The House On Mango Street Sandra Cisneros Essay

812 Words2 Pages

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…

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

Open Document