Literary Analysis Of The House On Mango Street

Throughout The House on Mango Street Esperanza learns to resist the gender norms that are deeply imbedded in her community. The majority of the other female characters in the novel have internalized the male viewpoint and they believe that it is their husbands or fathers responsibility to care for them and make any crucial decisions for them. However, despite the influence of other female characters that are “immasculated”, according to Judith Fetterley, Esperanza’s experiences lead her to become a “resisting reader” in Fettereley’s terminology because she does not want to become like the women that she observes, stuck under a man’s authority. She desires to leave Mango Street and have a “home of her own” so that she will never be forced

Have you ever felt like the place you belonged to didn’t belong to you? In The House on Mango Street, this is how the main character, Esperanza, felt. The author, Sandra Cisneros, did a good job in portraying a girl who couldn’t find her place. She had a problem accepting where she was from, The House on Mango Street is heartfelt novel and is great to pass the time. In this story, you will be shown the lives of Esperanza, her sister Nenny, their two best friends Rachel and Lucy, and the many people who lived on Mango Street. This book is about a girl who went from denying her place to accepting it.

CM: At first, Esperanza’s mental image of herself changes as she feels more confident with who and how superior she feels while walking in the heels.

"She sits at become afraid to go outside". The leave home, she would need permission. She evolves from a victim of child abuse to a slave-like wife. Esperanza sees this despair throughout her story.

When passing through a poor neighborhood, have you ever thought, “this place is dangerous.” even though you just see what’s on the surface? The dirty buildings, run down stores, and unkempt roads persuade us to perceive that neighborhood in a negative light, but you might do this unconsciously because ever since we were young, socioeconomic status is what separates the “good”, from the “bad”. Sandra Cisneros’, House on Mango Street, shows us how harmful having a previous notion of a place or person can be. In the novel, we meet Esperanza Cordero, a girl whose parents never strived above the working class. Because of their low income, they are forced to move into neglected homes on the verge of crumbling, their final stop being Mango

Imagine feeling like you don’t belong and never will, or that the odds of your success is a slim chance to none. The House on Mango Street written by Sandra Cisneros, leads us into a world of poverty, broken dreams, and slithers of hope. The House on Mango Street follows the life of a young girl by the name of Esperanza Cordero, who occupies her childhood in an indigent Latino neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois. The books expresses her dire need to have a place where she can call home, and escape the harsh reality of her expected life. Though, her life on Mango Street is bearable with help of her little sister Nenny, her two best friends Rachel and Lucy, and her other friend Sally. On her journey to adulthood, Sandra Cisneros will show how Esperanza assimilates into a mature young lady, who truly find her identity, and develops emotionally as well as physically.

With all of the bad things going on around Esperanza, she was very optimistic and made the best of everything she could. For example, in chapter one, Esperanza explain how she and her family had always grown up poor and that they always had dreams of one day owning a big beautiful house like the ones that they saw on television. One with a back yard and a basement. When Esperanza's family was forced to move her parents had purchased the first house that they could afford so they wouldn't have to continue paying rent. The house was nothing like what they had spoke of or dreamt about. But Esperanza states, "I then knew I had to have a house. One I could point to. But this isn't it. The house on Mango Street isn't it. For the time being, Mama said. Temporary, says Papa. But I know how those things go.." Within this paragraph it shows that Esperanza isn't exactly happy about where she is living but she is going to make the best of it and do what she has to do to get out of there and have a house of her own. One that she can point to.

Esperanza comes to accept her house as part of her. During the course of the book she learns, you can't leave your culture, your roots. She observes and experiences growth. She matures. She develops opinions about dress and dating. She becomes more aware about the behaviors of people around her - she develops her sense of right and wrong. In the end, when she writes that she will "leave but come back for some" . she shows that she has become more comfortable with who she is. She does not reject her culture entirely - there are aspects of it that she embraces. She will always return to the

Lindsey Rietzsch once said “A negative attitude drains, a positive attitude energizes.” This quote means that having a negative attitude lowers your self versus having a positive attitude where is actually increases attitude and it energizes you by inspiring you. “The House on Mango Street” sets up in Chicago, where the narrator(Esperanza) lives on Mango Street. The House on Mango Street that Esperanza lives in is really bad condition and old. It is so small that the narrator has to share beds in the same room with her family. Esperanza begins to lower her self esteem because she does not like where she lives and every time when some asks, “Where do you live?” She wants a real house that she could point to and she thinks the House On Mango street is not. But later, along the times, Esperanza’s negativity of herself begins to slowly change by looking at nature and take a closer look at the environment she lives in. Cisnero shows that knowing and being able to accept where our background is from is an important part of growing in life also as determining the real you.

Eventually, Esperanza decides she does not need to set herself apart from the others in her

This relates to the theme of the struggle for self definition, because at first Esperanza was under the impression she could change a man, but as she’s exposed to these horrible encounters she comes to the conclusion that boys and girls live in different worlds.

Esperanza is able to look at her great grandmother and realize what she does not want to become, but also she realizes what she does want: to become a strong, independent woman.

Esperanza is a shy but a very bright girl. She dreams of the perfect home now, with beautiful flowers in their luscious garden and a room for everyone to live in comfortably all because of the unsatisfied face the nun made that one afternoon--when she moves to the house of Mango Street. She thinks it’s going to be a “grand house on a hill that will have a bedroom for everyone and at least three washrooms so when they took a bath they would not have to tell everybody.” (Cinceros 4) Reality is so different for her when her dream is shot down in a heartbeat when she

With this in mind the internal conflict is important, because it shows Esperanza’s sensitivity about everything what concerns herself and her being insecure. One of the vignette that tells about is called “ Chanclas.” It recounts about her being non confident, because of her old shoes that she gets every year. For example, the quote says, “ Then Uncle Nacho is pulling and pulling my arm and it does not matter how the new dress Mama bought me is because my feet are ugly.” (Cisneros 46). This quote shows that she cares so much about one detail and even the prettiest dress cannot divert her attention. She does not pay attention to the dress, because she just thinks about her shoes and she assumes everyone will look at her feet. Another quote which supports her insecure, is “ Meanwhile that boy who is my cousin by first communion or something asks me to dance and I can’t. Just stuff my feet under the metal folding chair stamped Precious Blood and pick on a wad of brown gum that’s stuck beneath the seat. I shake my head no. My feet growing bigger and bigger.” (Cisneros 47) According to this quote Esperanza does not want people to notice her imperfection so she stays out of society contact. It is not because she does not want to she explains it as a cannot thing. She does not want to embarrass herself. The quote which stays for her having low self esteem is “Until my uncle who is a liar says, You are the prettiest girl here, will you dance, but I believe him, and yes, we are dancing. And Uncle spins me, and my skinny arms bend the way he taught me, and my mom watches, and my little cousins watch, and the boy who is my cousin by first communion watches, and everyone says, wow, who are those two who dance like in the movies, until I forget that I am wearing only ordinary shoes, brown and white.” (Cisneros 47) There is a clear statement that supports, that she thinks about

The novel “The House on Mango Street” is written by Sandra Cineros. It deals with family, neighbourhood and dreams of a young Mexican girl, Esperanza Cordero growing up in Chicago. The novel begins when the Corderos move into a new house on Mango Street in the Latino section of Chicago. The fact that it is the first house they have ever owned, make them proud. But when Esperanza sees it, she is disappointed by the red, dilapidated house. It is not the one their