Comparison Of The House On Mango Street By Sandra Cisneros

The characters can connect through a sense of self realization as well. During the teenage years, many feel the restraint and frustration of not being able to reach their full potential. The connection between the ages who struggle with this and the character has many lines of textual support. Esperanza feels that she doesn’t fully understand her name and is unsure if it applies to who she is. Cisneros wrote, “In English my name means hope(Cisneros 10)” and “Esperanza. I have inherited her name, but I don 't want to inherit her place by the window(Cisneros 11)” suggesting that she doesn’t feel that her name applied to her Grandmother as she hopes it applies to her. Her grandmother waited and hoped for a savior. Esperanza feels that her fate points in that direction, but her name suggests that she may take another destiny. She does

The first sentence Esperanza says “I am an ugly child. I am the one nobody comes for.” (88) This sentence starts the mood for this vignette. It is only 2 sentences, but you can immediately understand how Esperanza feels. Insecure and helpless, like no one cares for her, that no one would come for her. The sentences are short and choppy. Using this type of sentence structure established how she thinks that she doesn’t need to put in allot if detail about herself. That she doesn’t want to take up time describing herself. When she talks about Nenny, she uses 3 long sentences. Using the 3 long sentences establishes that in her eyes Nenny is more important to talk about and more people should care more about the details of Nenny. Through the use of syntax Cisneros shows us Esperanza’s lack of self-esteem. Certain words choices throughout the vignette shows how Esperanza feels about her sister and her looks.

As Esperanza goes into detail,The more Esperanza describes her neighbors the more Esperanza struggles with her place in society and desires to leave her neighborhood.

In "My Name, "She looked out the window her whole life, they way so many women sit, with their sadness on an elbow". Abuse to Rafaela, again subtle because she does not go out, in fear of husband. Poverty on Loomis, Keeler and Paulina; poverty is a way of life. The impact is for all generations, the parents who cannot get out, the children that see it and the little ones who cannot know any better. The opportunities are limited in the barrio. Esperanza was embarrassed when she pointed to her house "there". "There?", as if there was no place for a girl to live. But survival is instinctive and there is a certain amount of barrio pride "Those who don't know any better come into our neighborhood scared. They think we are dangerous. They think we will attack them with shiny knives. They are stupid people who are lost and got here by mistake." The victim of being called a "rice sandwich". Hurt by the sister superior as she points to a row of ugly houses reminding Esperanza of the sin of being poor.

One example is when she talks to Alicia about their homes. Before they talk, Esperanza states that Alicia gave Esperanza a bag with the “word GUADALAJARA stitched onto it, which is home for Alicia, and one day she will go back there” (106). Here, Esperanza contrasts her temporary home with Alicia’s permanent one. While Alicia has an actual home where she can live for the rest of her life; Esperanza doesn’t and continuously moves to her different “homes”. By comparing her home, she is implying that she wants a home where she can settle and be happy, not like the one on Mango Street. This ultimately shows that she’s not satisfied with her current lifestyle and wants for a better life. Another comparison is when she compares her age and gender with an older man. In the vignette “The First Job”, she lands a job at a photo developer studio where she hides from the other men and women at lunch time because she is scared of them looking at her. Subsequently, she meets a man who says it’s his birthday and asks for a tiny birthday kiss, and she thinks “I thought I would just because he was so old… he grabs my face with both hands and kisses me hard on the mouth” (55). Here, Esperanza compares her age and gender with the actions that the older man does. She is working a normal day, then randomly a guy comes up and kisses her directly, without her consent. By showing this example of an old man in the workplace, she is basically stating men, especially older ones, are dangerous by sexually harassing young women such as herself. This means that she doesn’t visualize men as people who she will marry and live a happy life with, but people who are filled with evil. Through comparing and contrasting Esperanza with other characters, a deeper sense of understanding of Esperanza is

repetition to show Esperanza's helplessness and childlike understanding of the world. Originally, Cisneros compares clouds to soft objects of childhood safety while using simile to highlight Esperanza's carefreeness: "...Because [today] the world was full of clouds, the kind like pillows" (Cisneros 33). Due to her environment, Esperanza lives a life lacking in beauty; a life in which, "Butterflies are too few and so are flowers and most things beautiful" (Cisneros 33). Accordingly, since she is a child, she only has been able to search, and hope to find, what beauty there is in her life. Esperanza is in no position to change her fate, as her age holds her back, so all

The author sees herself “transforming” into the members of her family because she turning into the image of them that she remembers from a child and is uneasy about these changes happening to her. Additionally, in the vignette Cisneros compares Esperanza to her grandmother because they share the same name, “She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow... Esperanza, I have inherited her name, but I don’t want to inherit her place by the window”. Esperanza believes that because she shares the same as her grandmother that she is bound the face the same future as her grandmother. One of the most important differences is in the poem Cofer describes all the new changes in her appearance, “ like arrows pointing downward to our common ground”.

