Sandra Cisneros
Sandra Cisneros is a poet, short story writer, novelist, and essayist. Some of her notable works include The House on Mango Street, Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories, and Caramelo. Cisneros has written extensively about the Latina experience in the United States and has created a portrait of life of the border between the United States and Mexico. Cisneros escaped the world of the lower class barrio of Chicago of where she grew up in through her language of writing. She speaks out against race, poverty, sexism, racism, and shame.
Sandra Cisneros was born in Chicago in 1954, to a Mexican father and a Chicana mother; she has six brothers and is the only daughter in the family. She moved frequently during her childhood
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and visited Mexico often, to visit her paternal grandmother. Cisneros's early life provided many experiences she would later draw on as a writer. In 1978 she attended the Iowa Writers’ Workshop where she was struck by a sudden realization that she had an advantage over her fellow writers for her rich cultural heritage. Being familiar with two cultures enriched her work as she employed an array of experiences, thoughts, and feelings. Her cultural diversity became a model for her writing and her work deals with the formation of Chicana identity and exploring the challenges of being caught between Mexican and American cultures. In The House on Mango Street, Cisneros focuses on the problems of being a woman in a large Hispanic society.
The novel is composed of independent short stories/ poems in which each chapter informs us of the protagonist, Esperanza, and her experiences with her neighbors, friends, and classmates. Esperanza’s name, which she inherited from her great-grandmother, represents hope, dreams, and beauty. Her great-grandmother is the first of many women in The House on Mango Street who spend their lives looking out the window and longing for escape, “Esperanza. I have inherited her name, but I don’t want to inherit her place by the window” (Cisneros 11). In The House on Mango Street, Esperanza longs for a place of her own and writing is the only way for her to get that place. She composes poetry to exhibit the importance of language and uses it as an escape from Mango …show more content…
street. The experiences of Esperanza, the adolescent protagonist of The House on Mango Street, closely resemble those of Sandra Cisneros’s childhood. The author was born to a Mexican father and a Mexican American mother in 1954 in Chicago, Illinois, the only daughter of seven children. Critics have condemned Cisneros for perpetuating what they see as negative stereotypes of Mexican-American men.Growing up a chicana in the barrios of Chicago, Cisneros has watched as the women around her gave up and gave in, accepting lives of second class citizenship, beholden to their fathers, their brothers, and their husbands. The boys and men in The House on Mango Street are consistently violent and absent and Esperanza notices how her female neighbors are oppressed by either their husbands or fathers. Over the one year course of the novel, Esperanza matures tremendously. The sexual assault at the end of the novel may have changed Esperanza’s view of both sex and men, but it does not make her want to leave the barrio since her desire began to grow well before the assault happen. After Esperanza is raped, she does not blame the boys who hurt her and traumatized her, but rather blames Sally for going off with an older boy and not returning when Esperanza needed her. The conflicts and problems in the little stories composing the novel, are never fully resolved, portraying how the fates of men, women, and children in the barrio are often uncertain. The heartache of losing a loved one plays a heavy role in Sandra Cisneros's novel, Have You Seen Marie.
It is a moving tale of loss, grief, and healing about a woman’s search for a cat who goes missing in the wake of her mother’s death. The story also offers insight to those who are grieving over a beloved family member, friend, or pet, to show that through loss, the love of the departed is always with us. The narrator’s friends Marie and Rosalind arrived on a visit from Tacoma and on the same day was when the cat, Marie, ran off. The narrator and her friends search the streets of San Antonio, posting flyers and asking everywhere, “Have you seen Marie?” As they search, the pursuit of this one small cat takes on unexpected meaning as the narrator realizes she is trying to find a piece of herself as well. Have You Seen Marie, is related to Sandra Cisneros as she suffered from depression in the spring after her mother’s death. She asked her doctor, “But if I don’t feel, how will I be able to write?” (Cisneros 90). As a treatment, her doctor encouraged her to take antidepressants but Cisneros resisted on taking the medication for she wanted to feel things deeply, good or bad, and wade through her emotions. One of Cisneros friend came to visit her and while she was there, she lost her cat Marie. The act of trying to find her friend’s cat forced Cisneros out of the house to meet new neighbors and into the world again in order to help her friend (that is how the idea of this book
came about). She understands how love prevails even the loss of her mother who passed away and how when someone dies a part of you dies with them. Cisneros and the narrator in the fable, comprehend that death allows you the chance to experience the world soulfully and even though there is no getting over loss, one must learn to travel alongside it. In addition to contrasting The House on Mango Street and Have You Seen Marie, The House on Mango Street is the better result of this analysis. “You will always be Esperanza,” three ladies tell her, “You will always be Mango Street. You can’t erase what you know. You can’t forget who you are” (Cisneros 105). Esperanza leaves the reader with the notion that she will leave but will not forget her roots. Esperanza as well as Cisneros keenly observe the struggles of Hispanic Americans who wish to preserve the essence of their heritage while striving to forge productive lives within American culture.
