The Famous Actor Richard Vernon once said, “A truly strong person does not need the approval of others any more than a lion needs the approval of sheep.” Vernon speaks about how a person with self-confidence only needs to care about their own opinion, not that of others. Someone who exemplifies the importance of self-confidence is Sandra Cisneros in her novel The House on Mango Street. The House on Mango Street tells the story of the young girl Esperanza and her struggles with poverty, racism and growing up. Esperanza struggles to find her own inner strength, often ending up trying to blend in with the crowd. One vignette that illustrates her battle for recognition is “A Rice Sandwich”. In the vignette, Esperanza longs to eat lunch in her school's …show more content…
canteen with the hope that eating there will give her the acknowledgment that she desires from her classmates. When Esperanza tries to eat in the canteen she is scolded by the school’s nun who lets her eat in the canteen for one day, after seeing Esperanza break down in tears. After she finally makes it into the canteen Esperanza realizes that she did not find the gratification she had hoped for, but had found embarrassment and frustration instead. Through her use of rhetorical devices in “A Rice Sandwich” Sandra Cisneros establishes that longing for acceptance leads to disappointment. Whenever Esperanza goes to school she longs to eat at the canteen as she thinks the kids who eat at the canteen are cool. Each day when she gets to school she daydreams about when she will finally be one of the popular kids, thinking that eating in the canteen will end all of her worries. In her head, Esperanza paints the canteen as a glorious place, a beacon of hope in her sad community. To Esperanza nothing could be better than the canteen: The special kids, the ones who wear keys around their neck get to eat lunch in the canteen. The canteen! Even the name sounds important. And these kids at lunch time go there because their mothers aren’t home or home is too far away. (Cisneros,pg.43) Esperanza describes how wonderful she thinks the school canteen is.
She imagines the it as a place where all of the special kids get to eat lunch, somewhere where she wants to go so she can become a special kid. The author uses diction to emphasize how Esperanza is excited by the canteen. She describes the kids as special to display Esperanza’s attitude towards those who eat in the canteen. Cisneros also employs repetition to emphasize how much Esperanza cares about the canteen. The thought of it lingering in her mind causes her to wish for admiration even more than she already does. Through these details, Cisneros communicates her wish to be adored and how important the canteen is to her. She longs for appreciation from her peers and will do whatever it takes to achieve that goal.
After Esperanza finally makes it into the canteen she discovers that the canteen was not all she thought it was. Esperanza's family lives too close to her school so she is not able to eat lunch in the canteen. One day when she brings a note from her mother that gives her permission to eat in the canteen she is confronted by the school nun. The nun tells her that she lives to close to her school to eat in the canteen before letting her eat in the canteen for that day only. Eating in the canteen brings Esperanza
disappointment: In the canteen, which was nothing special, lots of boys and girls watched as I cried and ate my sandwich, the bread already greasy and the rice cold. (Cisneros, pg. 45) Esperanza illustrates what the canteen was really like. Unlike the magical place that she had envisioned the canteen was nothing exceptional. The author uses Irony to convey how the canteen turned out to be the opposite of what Esperanza had envisioned. In the end getting to the canteen did not give her the recognition she had desired but left her sitting alone crying. Cisneros also uses detail to describe the sandwich that she is eating. How the bread is cold and the rice is greasy indicates her emotions at this moment and how crestfallen she feels. With these details, Cisneros explains her disappointment with the canteen and how she did not find the acceptance she had hoped for. Esperanza dreams of being beloved by her peers but only finds In conclusion, Cisneros illustrates that wishing for recognition from one's peers results in unhappiness in “A Rice Sandwich.” The main character Esperanza always wishes to be admired by those around her. She tries to do whatever she can to gain their approval, often ending up in failure. The opinion of others should not cause one to change themselves.
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.
Esperanza is a young girl who struggles with feelings of loneliness and feeling that she doesn’t fit in because she is poor. She always wanted to fit in with the other kids and feel like she was one of them. She loves to write because it helps her feel better about herself writing about her life and her community. Writing helps her with
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.
