Big Momma's House Analysis

Growing up on Mango Street, girls had to take two steps backward to take one forward. Just like ballroom dancing, women let men take the lead and sacrifice an extra step to continue moving on the floor. When Sally escaped from her father and married the marshmallow salesman, she had to give up her youth and femininity.

Mama really looks at herself as a strong women that could do anything a man could, if not better. She is built like a man and even dresses like one too. Without a doubt Mama could, and will always, provide for her family. Mama “can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man. One winter I knocked a bull calf straight in the brain between the eyes with a sledge hammer and had the meat hung up to chill before nightfall.” (Everyday Use pg1). As one could see, Mama is in fact very masculine, and could pull her own weight, physically and metaphorically. Mama isn’t skinny but, her “fat keeps her hot in zero weather” (Everyday Use pg1). Mama “can work outside all day, and breaking ice to get water for washing clothes” (Everyday Use pg1). Even though Mama is such a strong woman, there are many flaws, but not so much with her, more of her family. Her youngest daughter, Maggie, was burned in a house fire, which has left her broken and battered, and her oldest, Dee, was her bright child, who Mama always adored and loved. Maggie was always overlooked because she was never the pretty one nor the smartest one. Mama was so proud of Dee, because Dee is going to college to expand her knowledge and she had a bright

Miss Lottie’s old house symbolizes the deterioration of the entire nation during the Great Depression while the marigolds she plants represent hope in the face of despair. In detail, having Joey deciding to go to Miss Lottie’s house, Lizabeth describes the house as “...the most ramshackle of all [the] ramshackle homes.” (257). During the Great Depression, everyone has many money problems. So the fact that Miss Lottie’s house isn’t the best of all of the houses, shows how the Great Depression causes hardships. The Great Depression makes it so that the nation suffers in an ongoing poverty, which is why Miss Lottie’s house is very much broken. Furthermore, Lizabeth continues to describe the house when she states “a brisk wind might have blown it down… There it stood...a gray, rotting thing with no porch, no

“Born Bad” is the vignette I chose to address from The House on Mango Street. I didn’t find it to be significant at first because of the style of writing the author uses. I’ve not read any books using little vignettes as chapters. This style of writing makes me feel like I am reading about situations that seem random and disconnected. Esperanza was born on the evil day, what does this really have to do with her being a woman and not fitting in on Mango Street? Lucy, Rachel, and Esperanza made fun of Aunt Lupe the day she died, a sad event but what does that have do with her being a foreigner on Mango Street?

Through humorous comments, the mother paints a picture of what she is thinking, and allows the audience to see her as she is, and not as the world and those around her perceive her to be. Specifically the mother describes the characters appearance, and actions, as well as offers analogies, such as mothers on T.V. To support her view of reality, or how things really were, in her opinion. As the story progressed, she reveals cultural differences between Mama, Maggie and Dee. Walker also points out the importance of respecting your immediate heritage such as parents, and other family, and truly knowing and internalizing the real meaning of racial

The Novel, The House on Mango Street, was based on the writer Sandra Cisneros. She was writing this when she was living in Chicago. She was like Esperanza. She want though poverty. She has been heartbroken and deeply joyous. She inventing for herself who and what she will become. This is the life of Esperanza Cordero and based on Sandra Cisneros to all women out there.

The novel, The House on Mango Street, focuses on a young girl who strives to figure out her identity. She continuosly struggles to find her confidence, along with who she is. People tend to struggle with self-acceptance due to society. Society analyzes each person and dissects every one of their flaws, making them want to change themselves to fit expectations. Moving to her new home, Esperanza began to spend all of her time embarrassed. She was ashamed of her new home, and also uncomfortable with her outside appearance. She felt as if her outside didn’t convey the true personality hidden inside her. All Esperanza understood was that she didn’t fit in, and that she is different. Esperanza tries to find the person she truly wants to

In another instance, a group of "po' white trash children" confront Momma at her store, taunting her. As Renee Barlow notes, "They were represented as clownish, dirty, and rather silly. On the other hand, Mama simply stood like a rock and sang the Gospel. Her beauty of soul versus their disgusting antics creates a powerful scene about the nature of the oppressed and the oppressor. Marguerite, meanwhile, lies crouched behind the screen in agony at the inability of her class to command respect simply because of their color. Then, as the scene progresses, she understands that in spite of the disparity of power between the po'white trash and Mama, Mama has won" (Barlow, 861927397.html). She has won not because she has outsmarted the white youths or even -- strictly speaking -- overpowered them, but because she has outclassed them.

