This passage describes that Esperanza singles herself out for her differences instead of her similarities and she knows it. She also sees her differences as a source of her isolating herself. She floats in the sky for all of the rest of us to see, dangling from a string. Esperanza is longing on for an escape like a balloon similar to her experiences with our society. However against the face that Cisneroz gives her a light voice, doesn't mean that it's not just as strong and
matter how hard people wish on a star or on a candle, the wishes never seemed to be
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
When Esperanza was starting to mature, she started to like guys and cared about what she wore. Esperanza was suppose to go to a dance, but she refuses to dance because she thought her heels were ugly. Another scene that shows the theme “loss of innocence” was when Esperanza got her first job. During her job, she met a man and they started to talk about the man’s birthday and he asked for a birthday kiss. When Esperanza went to go kiss him in the face, he grabbed her face and kissed her on the mouth and doesn't let go (Cisneros 55). As the result of this, Esperanza matures emotionally because she cares about how she looks and physically because she is growing
At first, Esperanza is young, insecure, and immature. Her immaturity is apparent when she talks about her mom holding her, saying it is, “sweet to put your nose into when she is holding you and you feel safe” (Cisneros 6-7). This shows Esperanza’s insecurity because her mom is still a big comfort source to her. She feels a false sense of comfort because her mom is there and will protect her. In addition, Esperanza’s immaturity is shown through her dislike for outsiders of the neighborhood when she says, “They are stupid people who are lost and got here by mistake” (Cisneros 28). This indicates how defensive and protective Esperanza is towards her barrio by calling outsiders stupid for reacting the way they do, even though she dislikes Mango Street....
The idea of the alienated artist is very common in feminist works. Esperanza, the protagonist, is alienated from the rest of society in many ways. Her Latino neighborhood seems to be excluded from the rest of the world, while Esperanza is also separated from the other members of her community. Members of other cultures are afraid to enter the neighborhood because they believe it is dangerous. Esperanza seems to be the only one who refuses to just accept Mango Street, and she dreams of someday leaving it behind. She is considered an artist because she has an extremely creative imagination which creates a conflict with the type of liberal individuality she seeks. This creative "genius survives even under the most adverse conditions..." (Gagnier 137). To escape the pain of this division, Esperanza turns to writing. She says, "I put it down on paper and then the ghost does not ache so much" (Cisneros 110). Gagnier sees a "distinction of the writer who nonetheless sees herself as somehow different, separate..." (137).