In Sandra Cisneros’ short story, “The House on Mango Street”, she reflects on her childhood fantasy of living in a big, beautiful house, but when her family finally moved from an apartment into a house, it was not what she expected. She describes the house by saying, “But the house on Mango Street is…small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you’d think they were holding their breath. Bricks are crumbling in places…[and] there is no front yard” (Cisneros 4). This image is the opposite of what Cisneros expected from the dream house that her parents promised her, and reflects her disappointment and realization that her childhood dream would never come true. While Cisneros’ short story is extremely short, it gives a detailed description of what she expected from the house of her dreams. Cisneros describes how she had to leave the …show more content…
flat that she used to live in with her Mama, Papa, and siblings, Carlos, Kiki, and Nenny, because the water pipes broke and their landlord would not fix them. Cisneros was excited to move at first but was then very disappointed by their new home. In the house of her dreams, she wanted running water, a staircase like the staircases in movies, three bathrooms, and a huge yard. The house that her family purchased was nothing like this. The outside had crumbled brick and there was no yard; Cisneros was also saddened by the ordinary stairs, the one bathroom in the house, and that everyone had to share a bedroom. Towards the end of the story she reflects on how she was always ashamed of where she lived. By writing the short story in the first person tense, Cisneros truly showed the reader her emotions and sadness about her living conditions as a child. The story does not explain why Cisneros’ family has always had poor living conditions. Cisneros’ mother, however, tries to keep her children’s spirits up and often tells them stories about moving out of the flat. She uses vast imagery to tell her children about the house she has been imagining they would all live in. Cisneros remembers her mother dreaming up a beautiful house that “…would have real stairs, not hallway stairs, but stairs inside like the houses on T.V…and at least three washrooms...Our house would be white with trees around it, a great big yard and grass growing without a fence” (Cisneros 4). By doing this, her mother made her believe that when they moved out of a flat and into a house like the one on Mango Street, it would be just like this. It is easy to understand why Cisneros was so disappointed when she saw that their new house was just as disheveled and shabby as their previous apartment. While her mother made a miscalculation, and probably did believe that they would live in a big beautiful house, this led to enormous amounts of grief and regret for Sandra and all of her siblings. Sandra’s feelings towards the place that she lives have always been feelings of shame, which is probably why she dreams of having a big home to be proud of.
Towards the end of the story, Cisneros looks back on a day that she was playing in the front of the building she was living in on Loomis. A nun from her school passed by and saw the neglected condition of the building. Cisneros and her family lived on the third floor; on the first floor was a laundromat that had just been robbed and boarded up. When the nun asked her where she lived, she said “there” and pointed up to the third floor; the nun was shocked and repeated the word “there”. Cisneros remembers how she felt about the way the nun reacted by saying, “There. I had to look to where she pointed—the third floor, the paint peeling, wooden bars Papa had nailed on the windows so we wouldn’t fall out. You live there? The way she said it made me feel like nothing” (5). This feeling of nothingness about her old apartment and the other places where she has lived pushed Sandra to imagine this amazing place, but after seeing her new home her dreams were
shattered. It can also be observed that Sandra wanted the house on Mango Street to be everything she dreamed of because of how frequently they moved around. Cisneros remembers this by saying, “We didn’t always live on Mango Street. Before that we lived on Loomis…and before that we lived on Keeler. Before Keeler it was Paulina, and before that I can’t remember” (3). Always moving around clearly made her feeling of nothingness more and more prevalent in everyday life. She reflects on the fact that her Papa promised her siblings and her that one day they would stop moving around every year and that they could do what they wanted in their own house. She wanted to be able to not worry about making too much noise and making the landlord angry, and didn’t want to have to share a yard with anyone. When they moved into Mango Street, Cisneros realized that they hadn’t made any progress at all, and that her fathers promises were just words to make her feel better at the time. Promises and hope are wonderful things, but when they go unanswered it can be devastating to one’s spirits. Cisneros realized at the end of the short story that she had to grow up realize that her family would always be too poor to afford the home of their dreams. She reflected at the end of the novel and said, “Temporary, says Papa. But I know how those things go” (5). Accepting the fact that their home would always be shameful contributes to Cisneros’ adulthood and maturity.
The House on Mango Street is a novel by Sandra Cisneros. It is set in a poor, Latino neighborhood around 1960. The main character, Esperanza, is expected to get married in order to support herself. However, Esperanza strives for independence, and seeks to end the cycle of abusive patriarchy that holds Mango Street in thrall. Through the use of syntax and figurative language, Cisneros establishes that a sense of not belonging can fuel an individual’s desire for a better future.
The House on Mango Street, a fictional book written by Sandra Cisneros is a book filled with many hidden messages. The book revolves around a young girl named Esperanza who feels out of place with the life she has. She sees that the things around her don’t really add up. The story is told from Esperanza’s perspective and the events she goes through to find herself. Through the strategy of fragmenting sentences, Cisneros establishes that the sense of not belonging, creates a person’s individuality that makes them who they are.