The author of The House on Mango Street and the producer of The Color Purple are able to integrate numerous important thematic ideas. Many of these ideas still apply to our current world, teaching various important lessons to many adolescents and adults. The House on Mango Street is a collection of vignettes written by Sandra Cisneros, a Mexican-American writer. The novel depicts many aspects of Sandra Cisneros’ life including racism, and sexism that she and the main character face. The novel revolves around Esperanza Cordero, a young Latina girl, who is growing up in Chicago as she faces the various struggles of living in America. The various vignettes reveal many experiences Esperanza has with reality and her navie responses to such harsh
Esperanza is relying on her childhood to help her through life she feels like “a red balloon tied to an anchor” (9,1,3) This passage describes that Esperanza singles herself out for her differences instead of her similarities and she knows it. She also sees her differences as a source of her isolating herself. She floats in the sky for all of the rest of us to see, dangling from a string. Esperanza is longing on for an escape like a balloon similar to her experiences with our society. However against the face that Cisneroz gives her a light voice, doesn't mean that it's not just as strong and
A role model an influential person whom one imitates. Role models contribute key life lessons to anyone looking up to them. Role models provide basic structure both to achieve greatness and to learn from the mistakes that they have made in their lifetimes. Role models provide many benefits to those who look up to them, making life decisions easier because of the examples they have set. The book The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros reveals many role models for the young, female Latina protagonist, Esperanza. As expected, the women in the Mango Street neighborhood significantly influence Esperanza. She has a variety of female role models. Many are trapped in abusive relationships, waiting for others to change their lives. Some are actively trying to create change on their own. Through these women and Esperanza’s reactions to them, Cisneros not only shows the hardships women face, but also explores their power to
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.
Esperanza ponders how she inherited her grandmother’s name, but does not wish to inherit her experiences with marriage. When speaking of how her grandmother was married, Esperanza remarks, “my great-grandfather threw a sack over her head and carried her off. Just like that, as if she were a fancy chandelier” (Cisneros, 11). Through a simile, Cisneros exemplifies that women allow themselves to be objectified and trapped, which removes their freedom and hinders their progress towards their dreams. This is also identified when Alicia’s father finds her studying late at night and speaks with her about her duties as the woman of the house. Alicia’s father alludes to her that, “a woman’s place is sleeping so she can wake up early with the tortilla star” (31). Through this metaphor, Cisneros indicates that in Hispanic culture, women let themselves be pressured into putting duties at home
“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.
... first identifies her difficulty with her society, and then accepts and at the same time defies it. In “Boys and Girls” the reader sees a young girl that is investigating her possibilities in life. In “Beautiful and Cruel” the reader sees a woman who has become independent from the boundaries of her society. Esperanza is tied down by the “anchor,” and then casts it off with her refusal to wait for the “ball and chain.” Esperanza changes from a little girl who makes wishes about her future, to a woman who takes her future in her hands as she begins a “war” on the limitations that she face in her Latino society.
At first, Esperanza is young, insecure, and immature. Her immaturity is apparent when she talks about her mom holding her, saying it is, “sweet to put your nose into when she is holding you and you feel safe” (Cisneros 6-7). This shows Esperanza’s insecurity because her mom is still a big comfort source to her. She feels a false sense of comfort because her mom is there and will protect her. In addition, Esperanza’s immaturity is shown through her dislike for outsiders of the neighborhood when she says, “They are stupid people who are lost and got here by mistake” (Cisneros 28). This indicates how defensive and protective Esperanza is towards her barrio by calling outsiders stupid for reacting the way they do, even though she dislikes Mango Street....
In the next three chapters, Esperanza mentioned about her neighbors: the black old man owning a junk store who she had always been afraid to talk to; the Spanish guy- Meme- with a two-named sheepdog who moved into Cathy’s house after her family left the neighborhood; Louie’s Puerto Rican family living in the rented Meme’s basement apartment and his two cousins. The first four chapters demonstrated the heroine’s background with the desciptions about her family while from chapter 5 to 9, a geographical and cultural picture is shown, from both the past and and the present of Mango Street and the neighborhood. As the story flows on the descriptons of Esperanza’s neighbors, I expect to know more about them as well as others. And since the chapters are short and relies on fragments being connected loosly based on the narrator’s observation, I think the following chapters will still be written in the same way with gradual revolution of linking stories in a more logical
Esperanza is a very strong woman in herself. Her goals are not to forget her "reason for being" and "to grow despite the concrete" so as to achieve a freedom that's not separate from togetherness.
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.
In the novel, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, Esperanza matures and grows up in a lower class neighborhood. Esperanza's troubles in The House on Mango Street, illustrates that people brought up in lower class societies often have beneficial and generous personalities. This is expressed through Esperanza's treatment towards the bums, Esperanza's empathy towards Sally in "The Monkey Garden", and Esperanza's presence at