The House On Mango Street Analysis

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

Growing up on Mango Street, girls had to take two steps backward to take one forward. Just like ballroom dancing, women let men take the lead and sacrifice an extra step to continue moving on the floor. When Sally escaped from her father and married the marshmallow salesman, she had to give up her youth and femininity.

The House on Mango Street is a story about a teenage latina girl in a Chicago ghetto. Esperanza´s society is dominated by men, who only like women for the way they look, not what’s inside. The House on Mango Street describes how latina women face problems in their society not abling them to fit in, treating them as second class citizens.

Esperanza, a strong- willed girl who dreams big despite her surroundings and restrictions, is the main character in The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Esperanza represents the females of her poor and impoverished neighborhood who wish to change and better themselves. She desires both sexuality and autonomy of marriage, hoping to break the typical life cycle of woman in her family and neighborhood. Throughout the novel, she goes through many different changes in search of identity and maturity, seeking self-reliance and interdependence, through insecure ideas such as owning her own house, instead of seeking comfort and in one’s self. Esperanza matures as she begins to see the difference. She evolves from an insecure girl to a

Society has built a role for women. And there’s no better example of this idea than The House on Mango Street, in which Esperanza describes specific moments of her life which lead her to believe in women independence and feminism. She has different ideas and thoughts on the definition of women and what they should be. Esperanza doesn’t fit into the constructed definition Mango Street has of how women should be.

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

“Born Bad” is the vignette I chose to address from The House on Mango Street. I didn’t find it to be significant at first because of the style of writing the author uses. I’ve not read any books using little vignettes as chapters. This style of writing makes me feel like I am reading about situations that seem random and disconnected. Esperanza was born on the evil day, what does this really have to do with her being a woman and not fitting in on Mango Street? Lucy, Rachel, and Esperanza made fun of Aunt Lupe the day she died, a sad event but what does that have do with her being a foreigner on Mango Street?

The Novel, The House on Mango Street, was based on the writer Sandra Cisneros. She was writing this when she was living in Chicago. She was like Esperanza. She want though poverty. She has been heartbroken and deeply joyous. She inventing for herself who and what she will become. This is the life of Esperanza Cordero and based on Sandra Cisneros to all women out there.

The novel, The House on Mango Street, focuses on a young girl who strives to figure out her identity. She continuosly struggles to find her confidence, along with who she is. People tend to struggle with self-acceptance due to society. Society analyzes each person and dissects every one of their flaws, making them want to change themselves to fit expectations. Moving to her new home, Esperanza began to spend all of her time embarrassed. She was ashamed of her new home, and also uncomfortable with her outside appearance. She felt as if her outside didn’t convey the true personality hidden inside her. All Esperanza understood was that she didn’t fit in, and that she is different. Esperanza tries to find the person she truly wants to

She points out to readers that the place she will live in one day will be “Not an apartment in the back. Not a man’s house. Not a daddy’s. A house all my own” (108). In this Esperanza is making connections again to the women who she is surrounded by on Mango Street. As she is maturing she has come to the realization that these women are in an oppressive situation and belong to men because they do not own anything on their own. The women who make up Mango Street are at the mercy of their significant others who are able to control them this way. Since the beginning of the text Esperanza has been obsessed with finding a place that is her own. She does not see Mango Street as being her home but through the community who makes up Mango Street she is being transformed. In this piece she conveys her desire to own her own home and by pointing out to the readers that it will not be a man’s house or a dad’s house she is demonstrating how the environment of Mango Street is influencing her. By seeing the women on her street being confined Esperanza has decided that she will own her home, something that cannot be taken away from her and cannot be turned against her to hold her imprisoned within its

They pray for Esperanza because the day she was born in the Chinese year of the horse and it was said to be bad luck if you were born female. She relates this to her aunt Lupe (Guadalupe) because she inherited a disease dealing with her legs. She also says "There was no evil in her birth. No wicked curse." Aunt Lupe was born the same day Esperanza was and nothing has happened to her, but this disease that she has. Esperanza is scared of his because she wants to continue on with her life and doesn't want anything to happen to

In The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros, a little girl from a Latino heritage is given birth to. Not literally, but in the sense of characterization. Esperanza is a fictional character made up by Cisneros to bring about sensitive, alert, and rich literature. She is the protagonist in the novel and is used to depict a female’s life growing up in the Latino section of Chicago. Cisneros creates the illusion that Esperanza is a real human being to communicate the struggles of growing up as a Latina immigrant in a modern world, by giving her a name, elaborating her thoughts and feelings, and illustrating her growth as a person through major events.

Sandra Cisneros is viewed as a strong author for Latinos and specifically women. In her book, The House on Mango Street, Cisneros writes the novel in both English and Spanish. She even dedicates her book to, “A las Mujeres/To the Women.” Throughout the story, Cisneros introduces her audience to many female characters and the lives of the characters as well. Esperanza, the protagonist in the House on Mango Street, is followed as she grows older and begins to find herself and her sexuality. This book is a great example of how Cisneros specifically writes from a feminist point of view.

Elinita to people is a witch women that tells fortunes for people. There is a women exactly like her in Esperanza's neighborhood but, she's better off in life. She has two kids. She wants Esperanza to try see spirits in a glass of water but, Esperanza just can't. Esperanza likes listening more to the bugs bunny cartoons. Esperanza want to know from Elinita if her dream house is soon in the future. Esperanza is disappointed with the answer she gives her, house of the heart. She goes home five dollars poorer. Martin finally meets a boy and dances with him for a little while his name is Geraldo. Geraldo speaks no English and after the dance was hit by a car. He goes to the Emergency room and dies right there because no one would help.

Many vignettes within Cisneros’s “House on Mango Street” imply powerful imagery, one of which stood out within the introduction, more specifically the section of where Elvira visits Sandra at her house in Chicago. This instance was well described as the surroundings around the mother and daughter were revealed gradually, following the areas where Sandra and her mother went. During Elvira’s tour around the house, certain personal commodities of Sandra’s were highlighted. Examples of which includes her spiral staircase to the roof, fine drapes in the library (implied by her mother commenting on how they must have cost ‘pretty penny’) and her space on the roof of her saffron house. These examples of Sandra Cisneros’ commodities emphasizes the