Sexual harassment, yearning for escape, and an inevitable return to that same place makes for an interesting story. This happens in the book The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Esperanza moves to a neighborhood and it’s not what she expected. She wants to get out of there. A couple instances of sexual harassment/assault just makes her want to leave even more. The problem is, not everyone can escape, which will bring her right back. Esperanza wants to get out, but it’s hard to escape the place you have grown up so much in. Esperanza’s family move into a new house on Mango Street to begin the book. Esperanza isn’t happy about it for very long. Even though her parents finally own a house to themselves now, and it’s an improvement from the apartment, Esperanza is disappointed. The house is small and rundown. She was hoping for a big house. The small house almost makes her feel trapped inside, which is why she spends most of the time outside of the house. …show more content…
She goes to school one day and, being the new kid, her teacher doesn’t know her very well.
After telling Esperanza she only gets to go home this once, the teacher points at some run down buildings and asserts that Esperanza lives there. Esperanza just agrees even though it’s a lie. She feels she was mistreated by her teachers and this causes her to want to leave even more. Some days down the road, Esperanza and Sally, her friend, go to the carnival. While at the carnival Sally runs off with a boy leaving Esperanza on her own. A group of non-Latino boys comes up to her. While it isn’t said what happens exactly, it is safe to assume she was raped. She becomes upset for a couple reasons. For starters, her friend left her all alone. Second, the experience wasn’t what she had imagined it would be like. She really just wanted to leave after this
happened. While she just wants to leave, she knows she can’t. For starters, psychologically it will be hard to mentally leave this place. She had a traumatic experience, rape, occur in this area. It was her first time and anytime she thinks about sexual activity, while her body might not return to Mango Street, her brain will. Also, people she cares about are still here. “They will not know I have gone away to come back. For the ones I left behind. For the ones who cannot out” (Cisneros 110). Esperanza states here that she will be coming back for her friends who cannot leave for one reason or another. One example is her friend who is seen as too beautiful by her father and is not allowed to even leave the house. Esperanza knows she will return, even if she didn’t want to be on Mango Street in the first place. Author, Sandra Cisneros writes a compelling story in “The House on Mango Street.” It includes sexual assault, an understandable need to escape coupled with an inevitable return. This book portrays Esperanza as she tries to leave Mango Street, but it’s hard to escape the place you grow up so much in.
When Esperanza is struck by the realization that she is not accepted in society, she aspires to bring a more hospitable environment to fruition. At the beginning of The House on Mango Street, Esperanza is questioned by a nun about where she lives. The condemning tone of the harridan shakes Esperanza, causing her to state, “There. I lived there… I knew then I had to have a house. A
Esperanza finally comes to the conclusion that she does not need to fit into the mold of Mango Street. She also realizes that by making her own world, she can do bigger and better things and come back to help others on Mango Street. Not everybody can fit into the same mold and Esperanza made her own. . Esperanza leaving shows that she is a leader and hopefully she will have the others from Mango Street follow in her path. Maybe other people will fit into Esperanza’s mold or they will use her as an example. Esperanza used the other women as an example to make something of herself so all of the negative people she meets and has in her life, they made her the person she wanted to be.
Esperanza meets up with 3 elderly sisters at a wake. One of the older women affirms Esperanza’s secret wish to leave Mango Street, but makes her promise that she will come back one day. Esperanza tells Alicia that she feels like she doesn’t have a home but Alicia convinces her that like it or not that Mango Street is her home and no matter what she will have to come back to make Mango Street a better place because the mayor is
Esperanza begins as a very wealthy girl in Mexico, and doesn’t think about how lucky she is to have the privileges that she has. She can have almost anything she wants and has to do little work. Esperanza barely even thinks about the lower classes. They are not part of her life. But when her ranch is burned down and her father killed, she has to leave Mexico and enter the United States as an illegal immigrant. But by doing so, she is forced into contact with many people far less wealthy and well-off than her. When Esperanza enters Zacatecas to board the train, she is surprised that they are not in the fancy section. Instead, they are in a car with peasants and beggars. “Esperanza had never been so close to so many peasants before. When she went to school, all of her friends were like her. When she went to town, she was escorted and hurried around any beggars. And the peasants always kept their distance. That was simply the way it was. She couldn’t help but wonder if they would steal her things.” (p. 67). Esperanza has an obvious suspicion of the peasants during her train ride. She tells her mother that she cannot travel in this car , and that the people didn’t look trustworthy. A little bit into the trainride ...
