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Esperanza's The House On Mango Street

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The House on Mango Street is a novel on the growth of a young girl named Esperanza going through the challenges of puberty in a Latino neighborhood in Chicago. She wishes to be different from all the other women who have lived on Mango Street, because they have lived unfortunate lives. She wishes to have “a house all my own … a space for myself to go” (“A House of My Own” 108), to be an independent person, unlike most of the women, who have tied themselves down or have been tied down by their boyfriends, husbands, or parents. Sally is beaten by her father, so she defies him and goes to hang out with boys. She is forbidden to meet with the boys because she is too pretty according to her father. She later gets married to escape her father, but, …show more content…

She always says she is unlucky. After she puts her children to sleep after feeding them a pancake dinner, she writes poems on small pieces of paper, which she later allows Esperanza to read. Minerva also reads Esperanza’s poems. Esperanza says that Minerva is “always sad like a house on fire - always something wrong” (“Minerva Writes Poems” 84). Every week her husband comes back, she says that “she is through and lets him know enough is enough”, later to only let him back in. One day she comes to Esperanza all bruised up and asks for help, but Esperanza can’t do anything. Ruthie is a grown woman, Edna’s daughter (Edna is a lady who owns some apartments), yet her mind is like a young child’s. She likes to play with the kids and laugh all by herself. When Esperanza is telling a joke, Ruthie may say out of nowhere something completely random but stays observant about the place they are in. She “sees lovely things everywhere” (“Edna’s Ruthie” 68). Ruthie used to be a children’s author, so Esperanza told her a story (The Walrus and the Carpenter) to get her attention. Once she finished, Ruthie looked amazed, then complemented Esperanza on her teeth, and

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