The House on Mango Street is a collection of vignettes written by Sandra Cisneros that is about a young Mexican-American girl named Esperanza, and the struggles of her life as she transitions from childhood into adulthood. Esperanza wants to find her true identity, but the conflicts and struggles that she faces throughout the story. Her town is a part of her adventure to find her self identity. She picks herself up, learning and figuring herself out throughout the novel. The author uses symbolism throughout the vignettes to convey the deeper meaning of conflicts developed in the novel, to show the difficulties of growing into adulthood.

In 1971 on June 17, President Richard Nixon delivered a special message to the Congress on drug abuse prevention and control. During the presentation, Nixon made it clear that the United States was at war with this idea of drug abuse. What baffled Americans then, and still baffles Americans today, is that we are at war with our own nation with drugs; it is not some foreign affair like the media tends to focus on with Mexico. Nixon stated that at the time of his speech, what was implemented to control drug abuse was not working…“The problem has assumed the dimensions of a national emergency. I intend to take every step necessary to deal with this emergency, including asking the Congress for an amendment to my 1972 budget to provide an

“You will always be Esperanza. You will always be Mango Street. You can't erase what you know. You can't forget who you are” (105). No matter what, Esperanza’s experiences on Mango Street have become a part of her and she cannot change it. In the novella, The House on Mango Street, written by Sandra Cisneros, the author introduces Esperanza, a resident of Mango Street, who constantly dreams of becoming an independent woman with a house of her own ideals. As she and her family purchase a house and become a newcomer into a new neighborhood of a crowded and poor Latino area, Esperanza faces mental and physical changes that affect how she sees the world. Sadly, the characteristics of the house consist of nothing of her desires. Due to her

The film Bamboozled is an attempt to reappropriate black stereotypical presences in film. Several of the characters correspond with the classical and enduring stereotyped roles such as the Uncle Tom and the coon, however their utilization within the film’s satirical context allows for a historical exploration of the stereotypes as well as a reconfiguration of their meaning in terms of contemporary relevance. Through an analysis of the central figures Peerless Dothan, Manray, and Womack, one can identify the ways in which the film allows for them to transcend and redefine their roles. Additionally, the figures of Sloan and Dunwitty provide further commentary about black cultural identity and white hegemony in the twenty first century.

The protagonist of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House is Eleanor Vance, an emotionally underdeveloped young woman with a dark past. As a character, she has a deep connection to the broad theme of family within the novel, and more specifically, how the lack of family when it is desperately needed leads to emptiness.

In the beginning of the story, Mama felt criticized by her daughter Dee, who came back to visit her mom after experiencing a different life beyond her poverty stricken home. For example, when describing herself, Mama is proud of her life as a “big boned woman with rough, man-working hands” (70). She takes pride in the painstaking life that she has as a single mother who has supported and fed both her daughters in the absence of a working man in a time period in which men’s role as the provider and head of the household was prominent. Mama’s self pride is further seen as she brags that she can “clean a hog as merciless as a man” (70). Despite Mama’s positive image of herself, she lets Dee’s image of her mom taint her self image. Mama views herself through the eyes of her daughter as she describes

“The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros is a unique piece of literature that brings an interesting style of writing to life. Cisneros writes in vignettes that are as powerful as they are short and to the point. These snapshot stories illustrate the life of a young adolescent girl named Esperanza, who is trying to understand the ways of life, and fit in her culture. She learns that some of her expectations don’t quite match with the reality of her world and every action has a consequence. This is a prevalent topic throughout the book as Esperanza is growing up and facing life’s challenges as a female teenager in 1984.