In the beginning of the story Esperana is told that her new house on Mango Street will be the answer to her dreams. She is told that, in their new house, her family will be able to live like other families. “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”. Esperanza is told that in her new house there will be plumbing that worked, “real” stairs, a basement...
“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
Esperanza tries to be a good friend to Sally, but ends up appearing immature and silly. Esperanza feels shame, as she “wanted to be dead”, to “turn into the rain”, and have “my eyes melt into the ground like black snails” (Cisneros 97). With sensory-rich imagery, the author uses similes and metaphors to describe Esperanza’s feelings of utter mortification as she embarrasses herself in front of Sally. Esperanza becomes confused about her newfound sexuality and her loss of innocence when she begins acting strangely, yet awkwardly around boys. She doesn’t know whether to act like a child or an adult because although she wants to be mature and glamorous like Sally, and she gets exposed to the harsh nature of society. The disillusioned view of becoming mature and having boys notice her is especially realized by Esperanza when she gets raped at a carnival. Through detailed imagery, Cisneros describes the dirtiness of the boy, elaborating on “his dirty fingernails against my skin” and “his sour smell again” (Cisneros 100) and the confusion and anger from Esperanza. After this experience, Esperanza blames Sally instead for covering up the truth about boys and is heartbroken about the real truth of sexuality and men. It is clear that Esperanza vividly remembers this awful experience, and just reflecting on this experience causes her thoughts to
Esperanza wishes she could change where she lives. Even though Esperanza moved to a nicer house, she still does not like the house on Mango Street. Esperanza’s parents made the house they were moving to seem luxurious. Upon arrival, Esperanza realized “the house of Mango Street is not the way they told it at all. It’s small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you’d think they were holding their breath” (4). Even though the house on Mango Street is an improvement, it is still not good enough for Esperanza. Esperanza says, “I knew I had to have a house. A real house. One I could point to. But this isn’t. the house on Mango Street isn’t it” (5). She dreams of one day having a bigger and better house. The new and improved house will be a place for others to come and stay, “some days after dinner, guests and I will sit in front of a fire. Floorboards will squeak upstairs. The attic grumble. Rats? They’ll ask. Bums I’ll say, and I’ll be happy” (87). Dreaming of moving to a new house not only gives Esperanza the feeling of control and independence, but makes her
...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.
Sally is a common occurrence in Esperanza’s community; she lacks self-confidence and determination. In “Linoleum Roses,” Esperanza describes Sally’s post-marriage life. She says, “Sally says she likes being married because now she gets to buy her own things when her husband gives her money… Except he won’t let her talk on the telephone. And he doesn’t let her look out the window. And he doesn’t like her friends, so nobody gets to visit her unless he is working. She sits at home because she is afraid to go outside without his permission.” Sally lacks the qualities of self-confidence and determination; due to this, she lets herself fall into a trap disguised as marriage. Now, she has no control over her life. Her husband decides everything for her, and she is afraid to say no to him. Sally’s lack of two important qualities lets her give herself away to her husband. Now, her fate lies solely in his
There was another time when Esperanza wanted to eat lunch in the canteen at school. She was not allowed to eat at school, because she lived close enough to walk home for lunch. But, Esperanza wanted to feel special like the other kids, so she convinced her mother to write a note to the nun in charge giving her permission to eat in the school canteen. The mother wrote the note, but the nun was not convinced. So, she made Esperanza go to the window and point to her house. She was too ashamed to point to the old-run-down home where she lived. This was one of her most embarrassing moments. Not to be outdone, Esperanza said, "I knew then I had to have a house. A real house. One I could point to" (page5).
Throughout The House on Mango Street Esperanza learns to resist the gender norms that are deeply imbedded in her community. The majority of the other female characters in the novel have internalized the male viewpoint and they believe that it is their husbands or fathers responsibility to care for them and make any crucial decisions for them. However, despite the influence of other female characters that are “immasculated”, according to Judith Fetterley, Esperanza’s experiences lead her to become a “resisting reader” in Fettereley’s terminology because she does not want to become like the women that she observes, stuck under a man’s authority. She desires to leave Mango Street and have a “home of her own” so that she will never be forced to depend on a man (Cisneros 108). During the course of the novel Esperanza eventually realizes that it is also her duty to go back to Mango Street “For the ones that cannot out”, or the women who do not challenge the norms (110). Esperanza eventually turns to her writing as a way to escape from her situation without having to marry a man that she would be forced to rely on like some of her friends do.
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.”
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 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