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House On Mango Street Racism Quotes

Decent Essays

Cathy, a non-Latino girl, is the first person to befriend Esperanza on Mango Street. This quote reflects the racism theme of this novel because Cathy notes that her family is moving away because they blame the Latinos for making their neighborhood bad (the neighborhood was probably more Caucasian in the past). It also shows the way other cultures look down on the Latino people even though everyone living on Mango Street is on practically the same economic/social status. This quote is directed towards Louie’s cousin who stole a yellow Cadillac and it is another example of how someone tries to escape life on Mango Street. Just like Cathy who tried to dream up a better life for herself by believing that she is the descendent of the Queen of France, …show more content…

After Esperanza reads Aunt Lupe one of her poems, her aunt tells her that she might be able to use her writing to be set free and find her real identity; however, Esperanza didn’t figure out the real meaning of her aunt’s words until her aunt passed away. After her aunt dies, Esperanza is confronted by shame and guilt, which also happen to be the feelings that Aunt Lupe felt in the years that took her to pass away (she was embarrassed to be a burden on her family for so many …show more content…

In the quote, Esperanza feels sad for Geraldo’s relatives because they will never be able to learn about Geraldo’s fate because there is no way to contact them. The way that the police just dismissed Geraldo this way and didn’t try harder to understand more about him shows that illegal immigrants in the United States face many difficulties relating to racial prejudices. Mamacita feels helpless in this new country and without an effective way to communicate with the people around her, she is trapped inside her house. Although he is confined inside her apartment, her son begins to sing English commercials, so she knows that she is unable to escape the English language. This is another example of a way that language leads to freedom (what Aunt Lupe told Esperanza) and Esperanza begins to realize how powerful words really are. “Rafaela leans out the window and leans on her elbow and dreams her hair is like

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