Mango Street: Chapter Analysis

As the book progresses, Esperanza witnesses the emerging sexuality of her peers and begins to encounter her own sexuality, too. This is a confusing state to be in, and Cisneros captures the confusion by blending these moments of sexual exploration with the brutality of gendered violence. Men beat their wives and daughters, and in most cases the sexual encounters in The House on Mango Street are unwanted. The boys and men of this book tend to take things, while the girls and women deal with the consequences. Esperanza knows all this already, and it contributes greatly to her desire to

All the people on Mango Street were struggling to get by, but they seemed satisfied with just making it. Esperanza was not. There were characters like Esperanza’s mother who was a “smart cookie,” and could’ve been anything, but she let shame get the best of her and dropped out of school. There was also Rafaela who got married before the 8th grade just so she could move into her own house, but her husband never let her leave the house afterward. He never let her see her friends, and the highlight of her week was getting coconut or papaya juice from someone who would send it up in a paper bag attached to a clothespin since she couldn’t leave the house. Lastly, there was the time when she was left stranded by the tilt-a- whirl waiting for a friend that never came back and got molested by a group of boys. The only witnesses were the red clown statues that seemed to be laughing at her. Nevertheless, she let none of this stopped her from going forward and perusing her dream. She still seemed to be struggling with a sense of belonging, but maybe that’s because she didn’t.

Judgement is a very frequent occurrence in today’s world. It usually isn’t an encouraging judgement though. Throughout the book, The House on Mango Street, the message of judgement of others being cruel is revealed. This isn’t just in Esperanza, the main character, but everyone in the book. It is important that everyone in the book progresses and matures as a person because, it causes everyone to become more together. This all proves the claim of, The House on Mango Street portrays an aspect of maturity by showing that what people imagine about others is often not how they truly act and are as a person, how they grow as a person, and what they strive to become.

Esperanza as a child takes the responsibility to fight for all the women who suffer from men discrimination, because in “Mango Street” mostly women are abandoned and the others dominated by their husband, Esperanza takes the responsibility to invite all the women to organize themselves in order to protect each other from men violence. Esperanza consider herself as the one who can liberate those women such as Minerva, a young woman who have already two children and abandoned by her husband, there is also Rafaela held indoors the house by her husband and she spends all her time in the windowsill to watch what is happen outside and many other women who undergo sufferings caused by their men, that is what characterized her commitment for the liberation of the women of her neighborhood. So as the girl, Esperanza carry the burden to deliver all women in “Mango Street” from all pains and she feels she is the right one who capable to let know her neighbors’

In addition to Esperanza facing society's standards for women, so did many of the women on Mango Street. In this time period, countless women are stuck in gender roles. Sally says, “He never hits me hard” (Cisneros 92). Sally’s father makes her feel belittled when he abuses her because it is socially acceptable to hit your own daughter. Her father makes it seem like she is less valued than a male. Esperanza talks about Sally, “But Sally doesn’t tell about that time he hit her with his

What does it mean when you need to fulfill a dream? Every person may have a different view towards the answer to this question. Personally, I believe this means your strong impulse to follow and conquer what you feel most passionate about. In the novel, The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros ,the main character Esperanza shares her journey through life and her longing desire to leave the house she lives on Mango Street forever. Throughout the novel there are multiple themes that transpire during Esperanza's life. Although each theme shows relevance, I conclude the most compelling theme in the novel and the most apparent in today's society is the need to fulfill a dream.

In the novel, “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros, the main character Esperanza has many positive influences on her life. Hardships do not define one’s life either in a mental or physical capacity. Throughout the novel, Esperanza’s grandmother, Marin, and Rosa Vargas enable her to overcome the hardships of becoming a woman.

Esperanza is the strong-willed main character who wants to break free from the limitations and expectations of a women set by her community. Unlike majority of the women in her neighborhood, she dreams of her escape from this discriminatory treatment. As she blossoms from a young girl to a mature women, she comes to the realization that she can never escape, because that house on Mango Street is a part of her. She can only learn from her experience living her never flee from it. When Esperanza creates creates an original piece of poetry, she shares it with Aunt Lupe, who in return, shares some insightful advice. (60-61) Writing through all forms can allow people to escape the realities and bounds of life.

