The House on Mango Street is a short story centered around the upbringing of a young Mexican girl and her arrival at her new house. It may be seen as a simple short story; however, it has many underlying themes it raises awareness of. The book has elements of sexism, struggles in poverty, and being an immigrant. It also has simple moments alluding to the idea that a simple life is what one desires. Ultimately, The House on Mango Street truly emphasizes the importance (positive and negative) of place, culture, and environment in childhood development whilst showing the values of a young girl and her struggles. Mexican culture (Hispanic in general) is known for being one of the most family-oriented and connected cultures in the world. Traditionally, …show more content…
A traumatic situation occurred to Esperanza when she was sexually assaulted/groped by a man at the carnival. In The House on Mango Street it’s said, “Sally, you lied. It wasn't what you said at all. What he did. Where he touched me. I didn't want it, Sally. The way they said it, the way it's supposed to be, all the storybooks and movies, why did you lie to me?” (Cisneros 99). For many individuals, an experience like this may ruin their lives forever; but for Esperanza, she seemingly didn’t let it ruin her life. It’s even said at the end of the story that Esperanza would want to come back to her Chicago neighborhood. There could be two reasons for this, one is that Esperanza is just a strong person and didn’t let the trauma consume her life. The other may be due to her environment growing up. It’s said that Esperanza was catcalled regularly and at one point her friend was even forcefully kissed at a young age, just for wearing high heels. These situations may have led to Esperanza becoming desensitized to sexual activities. This is to say that a person’s environment during their youth prepares them for events in
Have you ever heard of a poor child who has lived in a very uncomfortable home and didn’t have great wealth? In The House On Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, this is the problem. In The House On Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros Esperanza Cordero is the main character. Esperanza lived in the house on mango street during her developmental years, from the ages six to her becoming a young adult. The three biggest problems Esperanza's faces are poverty, confidence, and relationships.
In the book The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, Magdalena’s identity is shaped throughout her childhood by poverty, her hopes/desires, and disappointment.
Esperanza is an intelligent girl who has experienced many misfortunes and successes, that have impacted her for the better and the worse. Throughout the novel, Esperanza meets many people who are considered to be “stuck” in Mango Street. This was not apparent to her until one of the sisters, in the chapter titled The Three Sisters, said “You must remember to come back. For the ones who cannot leave as easily as you” (105). Although the text does not state who specifically she should return for, Esperanza knows what the sisters meant. The interaction between Esperanza and the sisters really opened her eyes about what life was like on Mango street for herself and others. She is ready to leave but the sisters say something
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
The House on Mango Street is written by Sandra Cisneros. This book is a realistic fiction coming of age novel. The read is about a young woman named Esperanza who hopes and dreams of one day moving away from the poor community of Mango Street. This street is full of many pitiful apartments, many foreigners from other countries, and packed tight with trouble. As she faces the journey to one day leave this sorrowful street she comes to realize it will always be apart of her by the end of the story.
The House on Mango Street, is a great book for high school students to read, it talks about a lot of different topics that need to be talked about like gender, neighbors, tradition, family, shame, obligation, and denial. Almost no topic is ignored with this book buried in a 110 paged book. Its written by Sandra Cisneros where she portrays a character named Esperanza Cisneros, whose name means ¨hope” a named her inherited from her grand-mother, but didn't want her faith of being a housemaid always looking out the window wishing what she could have been or done with her life, Esperanza was a 12 year old chicana, Latin-American girl who just moved to the middle of Chicago in a tiny red crumbled down house in a poor neighborhood where there made up almost entirely of immigrants of Mexico, but also includes African american people. Esperanza was embarrassed of her family's poverty several times she hinds the fact that she's poor or lives in a tiny crumbled down house by saying she lives in different houses every time she is asked and with her family that is always moving from place to place, that makes it harder
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
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.
As time carries on in the book, through Esperanza’s eyes the reader is shown how cruel reality is on Mango Street. The misery that occurs on Mango Street. Misery of the wives who are beaten by their husbands, from the unwanted pregnancies, and death. Esperanza experiences let down after let down as she tries to adapt to life on Mango Street. As she spends more time on Mango Street, reality sinks in.
She was forced to mature and be a role model when her grandfather died. “Because I am the oldest, my father told me first and now it is my turn to tell the others”(Cisneros 99). She had to become the responsible older sibling to show the others the importance of the event. Esperanza learned the importance of life and her father. In the vignette called “Red Clowns” it is indicated that Esperanza was molested and or raped.
In The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, many ideas are presented about Mexican-Americans and how life is for them. In the story, Esperanza is a girl that lives with her family and has to live in a type of ghetto. Esperanza and even her neighborhood experiences racism. With racism happening, it shows the real personality of the characters and the different identities of each of them in this book. Esperanza is a young girl that wants a higher quality life than she is living now.
While Esperanza questions herself, she only remembers that “when the others ran, [she] wanted to run too, up and down through the monkey garden, fast as the boys, not like Sally who
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros tells the story of a young Latina girl named Esperanza. The novel is set in a poor Latino community in Chicago around the 1960s. The story begins with Esperanza describing how her and her family ended up in a sad house on Mango Street. She describes how she is so ashamed to be living in the house she lives in and how she dreams of a beautiful house of her own. Contrary to the title, the vignettes throughout the novel describe the other people who live on Mango Street.
She doesn’t like the death because of the whole game she played with her friends acting and portraying them-selves as Aunt Lupe. Considering she was bedridden and sick almost all of Esperanza’s life, she never got to go out and have fun with her aunt. Although Esperanza was afraid to visit Lupe, she liked her. She would bring library
Esperanza’s friend Sally is one of the reasons that Esperanza really questions what it is to grow up. Sally wears make-up and appears to challenge the men in her life until they retaliate, like her father who beats and rapes her. In the chapter “The Monkey Garden” Sally is flirting with a group of boys and Esperanza can not understand why Sally will not play with her and the other girls. Then Esperanza thinks that Sally needs recusing from Tito and the other boys when they demand a kiss for the keys they took from her. Sally tells Esperanza to go away and she finally understands that Sally wanted to be with the boys. After meeting Sally and becoming more aware of her own sexuality Esperanza “decided to not grow up tame.”(88). She knows that