The House on Mango Street is the story of a twelve-year-old girl named Esperanza Cordero, who lives her life by the way of poetry trying to get out of that one house on Mango Street. Esperanza didn't know what the house on Mango Street was going to be like until she finally saw it. She was crushed by reality at the moment. She realized she was not going to have her own room, and she ended up sharing a room with her three siblings and her parents. "They always told us that one day we would move into a house, a real house that would be ours for always so we wouldn't have to move each year. […] Our house would be white with trees around it, a great big yard and grass growing without a fence. This was the house Papa talked about when he held a lottery ticket and this was the house Mama …show more content…
dreamed up in the stories she told us before we went to bed" (Cisneros 1). What was mango street?
It was beaten down with broken houses and crime and many females had also been abused. As a twelve-year-old, Esperanza had just started puberty. She starts to realize women on Mango Street live hard lives. About nine out of ten women on Mango Street have been abused by their husbands, then left alone to take care of their kids. The main conflict initiates when Esperanza and her friend Sally go to the carnival. At the carnival, the two are separated when Sally meets and boy and makes out with him. Left alone, Esperanza is then sexually assaulted by a group of boys. After this, Esperanza wants more than ever to escape the neighborhood. The idea of escape is a central theme in this book. Sally is frequently abused by her own father. She thinks if she gets married her father will stop abusing her because she has a man to protect her. However, that doesn't happen to work because she ends in a virtual suburban prison. At the funeral, Esperanza meets 3 women who can read her palm and they find Esperanza's secret. Her secret is that she wants to escape the house on Mango Street and just Mango Street in all. Her wish will only become true if she promises never to come
back. However, Esperanza's friend Alicia tells her she needs to go back to Mango Street so kids can have the opportunity that allowed her to leave. Esperanza does make her escape from Mango Street and starts off her writing career, but still plans to visit Mango Street one day. In Sandra Cisneros's The House on Mango Street women occupy a major role, as they struggle to gain any sort of power. Around 90% of the major characters are women, and the protagonist Esperanza uses her femininity to motivate the story. "But my mother's hair, my mother's hair, like little rosettes, like little candy circles all curly and pretty because she pinned it in pincurls all day, sweet to put your nose into when she is holding you, holding you and you feel safe, is the warm smell of bread before you bake it, is the smell when she makes room for you on her side of the bed still warm with her skin, and you sleep near her, the rain outside falling and Papa snoring" (Cisneros 2). In this quote, Esperanza recognizes beauty to be a large source of feminine power, which makes her start to admire and become jealous of beauty in her female relatives and friends. But she also notices that beauty is not reliable, and that it can backfire. The beautiful women are often the ones who suffer the most with harassment from men. In her task to define her own femininity in a society that is often tyrannical to women, Esperanza tries to find new forms of feminine power. Powers that will allow her to keep her freedom. "And then his girlfriend came. Lois I heard him call her. She is tiny and pretty and smells like baby's skin. […] She's got big girl hands, and her bones are long like ladies' bones, and she wears makeup too. But she doesn't know how to tie her shoes. I do" (Cisneros 28). Esperanza is comparing herself to Lois in this passage. She believes Lois to be more feminine, and because she's more feminine, she must be more attractive than she is. But Esperanza takes contentment because she believes she possesses more practical knowledge than Lois does. "In the movies there is always one with red red lips who is beautiful and cruel. She is the one who drives the men crazy and laughs them all away. Her power is her own. She will not give it away" (Cisneros 35). Esperanza believes that the largest feminine power is to be drop-dead gorgeous, but refuse to give in to the demands and the attentions of men, which happens very rarely because the men on Mango Street are usually the people that supply the women with makeup. For example Sally's dad is the supplier for the makeup she uses, but still abuses her and she can't do anything about it.
(Cisneros, pg 43)”. The structural repetition of there gives the indication that both Esperanza and the nun view the flat as an alien place in opposition to the rest of society, causing Esperanza to yearn for different surroundings. A few years later, as a preteen, Esperanza is confronted by three visitors in her home. One of the visitors mysteriously states that Esperanza “will always be Mango Street,” although Esperanza feels ashamed “for having made such a selfish wish” about leaving Mango street. By stating that Esperanza is “Mango Street,” the visitor highlights that Esperanza is part of the community on Mango Street; however, as an outcast, Esperanza aspires to leave for a better place(as evidenced by the wish). Towards the end of the book, Esperanza reflects on her development as a mature writer. When
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.
Throughout the course of Mango Street, Esperanza’s relationship towards her house change. As time passes her feelings about the house itself change and the emotional impact of the house of her changes as well. Esperanza’s house on Mango Street symbolizes her Mexican culture. For so long she has wanted to leave it. She envisions a different type of life than what she is used to - moving from house to house. “this house is going to be different / my life is going to be different”. One can look at all the things she envisions - the "trappings of the good life" such as the running water, the garden etc. as symbols for the new life.
“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
To begin, Esperanza first realizes how trapped she is in Mango Street in one of
House on Mango Street: Is a story of 44 vignettes. In this story, the main character Esperanza matures and gets to learn to fully understand adulthood.
In the poor slums of Chicago, a family living in poverty struggles to get by. In the book, House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, Esperanza is a twelve year old girl who lives with her family in the Windy City. She lives with her three siblings and both parents on Mango Street. Esperanza has no control over her life and family’s poverty. People who have no control over their life desperately seek change. Esperanza seeks to change her name, her home, and her destiny as a way to control her life.
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.
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.
The House on Mango Street presents mainly women who are “assenting readers” and who influence Esperanza to change. She does not realize in the beginning of the novel that she can challenge the male supremacy because she has grown up with it. She never realized that she simply agreed with their viewpoints until she becomes aware of her own sexuality. Esperanza then realizes this can be used against men but that it can come with a price when she is raped.
Life as a kid is effortless, where the only motive is to have fun. Some people never want to have responsibility and complexity that comes with being an adult as they realize they must take accountability sometime. Likewise in "The House on Mango Street" by Sandra Cisneros, Esperanza tries her best to avoid is renegade against the normal expectations of women on Mango Street. Esperanza's only way to avoid having to become part of the adult world around her, is by entering The Monkey Garden where she gets to be a kid. Esperanza's depiction of the serene and carefree descriptions of the garden contrast the confused and disturbed attitude Esperanza has towards Sally and the boys' game. As she finally realizes she cannot remain a kid forever, Esperanza feel alienated and alone.
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.
Mango Street consists of mostly female characters. These characters are strong and inspirational, but they are unable to escape the suppression of the surrounding environment. According to one critic, "The girl's mother, for instance, has talent and brains, but lacks practical knowledge about society because, says Esperanza, Mexican men 'don't like their women strong' " (Matchie 69-70). It is Esperanza's mother who tells her to never be ashamed because shame can only hinder her dreams. In "The Three Sisters", the women tell Esperanza that she is special and remind her not to forget where she came from when she finally makes it out of Mango Street. This inspiration makes Esperanza understand that she must help others who aren't as fortunate to leave as she is.
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.