House On Mango Street Research Paper

“The House on Mango Street is ours, and we don't have to pay rent to anybody, or share the yard with the people downstairs, or be careful not to make too much noise, and there isn't a landlord banging on the ceiling with a broom. But even so, it's not the house we'd thought we'd get… The water pipes broke and the landlord wouldn't fix them because the house was too old. We had to leave fast. We were using the washroom next door and carrying water over in empty milk gallons.” ( chapter 1, page 4.) For Esperanza, the idea of having a house of her own becomes sort of an obsession. The image of the house becomes a symbol for various ideas. Esperanza is so ashamed of where she lives. She also, denies that she lived in Mango Street. Esperanza also stated that is she had the chance she would erase the years that she lived in it. Cathy who was Esperanza's friends until Tuesday was so ashamed of where Esperanza lived. Cathy felt bad for the house that Esperanza called her home. “Where do you live? She asked. There, I said pointing up to the third floor. You live there?” ( chapter 1, page 5.)

"I knew then I had to have a house. A real house. One I could point to. But this isn't it," this shows that Esperanza is embarrassed that she lives in the broken down house on mango street. To add on, in the vignette Bums in the Attic Esperanza explains how she wants a house on the hill with the gardens like the ones she visits every Sunday's where her dad works but Esperanza stopped going not because she's getting old or because she's too stuck up but because she's ashamed "I don't tell them I am ashamed-all of us staring like the hungry. I am tired of looking at what we can't have," Esperanza stopped visiting the hill because she feels ashamed and tired of looking at what she can't have and she wishes to live in a nice house like the ones by her dads work but instead she lives in the broken down house on Mango Street. This changed Esperanza because she knows what it feels like being a bum and she says "One day I'll own my own house, but I won't forget who I am or where I came from," this is also important because if she hadn't lived on Mango Street then she wouldn't have felt sorry for the bums and she wouldn't have offered them a place to stay because she explains that she will offer the bums the attic because she knows how it is to be without a house. This shows that Mango Street and the other place Esperanza has lived in made her a caring person. In conclusion some may argue that Esperanza's neighborhood is the most important factor that shapes her identity but it's the people and relationships with others that makes up the

Esperanza had always desired a new home, but realizes Mango Street will always be a part of her. “I knew then I had to have a house. A real house. One I could point to. But this isn’t it” (5). At first Esperanza wanted an escape from Mango Street, she was embarrassed of where she came from. But as she grows as a person and is exposed to devastations in other people's lives around her, she realizes something much more ugly than just the looks of Mango Street. “You must keep writing. It will keep you free, and I said yes, but at that time I didn’t know what she meant” (61). Writing kept Esperanza free, and helped her cope with her problems. Esperanza later perceives why her aunt wanted her to continue writing, because not everyone had something to set them free from Mango Street. “They will not know I have gone away to come back. For the ones who cannot out”(110). Instead of leaving to never return, Esperanza realizes the women in her community have it

Esperanza had to face many different obstacles in her life that have shaped her to become who she is. One of these obstacles was her house. From the first moment she moved into the house on Mango Street she knew she didn't like it. The way she described the house revealed how she must’ve felt, “...Windows so small you’d think they were holding their breath” and “Bricks… crumbling in places” (5). They way that Esperanza describes her house makes the house sound not very appealing, and possibly she is unhappy that she has to live there. This feeling of discontent that Esperanza has about her house evolved into something different as the book progressed. All Esperanza truly wants is a nice house that she can call her own. In the vignette “Bums In the Attic” Esperanza explains

In the book Esperanza and her family move into a new house on Mango Street and which their new house could be seen as a huge improvement from the family’s previous apartment. At the beginning of the book it states “We didn't always live on Mango Street. Before that we lived on Loomis on the third floor, and before that we lived on Keeler.” Which this tells us about how this is not the first time her and her family have moved and it also tells us that her family has moved so often that she doesn't feel like she can claim any one place as her home. But eventually in the story it tells us “The house on Mango Street is ours, and we don't have to pay rent to anybody, or share the yard with the people downstairs, or be careful not to make too much noise, and there isn't a landlord banging on the ceiling with a broom” which shows us how Esperanza is starting to like the house because she is relieved to feel like her family actually owns a home. But in the book it says “I knew then I had to have a house. A real house. One I could point to. But this isn't it. The house on Mango Street isn't it.” which shows us that Esperanza did not think of the house on mango street being her