Esperanza is the main character and narrator of this story. Esperanza is a young lady growing up in a poor neighborhood in Chicago. She and her family are new to this country, which can be assumed because she has memories of the houses back in Mexico (Cisneros 17). The book focuses on Esperanza, her family, her friends, and even her neighbors which all live in the same street. From childhood, to adolescence, Esperanza tells the reader her story and what she lived through as well as those who associated with her. This book is an insight to a Chicano (Mexican-American) family, and the struggles that as such they go through. Esperanza starts the story as a little girl and goes all the way to adulthood throughout her narration. There are other characters involved in the story, such as Esperanza’s family, which are Papa, Mama, Nenny, Carlos, and Kiki. Other relatives and friends are involved in the story as well.

Very early in the book, the separation between males and females in Esperanza’s society is highlighted. Esperanza herself says, “The boys and the girls live in separate worlds. The boys in their universe and we in ours” (Cisneros 8). This separation leads to many characteristic differences between the males and females of the book.

Some may argue that moving around often is a more important aspect of Esperanza’s identity than growing up in the neighborhood that she did. They may assert that because moving around a lot caused her to become a self-reliant person. Esperanza did not form many connections with people her own age. However, growing up in her neighborhood caused her to mature as a human and give her the characteristic that make her who she is.

For example, Esperanza and her friends wanted to be recognized, so when they put high heels on they felt great joy about looking like a grown up, exclaiming happily, “Hurray! Today we are Cinderella because our feet fit exactly” (Cisneros 40). Esperanza’s desire to have a sense of belonging impelled her to take drastic actions even though the attention came from greedy and aggressive men. Through yearning for want she could not have, such as money or a new name, Esperanza then identified that she would rather be herself and escape in her own way, instead of being in a manipulative relationship. After experiencing many hardships in her life, Esperanza realized by being true to herself, opportunities are more feasible, conveying, “I have gone away to come back. For the one’s I left behind. For the one’s who cannot [get] out” (110). By going through adversity, Esperanza’s potential broadened because of the talent that she has in writing and her future became palpable. She is able to acknowledge that her capability of writing will help her leave Mango Street and come back to help those that can’t help them-self. The significance of being an original person, helped Esperanza discover her self-worth and create her own path, instead of changing her individuality to have a false sense of fitting in a population.

Moreover, the author's ability to exhibit a position of her desires as a child and how she could never quite grasp the. The narrator evokes us to, “Still, we take what we can and make the best of it.” (Cisneros 33). In a like manner of the author’s previous notions, the reader’s capacity to understand to an extent of what the storyteller’s going through. Even if they have never encountered a similar circumstances themselves. Consequently, the reader has the means to take pleasure in Esperanza’s maturity as she chooses to gaze at the water in a glass, and instead of choosing whether it is half full or half empty she decides to dwell on the reality that the glass is half way full and empty, which is a similar manner to how she comprehends the world. The narrator, instead of choosing to reside in a plethora of unsatisfactory events that have happened, she decides to go onward on the path in life that leads her to the most happiness by reminiscing about the marvelous things that can

During one of Esperanza’s wishful daydreams, she delineates what she wants to own, saying, “A house all to my own. With my porch and my pillow” (Cisneros 43). Perpetuating “my”, Esperanza shows that she wants her house to show that she is an individual who is not to be shamed by what she lives in. This image of individualism is expanded through the stress on “own”. In a similar fashion, while thinking about foreign neighborhoods, Esperanza thinks, ”All brown all around, we are safe. But watch us drive into a neighborhood of another color and our knees go shakity-shake and our car windows get rolled up tight and our eyes look straight”. Esperanza shows that she feels safe when there is “all brown all around”, further emphasizing her point of being an individual. The usage of the home in this case represents a flaw of Esperanza and how it is bad to be in a different home than her. Later, Cisneros utilizes Esperanza’s fantasy of her aspiration to own her house, “One day I'll own my own house, but I won't forget who I am or where I came from. Passing bums will ask, Can I come in? I'll offer them the attic, ask them to stay, because I know how it is to be without a house”. Her house acts as a compassionate being, such as her dream is to be. It also represents her desire to remain sturdy and

Perhaps the first feature a reader recognizes when starting the novel is the simple, often short, sentences. The beginning sentence, “We didn’t always live on Mango Street” (3), sets a straightforward precedent that continues throughout the novel, with many sentences existing briefly and following basic sentence structures such as subject, verb, and object. This simplicity not only mimics the direct, natural vocabulary of adolescents, but makes the novel accessible to readers of all ages. However, these short sentences are interspersed with longer thoughts often begun with “and” or “but,” creating a connection between largely unrelated sentences. As Esperanza moves through musings and acute observations in a stream of consciousness, Cisneros establishes an intimacy and informality that resembles a diary.

In a family, everyone is unique no matter how identical they seem. Even so, apples never fall far from the tree. Noticing similarities may seem like a needle in a haystack, especially in this family, but the heart and soul of one another is shown regardless of their relationship. They are always there for each other, even if they do not physically or verbally show it. The first definition of “family” is shown in the vignette titled ‘Hairs’. Esperanza enjoys the significance of how different her and her family are. She can divide her family into groups or singles based on hair or size or emotional appearance. Esperanza finds multiple ways to divide herself from her family unit, to be alone. To show how she doesn’t belong. Throughout the