The House On Mango Street Cisneros Essay

Introduction: The House On Mango Street is a series of short vignettes, written by Sandra Cisneros. In the book, Cisneros beings by telling us how she lived in a house, but not “her house”. One day she will have a house of her own. She lived in a poor hispanic neighborhood, in Chicago. She introduces us to her friends and family, and the impact they have in her life. The author was born in Chicago, Illinois on December 20, 1954. She was one of seven children and the only daughter. Caramelo is another of Cisneros’s popular books. Sandra Cisneros’ novels are inspired by her Mexican heritage and her Latina experience in the United States. Sandra Cisneros has received numerous awards for her work, including the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 1995 and the Texas Medal of the Arts Award in 2003.

Review of Literature: In

the article “Language and Identity in Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street”, Adriane Ferreira Veras talks about The House On Mango Street as an extraordinary book that shows the world the struggles of a Chicana writer trying to fit in. She explains how Sandra Cisneros created Esperanza, because she wanted to portray to the real world the issues Sandra had to face growing up. Adriane Ferreira Veras graduated with a doctorate, masters and bachelors degree in Literature. Dr. Ferreira Veras was born Brazil and is the assistant professor at the Universidade Estadual Vale do Acaraú, where she is also the Coordinator of Programs and Projects of Extension Pro-rectory, as well as a Coordinator of Sub-project Portuguese Literature - at the University of Vale do Acaraú, in Brazil.
Literary Theory: Literary theories are basic ways of being able to view one another cultures. Marxism is a process of thinking called a “material dialect”. Marxist theory is based on the economic base rather than the ideal structure of politics. The House On Mango Street was based off of Sandra Cisneros live. Esperanza had to mature during her childhood due to the circumstances she lived in, her community did not accept making Esperanza feel like an outsider, and her lastly Esperanza wanted to forget Mango Street knowing she will always be a part of it. In the book Esperanza goes through a set challenges that helped her become mature as a young teenager. These challenges help the reader get a better understanding through a Marxist point of view: Esperanza has a hard time fitting in the community, she is trying to escape the house on Mango Street, and deals with oppression because of her gender. Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street, can be analyzed using Marxist theory in three kinds of power: class, gender, and economic.
Body Paragraph 1: “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” Esperanza said repeatedly. She was to even point to her house when people asked where did she lived. Esperanza was born Chicago, but her parents were not. She is considered what is known to be a Chicana. Coming from another country, automatically categorizes someone in the lower class. Esperanza represented the Chicanos. Migrating from a new country, means starting over: new house, new job, new schools, new life. Esmeralda’s parents moved to the United States, and had 4 children. All her siblings had to share rooms with one another; boys and girls lived in separate worlds. Esmeralda’s parents wanted to give their children the best, the things they could not have growing up. Her parents had dreams too. “I could’ve been somebody you know? My mother says and sighs.” Her mother speaks two languages, can sing opera, knows the city well, and is talented in different ways.

Esmeralda’s mother was making oatmeal as she is talking with her daughter. She tells her to keep in mind her relatives as an example for not staying in school. As she stirs the pot of oatmeal, she explains to Esmeralda that she could have been somebody, but she was ashamed she did not have clothes. She was a smart cookie.
Everyone has dreams, but are not able to reach them. Her mother wanted Esmeralda to become someone no matter the circumstances they lived in. In the article written about the book, Adriane Ferreira Veras mentions the difference between the majority and minority groups. “Since the opportunity to use the language of a specific group is limited in society…”, immigrants coming into a new country is hard for them to fit in. Therefore the language and other barriers are restricted to them. In “Chicana "belonging" in Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street”, the author states that Cisneros wanted to leave Mango Street she pitied, but at the same time she “feared to leave its boundaries, and this is due to feeling threatened and insecure.”
Body Paragraph 2: The House on Mango Street was published in 1984.

Different cultures have different standards for women. In the Mexican culture women were expected to be housewives. Cisneros’ father did not like her daughter writing books, because he did not think she was going to be successful. Until the day she called her father and told her that her book was published. “Not a man’s house. Not a daddy’s. A house all on my own…My books and my stories. ”(Cisneros 108). Throughout the book, Cisneros feminized all of the women characters but Esperanza. Esperanza wanted to be independent, she did not want to become like the women in her neighborhood that depended on men. Dr. Adriane Ferreira Veras clarifies that:

Men and women live in different worlds in the community. In Sandra Cisneros’s book she basically writes about a woman who wants to be independent. That breaks the “rule” that Mexican-Americans have in their culture. Authors who decide to betray their heritage by writing are called pochos, or are anglicized from the community. Esperanza turned to writing as a way to escape and not be forced to rely on a man like some of her friends

do.
It is like if all the women in the book are trapped. They are trapped inside their houses, being told what to do by the community. Communities have expectations for woman, if not followed then they would be talked down. They will be called negative things, and not be accepted into the communities. Coming from a Mexican heritage it is considered to be disrespectful to go against their beliefs. Esperanza wanted to leave Mango Street, so she could finally have a “home of her own”, she wanted to be different.
Body Paragraph 3: In The House on Mango Street, Esperanza faces many issues that are common to this day. Poverty was common for Esperanza, she did not have the nice luxury her classmates had; with working water or a room of her own. In Esperanza’s school, only the “special kids” were allowed to eat in the cafeteria while everyone else had to go eat at their homes. One day her mom wrote the nun a letter explaining that she it was too far for Esperanza to walk home and the nun did not allow it. “That one? Esperanza pointed to a row of ugly three-flats...ashamed to go into…”. Esmeralda despised her home, she was embarrassed to show people that she lived there. Dr. Ferreira Veras review article over The House on Mango Street, she explains:
Esperanza disliked the house she lived in and wanted to have a house on her own one day. Her parents told her that it was just for now. How Cisneros offers not a return to home but a way out of the oppressive, sad and poor neighborhood through her pen, through writing and revising was Esperanza’s story.
“You live there? The way she said it made me feel like nothing. There. I lived there. I nodded” (Cisneros 5). She felt judged by the nun from school. The way she emphasized the word “there” made it seem like her house was defected. Early on in the book, she talked about her home and explained how they had a garage but did not own a car. The house seemed to be relatively small.
Conclusion: In conclusion, Sandra Cisneros’s book The House on Mango Street can help the reader get a better understanding through a Marxist point of view. It shows the way Esperanza quickly falls into the minority class, she gets judge because she is a women and makes living from writing. Lastly, how she never thought the House on Mango Street, was her actual home until she realized that she will always belong to that house.