Esperanza, the main character of The House on Mango Street, a novella written by Sandra Cisneros in 1984, has always felt like she didn’t belong. Esperanza sought a different life than the ones that people around her were living. She wanted to be in control of her life, and not be taken away by men as so many others around her had. Esperanza wanted to move away from Mango Street and find the house, and life she had always looked for. Through the use of repetition, Sandra Cisneros conveys a sense of not belonging, that can make a person strong enough to aspire to a better life.
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.
“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
Esperanza wishes she could change where she lives. Even though Esperanza moved to a nicer house, she still does not like the house on Mango Street. Esperanza’s parents made the house they were moving to seem luxurious. Upon arrival, Esperanza realized “the house of Mango Street is not the way they told it at all. It’s small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you’d think they were holding their breath” (4). Even though the house on Mango Street is an improvement, it is still not good enough for Esperanza. Esperanza says, “I knew I had to have a house. A real house. One I could point to. But this isn’t. the house on Mango Street isn’t it” (5). She dreams of one day having a bigger and better house. The new and improved house will be a place for others to come and stay, “some days after dinner, guests and I will sit in front of a fire. Floorboards will squeak upstairs. The attic grumble. Rats? They’ll ask. Bums I’ll say, and I’ll be happy” (87). Dreaming of moving to a new house not only gives Esperanza the feeling of control and independence, but makes her
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.
Cisneros uses descriptive words particularly well when she says, “At night Nenny and I can hear when Earl comes home from work. First the click and whine of the car door opening, then the scrape of concrete, the excited tinkling of dog tags, followed by the heavy jingling of keys, and finally the moan of the wooden door as it opens and lets loose its sigh of dampness” (71). The use of descriptive words in this passage gives readers a great mental image. It is easy to tell where Esperanza is and what she is experiencing. In this specific passage, Cisneros uses words that correspond with human senses. This keeps readers engaged in the book and keeps them reading. Imagery in this book helps readers know what Esperanza is going
Sandra Cisneros's writing style in the novel The House on Mango Street transcends two genres, poetry and the short story. The novel is written in a series of poetic vignettes that make it easy to read. These distinguishing attributes are combined to create the backbone of Cisneros's unique style and structure.
“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.
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
Each part contains short stories within them. These all consist of a heartwarming girl, Esperanza,who matures into a woman and how she faces these gender roles through love and violence. Cisneros alters the name Esperanza with Chayo, Rachel, Lupe, Ines, and Clemenica, to explain differences between them along with to give the story more lewd effectiveness. Sandra Cisnero's main focus throughout the novel was identity. Cisneros starts off in the first section (“My Lucy Friend Who Smells Like Corn), narrating as a young child and further matures into the final section (There was a Man, There was a Woman)....
“Home is where the heart is.” In The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros develops this famous statement to depict what a “home” really represents. What is a home? Is it a house with four walls and a roof, the neighborhood of kids while growing up, or a unique Cleaver household where everything is perfect and no problems arise? According to Cisneros, we all have our own home with which we identify; however, we cannot always go back to the environment we once considered our dwelling place. The home, which is characterized by who we are, and determined by how we view ourselves, is what makes every individual unique. A home is a personality, a depiction of who we are inside and how we grow through our life experiences. In her personal, Cisneros depicts Esperanza Cordero’s coming-of-age through a series of vignettes about her family, neighborhood, and personalized dreams. Although the novel does not follow a traditional chronological pattern, a story emerges, nevertheless, of Esperanza’s search to discover the meaning of her life and her personal identity. The novel begins when the Cordero family moves into a new house, the first they have ever owned, on Mango Street in the Latino section of Chicago. Esperanza is disappointed by the “small and red” house “with tight steps in front and bricks crumbling in places” (5). It is not at all the dream-house her parents had always talked about, nor is it the house on a hill that Esperanza vows to one day own for herself. Despite its location in a rough neighborhood and difficult lifestyle, Mango Street is the place with which she identifies at this time in her life.
In class we read the book House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, the main character Esperanza lives in a lower working class neighborhood and street called Mango Street dealing with poverty. Her house is an important symbol in House on Mango Street. It represents Eperanza’s process of maturing as a person and the change in her perspective of poverty and struggle being shameful, to it being something to embrace and use as motivation. This is a very important part of the story because it is in many aspects where we are from that make us who we become. This is interesting to see in the book as her opinions and perspective of things inside and outside of her neighborhood are shaped by her experiences.
Lakshmi is twelve years old and has lived her whole life in poverty and in a small village on a mountain in Nepal. She has a mother named Ama, a baby brother, a lazy gambler for a stepfather, and a cherished goat named Tali. She still has hope and dreams to continue to be the number one girl in her class at school and earn money as a maid in the city like her school friend Gita, so her family won't be so poor. The monsoons that last for 40 days hits Lakshmi’s mountain village. It kills everyone of their crops and leaves them unable to make money and desperate.