Analysis Of ' The Red Balloon '

The Black Balloon directed by Elissa Down is an Australian film about Thomas Mollison and his family who just moved to a new suburb, his dad who is in the army, his mom is pregnant and his older autistic brother, Charlie, while Thomas has his own adolescent problems. What’s eating Gilbert Grape directed by Lasse Hallstrom is a film about Gilbert Grape who has to take care of his entire family, including Arnie, his developmentally disabled little brother and his obese mother Bonnie. Both films explore the difficult subject of autism and the ways it affects family lifestyles, emotions, responsibilities, and development. The film techniques Down and Hallstrom use are camera shots and symbolisms.

All the people on Mango Street were struggling to get by, but they seemed satisfied with just making it. Esperanza was not. There were characters like Esperanza’s mother who was a “smart cookie,” and could’ve been anything, but she let shame get the best of her and dropped out of school. There was also Rafaela who got married before the 8th grade just so she could move into her own house, but her husband never let her leave the house afterward. He never let her see her friends, and the highlight of her week was getting coconut or papaya juice from someone who would send it up in a paper bag attached to a clothespin since she couldn’t leave the house. Lastly, there was the time when she was left stranded by the tilt-a- whirl waiting for a friend that never came back and got molested by a group of boys. The only witnesses were the red clown statues that seemed to be laughing at her. Nevertheless, she let none of this stopped her from going forward and perusing her dream. She still seemed to be struggling with a sense of belonging, but maybe that’s because she didn’t.

A time in the story where Esperanza feels ashamed of her home is when a nun points “...to a row of ugly three-flats, the ones even the raggedy men are ashamed to go into" (94), and asks if one of the homes belongs to Esperanza. Even though the house did not really belong to Esperanza, she knew her real house wasn't much nicer than the houses the nun pointed to. Esperanza also shows negativity when she complains about her name. Esperanza didn't always like the name she was given, because she doesn't want to end up like her great grandmother, who was forced into marriage, and is basically trapped inside. Esperanza inherited her name, but "[doesn't] want to inherit her place by the window" (51). Esperanza also shows a negative attitude is when she explains that her name “...means sadness, it means

CD: At the beginning of the novel, Esperanza describes her relations to the boys in her neighborhood as “a red balloon that is tied to an

In English Esperanza’s name means, “hope” (Cisneros 10), but in Spanish, it means “sadness” (Cisneros 10) and “waiting” (Cisneros 10). The word “hope” (Cisneros 10) adds a positive connotation to her name, but the words “sadness” (Cisneros 10) and “waiting” (Cisneros 10), add a negative connotation to the name. Cisneros character doesn’t like her name because she has inherited it from her great-grandmother who she describes as a “wild horse of a woman” (11), who did not want to get married, but was eventually forced into it. She never forgave her husband and spent her whole life looking out the window. Esperanza states that she does not want to inherit her great-grandmother’s “place by the window” along with her name. She wants to change her name to something that shows her true, secret self. Esperanza says; “I would like to baptize myself under a real name, a name more like the real me.” (Cisneros 11) She decides that a name such as Zeze the X would be

As a young girl, Esperanza is a young girl who looks at life from experience of living in poverty, where many do not question their experience. She is a shy, but very bright girl. She dreams of the perfect home, with beautiful flowers and a room for everyone. When she moves to the house of Mango Street, reality is so different than the dream. In this story, hope (Esperanza) sustains tragedy. The house she dreamed of was another on. It was one of her own. One where she did not have to share a bedroom with everyone. That included her mother, father and two siblings. The run down tiny house has "bricks crumbling in places". The one she dreamed of had a great big yard, trees and 'grass growing without a fence'. She did not want to abandon

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

Throughout the course of Mango Street, Esperanza’s relationship towards her house change. As time passes her feelings about the house itself change and the emotional impact of the house of her changes as well. Esperanza’s house on Mango Street symbolizes her Mexican culture. For so long she has wanted to leave it. She envisions a different type of life than what she is used to - moving from house to house. “this house is going to be different / my life is going to be different”. One can look at all the things she envisions - the "trappings of the good life" such as the running water, the garden etc. as symbols for the new life.

Esperanza always wanted to change her name, she felt it didn’t define the real her. “I would like to baptize myself under a new name, a name more like the real me, the one nobody sees” (111).This quote is the

Dreadful events can happen to anyone. It depends on who you are, what you do, and where you’re at. In this case Esperanza is a mature little girl in her pre-teens but struggles through dreadful events that she doesn’t deserve. In The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros utilizes young characters to remind us about the things we take for granted and how some people aren’t so fortunate to live in a nice neighborhood opposed to a dangerous one where dreadful events happen to innocent people.

Esperanza is a shy but a very bright girl. She dreams of the perfect home now, with beautiful flowers in their luscious garden and a room for everyone to live in comfortably all because of the unsatisfied face the nun made that one afternoon--when she moves to the house of Mango Street. She thinks it’s going to be a “grand house on a hill that will have a bedroom for everyone and at least three washrooms so when they took a bath they would not have to tell everybody.” (Cinceros 4) Reality is so different for her when her dream is shot down in a heartbeat when she

She wanted to get away from Mango Street, yet they tell her that she can't get leave. She will, but Esperanza will find a way back there to help the people who are stuck there. Some of these people who have to live there life in Mango Street for the rest of themselves, so Esperanza will help them out.

In the vignette “Boys & Girls” Esperanza states “Until then I am a red balloon, a balloon tied to an anchor” (Cisneros 8). This is the first key and memorable piece of symbolism in the story. As the red balloon suggests, Esperanza is a vibrant young lady with great potential,

It means sadness, it means waiting” (10). Not only is Esperanza’s name a way to trace her origin but it is also symbolic to the book as a whole. Her name illustrates how the Spanish inside her is sad and it is putting her in a position that is weighing her down and keeping her from becoming someone. The English counterpart is what is keeping her going and motivated to find a way to escape Mango Street and all it encompasses. Just like a genuine immigrants dream when they come to America, Esperanza’s name means “hope” and she uses this hope for a better life to “One day I will pack my bags of books and paper. One day I will say goodbye to Mango. I am too strong for her to keep me here forever. One day I will go away” (110). Cisneros uses the name of her character to give her a place in a Latino setting and start expounding on her thoughts and feelings that come with that life.

Esperanza is led by the dream to leave Mango Street at once, nevertheless she knows that she will have to return one day to help and encourage all those who will fallen in the big hole of hopelessness. She can leave Mango Street but she can not escape