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Examples Of Literary Devices In The House On Mango Street

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Literary devices may be used to add more dimension and description to writing, but they can also show multiple characters’ perspectives, too. These perspectives can portray insights on characters that show true personalities. In The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, certain examples of literary devices are strategically used to do so. The story includes different vignettes that guides through the main character’s, Esperanza’s life. Each vignette illuminates Esperanza’s problems and outlooks about race, gender, economic status, age, and society as a whole. Using a variety of literary devices, such as figurative language, sensory details, comparisons, and allusions, Cisneros truly displays disparate characters’ perspectives about themselves …show more content…

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

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