The House On Mango Street, written by Sandra Cisneros, tells the story of a poor Latina teenager named Esperanza growing up in America. Esperanza, the main character, is a kind and helpful girl. Many factors, like her moving around often and not liking her name, contribute to Esperanza’s identity. However, growing up in a poor Chicago neighborhood contribute most to Esperanza’s identity. The biggest factor that shaped Esperanza’s identity is the environment in which she grows up in. Growing up in her neighborhood thought Esperanza that sometimes the world’s judgement is unfair. “Those who don’t know any better come into our neighborhood scared. They think we are dangerous. They think we will attack them with shiny knives. They are stupid people …show more content…
In her neighborhood there is a junk store where the shopkeeper will only turn the lights if you have the money to buy something. When she wanted to experience eating in the lunchroom, the lunch lady was so unpleasant to her that she cried. “One day I’ll own my own house, but I won’t forget who I am or where I came from. Passing bums will ask, Can I come in? I’ll offer them the attic, ask them to stay, because I know how it is to be without a house”(87). This shows that Esperanza will be kind to those below her unlike the shopkeeper and the lunch lady. This makes her a kind hearted human being and that is part of who she is. Growing up in a poor Chicago neighborhood shaped Esperanza to be a kind, compassionate person who knows her worth and doesn’t judge people by sight. Some may argue that moving around often is a more important aspect of Esperanza’s identity than growing up in the neighborhood that she did. They may assert that because moving around a lot caused her to become a self-reliant person. Esperanza did not form many connections with people her own age. However, growing up in her neighborhood caused her to mature as a human and give her the characteristic that make her who she is. As you can see, growing up in the neighborhood that she did, contribute most to Esperanza’s identity. It caused her to be a self-loving, kind, compassionate and not judging
Esperanza faces a large amount of adversity, which she must overcome, living on Mango Street. Esperanza knows that overcoming her situation on Mango Street will prove to be a challenge for her. “[The four skinny trees] strength is secret. They send ferocious roots beneath ground. They grow up and down and grab the earth between hairy toes and bite the sky with violent teeth and never quit their anger. This is how they keep.” (Cisneros 74) This quote describes that Esperanza can overcome her situation of being on Mango Street just like the skinny trees can grow up through the concrete. Esperanza feels that she must eventually come back to Mango Street because it was her first home. “They will not know I have gone away and come back.” (Cisneros 110) This quote symbolizes that even though Esperanza believes she does not belong on Mango Street that she is a part of it and she cannot change that. Esperanza copes with daily life by telling stories, stories of Mango Street and all those who lived on it. Esperanza’s ability to overcome the adversity in her neighborhood makes her a great choice for the show.
Esperanza shows us that someone can be very different from where they grow up, they just have to be willing to keep their lives on a very positive track. A comfortable life does not come easy because everybody has challenges, but it’s the willingness to overcome
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.
As Esperanza goes into detail,The more Esperanza describes her neighbors the more Esperanza struggles with her place in society and desires to leave her neighborhood.
Esperanza does not want to be like the other women in her town, always locked inside and the only freedom they have is a small window. Her great-grandmother was a role model, she showed Esperanza the way she did not want to
She was born in Chicago, Illinois. Cisneros grew up in a Latino family around the 1950s and 1960s. She had a Mexican father and Chicano mother. Cisneros was encouraged by her mother to read and was not insisted with spending all of her time performing classic “women’s work”. Cisneros welcomes her culture with open arms, but acknowledges the unjustness between the genders within. Having experience growing up in a poor neighborhood in a working class family while facing the difficulties created by racism, sexism, and her status, Esperanza longed to leave the barrio. Later, she finds her capability to succeed individually and find a “home with herself”; she worked to recreate some Chicano stereotypes for her community. Cisneros didn’t want to
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.
In the novel, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, the theme of growing up is prevalent throughout the book. Throughout the novel, a young mexican girl named Esperanza goes through experiences as she matures that involve her friends, society, dangers that expose her to the outside world and help her to realize what the real world is like.
Esperanza has changed or grown by,she was self centered, not-understanding,and self-absorbed in the beginning of the book, but if you look at her in the end she is, mature not caring and grateful.
In conclusion, we know that Esperanza’s negativity of herself begins to slowly change as she slowly experience what accepting means and how she began to accept where she was from . Throughout this book, Cisnero showed us accepting is an important part of growing in life as well as determining the true you. In the beginning she hated her life always wanted to escape out of Mango Street versus the end she says she is going to come back. From the beginning to the end, Esperanza finally accepted where she was from and how Mango Street has developed who she became
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.
Another role model Esperanza has is her neighbor, Alicia, the most positive influence she meets in the story. Alicia is a strong independent young woman who spends most of her days cooking and cleaning for her family because her mother passed away. “Alicia who inherited her mama’s rolling pin and sleepiness, is young and smart and studies for the first time at university” (31). Esperanza admires how smart Alicia is, and, from her, Esperanza learns that studying hard will better her life. Esperanza understands it will not be easy: “Two trains and a bus, because [Alicia]
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
House on Mango Street Passage Connection Essay The book, House on Mango Street is made of short stories which shows us the life of a teenage girl, named Esperanza who has moved to the U.S. The story takes place on Mango Street where she experiences life at firsthand. The novel is made up of short stories where Esperanza tells us what she has went through. These stories contain passages that have an impact on the story, these passages consist of her talking about oppression and sexual harassment.