The house on Mango Street is not how Esperanza dreamed or Imagined it to be. In Esperanza’s Perspective, “Out back is a small garage for the car we don’t own yet and

The epigraph, “A las Mujeres, To the Women.”, written at the beginning of the book clearly states Cisneros’ purpose of reconstructing the current patriarchal and misogynistic society by creating space for women and by using them as characters that Esperanza grows and learns from. In the fourth chapter, ¨My Name¨, Esperanza explains that she does not want to be tied down like her her great-grandma, also describing the underlying negative connotations her name possesses. Esperanza was named after her great-grandma, ¨In Spanish, it is too many letters. It means sadness. It means waiting (10)”. She believes her name symbolizes her present life state, therefore Esperanza is

Some may argue that Esperanza being a Latina woman is a more aspect of her identity rather than her being ambitious. People may assert that because it has a lot to do that her name which is very important throughout the story and to who she is. This has strengthened her family culture, for example when she went to her cousins quince. That is something you would only see in Mexican culture for women. Finally it also has to do with her families beliefs which is shown when Esperanza's friends and her play sharades. Now Esperanza is scared she will go

The details that Sandra Cisneros chooses to include in The House on Mango Street are both effective and appropriate. Most of the details revolve around interactions Esperanza has with the other characters, her neighbors, and demonstrate who Esperanza is, and how she changes. Each interaction teaches Esperanza a new lesson that she can and will use later on in her life, and the lessons the young girl learns are also important for readers, especially other young girls, as they are applicable to everyday life. All of the details are very appropriate to the setting and plot of the story because Esperanza can use each lesson she learns, so they are not pointless. The details Cisneros includes are all important in many ways, and are very effective in communicating lessons and themes to readers.

The house was a clear downgrade from her last house, and her parents often mentioned to Esperanza that they were only going to be living on Mango St. temporarily. However, Esperanza was not resistant to sit back patiently and wait for her parents to have the financial ability to move out. For example, Esperanza explained, “I want a house on a hill like the ones with the gardens where Papa works” (34.1). This shows that Esperanza aspires to move to an upper class community and become someone successful. Similarly, To this day I also share a similar aspiration in wanting to move into a better neighborhood in the near

Lastly, Esperanza visions herself in a house all to herself far from Mango Street. To her, Mango Street is an unwanted obstacle in her life that she would need to get past in order to be at her

First, Esperanza is shocked and a little upset,she ends up having to move again, and she told was told that it was going to be a big dream house her parents told her about. She soon finds out it's a small red house. In chapter one The House on Mango Street, It says in the text, “it’s small and red with tight steps in the front and windows so small you’d think they were holding their breath.”(4) She doesn’t really love the hose but atleast it's all their house.

In the last vignette, called Mango Says Goodbye Sometimes, Esperanza ties the book together by saying that she is “going to tell you a story about a girl who didn’t want to belong.” (Cisneros 109). She goes on to explain the basic background story that each vignette related to in a way. She explained how they “didn’t always live on Mango Street. Before that [they] lived on Loomis on the third floor, and before that [they] lived on Keeler.

Mango Street affects her at first in a bad way. Her disapproval is proven by her thought, “I knew then I had to have a house… But this isn’t it. The house on Mango Street isn’t it. For the time being, Mama says. Temporary, says Papa” (Cisneros 5). Even though Esperanza does not like the house, it is a very special thing to her family, “The house on Mango Street is ours, and we don’t have to pay rent to anybody, or share the yard with the people downstairs, or be careful not to make too much noise, and there isn’t a landlord banging on the ceiling with a broom” (Cisneros 3). This is the first sign of Esperanza’s transformation to a new and better life which will be guided by the wisdom and ignorance of people neighboring her family.

The first chapter of this novel, simply titled ‘The House on Mango Street’ had great significance to the story. This first chapter, yet short, gave a load of background about Esperanza’s life prior to the house on Mango Street. This chapter touched on the prior ‘homes’ Esperanza lived in before Mango Street, notice I use the term ‘home’ loosely, considering none of them provided good living conditions, especially for a large family like hers. Among these homes, her family suffered through poverty and judgment of all kinds, however her parents always promised that one day they