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” 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
Sandra Cisneros was born in Chicago and grew up in Illinois. She was the only girl in a family of seven. Cisneros is noted for her collection of poems and books that concentrate on the Chicano experience in the United States. In her writings, Cisneros explores and transcends borders of location, ethnicity, gender and language. Cisneros writes in lyrical yet deceptively simple language. She makes the invisible visible by centering on the lives of Chicanos--their relationships with their families, their religion, their art, and their politics.
...m. Without the “struggle” which didn’t come easy she wouldn’t have any passion for the person she wanted to be, she would have built the identity she did. She was able to characterize herself through trial and error, the assaults, the poverty, and the abusive men. Without these experiences she couldn’t have defined herself any better than she has. Sandra Cisneros didn’t only write The House on Mango Street for fun or because it was about her life but because many people that come from the same Mexican-American society can relate, even people from other cultures. She states "You, the reader, are Esperanza.... You cannot forget who you are." And Cisneros is right, no matter what the struggle is that you’ve gone through you can’t hide it, you can’t just put make up over it and forget, it’s not possible. The only thing to do is accept it and move towards a better life.
In the short story “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros, make Esperanza the main character. Esperanza expresses herself in traditional words, her own feelings about life. The image of the The House on Mango Street is located in a poor neighborhood, where this young girl and her family present emotions becoming into a hope of a better life. These feelings led Esperanza convert the idea to own a beautiful house into an obsession. The image of Esperanza and her House becomes a symbol of different ideas such as shame, fantasy, independence, confidence and hope.
“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
The House on Mango Street is the tale about a young girl named Esperanza who is maturing throughout the text. In it Esperanza documents the events and people who make up Mango Street. It is through this community that Esperanza’s ideas and concepts of the relationships between men and women are shaped. She provides detailed accounts about the oppression of women at not only the hands of men who make up Mango Street but also how the community contributes to this oppression. As the young girls and women of Mango Street try to navigate the world they must deal with a patriarchal society that seeks to keep them confined. By growing up in this environment where women are confined Esperanza seeks desperately to depart from Mango Street for fear
Sandra Cisneros was born on December 20, 1954 in Chicago Illinois. Cisneros now lives in San Antonio, TX. Sandra Cisneros was the third child an only daughter out of 7 children. As a Latina, she writes a lot about her experiences in the United States. Sandra Cisneros is best known for her literary work “The House on Mango Street” written in 1991. In addition, Cisneros had received many awards for her work including Mac Arthur Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, and a Texas Medal of the Arts.
Through American Literature many writers have given a voice to the once silent. Sandra Cisneros, a writer was one of those contributors. Very few writers of her time, explored and brought to light what she did. She started a movement in the United States and within her community to bring to light the issue that once were overlooked. The Stories, poems, novels and essays she wrote touch the lives of many people, of all walks of life. Cisneros did not have the best childhood but was able to overcome many obstacles through her life. Born in Chicago, Illinois into poverty to her first book The House on Mango street selling more than six million copies (Cisneros, 2017).
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)....
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 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).
Disturbing Themes of House on Mango Street, and The Bluest Eye. Sandra Cisneros was born in Chicago and grew up in Illinois, the only girl in a family of seven. Cisneros is noted for her collection of poems and books that concentrate on the Chicana experience in the United States. In her writing, Cisneros explores and transcends borders of location, ethnicity, gender and language. Cisneros writes in lyrical yet deceptively simple language, she makes the invisible visible by centering on the lives of Chicanas, their relationships with their families, their religion, their art, and their politics.
Sandra Cisneros' strong cultural values greatly influence The House on Mango Street. Esperanza's life is the medium that Cisneros uses to bring the Latin community to her audience. The novel deals with the Catholic Church and its position in the Latin community. The deep family connection within the barrio also plays an important role in the novel. Esperanza's struggle to become a part of the world outside of Mango Street represents the desire many Chicanos have to grow beyond their neighborhoods.