More handpicked essays just for you.
What are the effects of poverty on children
What are the effects of poverty on children
What are the effects of poverty on children
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In “The House on Mango Street” the author Sandra Cisneros explores the ins and outs of a girl living in a neighborhood of poverty. The main character of the book experiences may things that ultimately shape her into the person she wants to become. Through the book Cisneros explains the experiences out of a person’s control creates a foundation for what they value in life by having Esperanza move houses, go through a traumatic event, and have social normalities forced upon her. Esperanza is first influenced by an experience out of her control when she is forced to uproot from her previous home and move to a new house on Mango Street. Her initial idea of the house was that it was just another house; falling apart like the ones before with, …show more content…
She is influenced by her society to grow up and be a wife to a husband, while her mother tells her how she has to look saying that her, “dusty hair will settle” and that her “blouse will learn to stay clean”(88). However that’s not what she wants. From all of the times of people telling her what to do she realizes she doesn’t want to be like how the world wants her to act. Esperanza states, “I have begun my own quiet war. Simple. Sure. I am the one who leaves the table like a man, without putting back the chair or picking up the plate.”(89) She acts this way to prove she’s her own person, that she doesn’t want to be like everyone else, and that she has her own values. She values being independent and that she can make her own decisions. Esperanza has built up a defiance towards all that she’s been told to do. Overall, Esperanza experienced multiple events that shaped her into the person she is. The experiences she had built the foundation for what she values by exposing her to the world around her. By moving to the house on Mango Street and experiencing the traumatic events along with the social norms Esperanza became the person she wanted to be even when the circumstances weren’t in her
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
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
This novel is a story of a Chicano family. Sofi, her husband Domingo together with their four daughters – Esperanza, Fe, Caridad, and Loca live in the little town of Tome, New Mexico. The story focuses on the struggles of Sofi, the death of her daughters and the problems of their town. Sofi endures all the hardships and problems that come her way. Her marriage is deteriorating; her daughters are dying one by one. But, she endures it all and comes out stronger and more enlightened than ever. Sofi is a woman that never gives up no matter how poorly life treats her. The author- Ana Castillo mixes religion, super natural occurrences, sex, laughter and heartbreak in this novel. The novel is tragic, with no happy ending but at the same time funny and inspiring. It is full of the victory of the human spirit. The names of Sofi’s first three daughters denote the three major Christian ideals (Hope, Faith and Charity).
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.
“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.
Sandra Cisneros born on December 20, 1954 grew up in Chicago settling with a neighborhood known with Hispanic immigrants. Until then her migrating with her six brothers, from different communities in Chicago, and visiting her grandmother in Mexico, she has never really make ones home in. Being the only girl with no sisters, Cisneros only way that would deprive her from loneliness, is by reading books where she found her talents in writing. Fast forwarding to college Sandra Cisneros worked on her master’s degree at University of Iowa Writers Workshop where found her interest as Mexican-American woman with a self-reliant passion and how being a Hispanic were different in the American culture.
Although Esperanza is constantly reaffirming that she wants to move away from Mango Street, we know by the end novel that she will one day return to help those who will not have the opportunities Esperanza has had in her life. Indeed, in the closing pages Esperanza admits that she cannot escape Mango Street. She can never again call it home, but it has influenced her dreams, formed her personality, and she has learned valuable life lessons from its inhabitants. That is why, explains Esperanza, she tells stories about the house on Mango Street, revealing the beauty amidst dirty streets and unveiling her true inner self, the peace of knowing that her “home is where her heart is.”
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.
The story starts out with the narrator, Esperanza Cordero, talking about her house and how she got there. Esperanza explains that she hasn’t always lived on Mango Street. She lived in many apartments before getting her house, although she is not happy with her house. It wasn’t what she imagined at all. Her parents say the house is only temporary, but Esperanza knows the truth. She knows she will be there a long time and she doesn’t want to be there. Esperanza feels out of place in her neighborhood and this theme continues throughout the book. She is ashamed of where she lives, but she’ll ride it out until she is old enough to get out. It is very obvious in the end of the book when Alicia tells Esperanza that the house of Mango Street is always her house. "No this isn’t my house," Esperanza says and shake my head as if shaking could undo the year I’ve lived here. "I don’t belong. I don’t ever want to come from here." At the end of the story, you hear about the house of her dreams and her promise to get out of ...
When Esperanza first introduces herself, she uses words like “lazy” (8) to describe her hair, and says her name sounds as if it were “made of tin and hurt the roof of your mouth” (11). Esperanza views herself in a negative light that is influenced by the opinions of the world around her. She is not confident in herself and her own unique abilities because she does not fit into the mold of a woman conforming to the expectations of society. Esperanza feels she does not belong in the traditional stereotypes of society, and consequently she finds and develops her own abilities,
When Esperanza’s family lived on the third floor of a building that looked terribly unlivable prior to the house on Mango Street, a nun asked Esperanza if that’s where she lived while pointing at the building. Esperanza felt worthless as she confirmed the answer. Therefore she wrote, “I knew then I had to have a house. A real house. One I could point to. But this isn’t it. The house on Mango Street isn’t it. For the time being, Mama says. Temporary, says Papa. But I know how those things go.” Through this quote, Esperanza revealed her determination to have her own house of which she will not be ashamed to show, but there is also a hint of detachment. Esperanza described the house on Mango Street as, “It’s small and red with tight steps in front and the windows so small you’d think they were holding their breath. Bricks crumbling in places, and the front door is so swollen you have to push hard to get in…And the house has only one washroom. Everybody has to share a bedroom…” Giving the house humane physical features, Esperanza painted her dislike for this house clearly in the appearance and comfort aspects. Hence, she detached herself emotionally from this structure because in her world, her house will be beautiful. It will be her retreat and her space, where it will be filled with her belongings along with tranquility. “One day I’ll own
The House on Mango Street are a collection of vignettes written by Sandra Cisneros of her childhood. Cisneros vignettes shows the readers her childhood experiences of a young, inquisitive girl who then blossoms into a independent woman in Mango Street. They range from friendship and family values to scary experiences, but all of her vignettes convey a theme that she tries to express to her audience. One constant moral, Cisneros exhibits to her audience, is the entrapment of females in Mango Street. The author portrays many of the women in either abusive and submissive relationships, waiting for men to change their lives, and some very few wanting to change their life by themselves. The women in The House on Mango Street perceive beauty as
Speaking through her memories as a child growing up in poverty, she tells stories of Esperanza and her friend’s problems at home, discrimination of Latinos and other colored people, along with the mistreatment of women. The book is so meaningful that after reading it, one should not expect to attain the same idealism as the next person. Cisneros does such a good job of making it a book for everyone that it appeals to each individual in its own special way. “The House on Mango Street” is not only the story of Esperanza Cordero, but anyone, who grew up without all the opportunities that one should be so fortunate to have, yet never stop fighting for what they believe in and continue to strive towards their
The story of Esperanza in The House On Mango Street is similar to that of the evolution of a caterpillar to a butterfly. She goes from being a vain, proud, selfish, immature, arrogant yet still sympathetical, child to a selfless, kind, magnanimous young lady. The people, places and experiences that revolutionized her into that is clearly articulated throughout the novel, sometimes obviously, other times inconspicuously.