In that community women must give up everything for their men. These women are trapped in their homes and sexually assaulted by the dominant man. Although, Esperanza knows that she won’t suffer the same way. “I have begun my own quiet war. Simple. Sure. I am the one who leaves the table like a man, without putting back the chair or picking up the plate” (89). She refuses to be treated in such a way, and shows her feelings by doing what she believes in. Esperanza focuses on herself, knowing if she wants to be different from the other women in her society she’s going to have to completely understand what she wants. At first, she was self-conscious and worried about how others viewed her. However by the end, she was no longer willing to follow the standing gender roles in her society. Esperanza still had a regard for how the people she cared about viewed her but knew she had to focus on what she thought was right. Focusing on her identity gave Esperanza the chance to unleash her true self against the outside forces holding her back.

Her ideology and actions were outside the box. Not many people around her approved of her lifestyle and she was fine with that. She had to live different than the stereotypical women of her time in order to achieve what she wanted in life. On the other hand, Esperanza rebelled against the assigned gender roles. She does not act feminist at all and she does not want to get married. For Esperanza, resisting these gender roles is a way of standing up for herself. At the end, even though, these two might not get exactly what they wanted, at least, they tried. beneatha still gets to become a doctor, help people and help change the world. Esperanza might not get what she wanted, at first, to leave Mango Street, but she discovers her true self. Both of these characters discover their true identity as females. Both Esperanza and Beneatha battle against the ascribed gender roles to achieve their goals and live their

She discovers that her aunt has found her a job matching pictures with negatives at the local photofinishing store. Esperanza has to lie about her age so she can get the job with her Aunt Lala. Esperanza starts to feel more comfortable as she has someone to eat lunch with. He says to Esperanza that “I please him with a birthday kiss” (55). She says she would but he grabs her faces, kisses her hard and does not let go. This is Esperanza’s first real sexual experience that she has. Esperanza has her first crush with a boy named Sire. He has a girlfriend named Lois who doesn’t really know much. Her parents tell that Sire is a punk but that does not keep Esperanza from wishing she could “sit up outside late at night on the steps with sire/ or from wondering what it feels like to be held by a boy, something she so far has only felt in her dreams” (72-71). This is Esperanza’s first experience of jealousy to finding the missing pieces of a puzzle to her identity. Esperanza sometimes worries that she is unattractive and that her looks will “leave her stuck at home” (88). Esperanza’s mother by saying she will be more beautiful as she gets older. Esperanza is faced by getting judged on your self-image. She wants to be like the “femme fatales” in movies, who drive men crazy and refuse them instead of waiting around for a husband to take her away. Esperanza’s mother complains that how she could have done something with her life and about how

In chapter nine, we get to witness yet another of Francisco’s relocations, this time to Fresno, to a strawberry farm. We also get to see Francisco go to school again, this time in the sixth grade, and make a new friend. This new friend is none other than his teacher, Mr. Lema, and he helps him improve his English, whilst also agreeing to teach him how to play the trumpet. Francisco’s hopes to learn the trumpet are quickly shattered when he goes home to see all of his belongings packed into cardboard boxes.

She has little interactions with her father, other men, and even boys; she even shares that she fears them (Cisneros 49). This further validates the gender hierarchy in place in Chicano culture. These interactions between parent (or anyone contributing to their socialization) and child that aid in gender identification can cause boys to later negatively repress any feelings of femininity in order to be perceived masculine like their fathers (Chodorow 87). This, then in turn can serve as the explanation of the common subordination of women, specifically in Mexican-American culture. On Mango Street, even as children, Esperanza’s younger brothers, don’t speak with her and

Women are constantly put down and left to do the housework that men do not want to do. By rejecting these ideals, Esperanza is showing that she can accomplish more than what is expected of her. A change in behavior can create a whole new world for Esperanza to explore. By declaring that she wants boys to desire her but wanting to hold the power in these relationships, there is already a change from where Esperanza was in the beginning of the novel. As she grows and matures on Mango Street, Esperanza is shown to be cognizant of injustices that are happening with the women around her. “Getting out” of Mango Street is a vision that Esperanza keeps in her back pocket through the full novel and “Beautiful and Cruel” is a perfect example showing how to fight back against the stereotype that comes along with the

In the vignette, “The First Job”, Esperanza gets a job and she seems to have a positive idea about the whole theme of work and its privileges and experience but later one day, during her lunch break, an old man asks Esperanza for a kiss, because he says it’s his birthday. Esperanza leans in to kiss his cheek, but then the man grabs her face and kisses her hard on the mouth. This is where Esperanza learns the double standard of sexuality involved in Mango Street and the level of respect men have towards women and the power of women. This once again reassured her thought about men and what sexuality means to them. This was later concealed in the vignette Red clowns where Esperanza and sally go to a carnival gets raped by a group of guys forcefully.