Vignette Four Skinny Trees

Esperanza is dealing with many obstacles throughout her life but she keeps moving forward and getting past them. While at a carnival, Sally leaves Esperanza alone near some red clowns to leave with a boy. The clowns rape her and “He said I love you, Spanish girl, I love you, and pressed his sour mouth to mine” (Cisneros 100). Sally leaves her there without thinking she will be raped but she never comes back to get her. Esperanza doesn’t leave because she trusts that Sally will come back for her. Esperanza has to get past the incident and her way is by looking at the trees

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.

Cisneros showed Esperanza’s coming of age through her maturity in her growth mentally through the symbolism of trees. It is shown throughout the novel that Esperanza has an interesting connection with tree. In the chapter “Four Skinny Trees” she mentions “Four skinny trees with skinny necks

Identify an instance where Cisneros uses powerful imagery. Explain the effect of that imagery upon the reader. Remember that imagery can appeal to any of the senses , including sight, sound, taste, smell, to touch.

“I am an ugly daughter,” she says. “I am the one nobody comes for” (109). She feels she can relate to the four skinny trees outside her window. “Four skinny trees with skinny necks and pointy elbows like mine” (93). Just as the trees survive under a harsh environment, Esperanza finds difficulty in accepting the neighborhood in which she lives. She is very self-conscious about her name, whose mispronunciation by teachers and peers at school sounds ugly to her ears. She struggles with jealousy of her younger sister Nenny and cynically says that she “has pretty eyes and it’s easy to talk…if you are pretty” (109). Ashamed of most everything she identifies with, Esperanza is maturing with a very low perception of herself. She is not content with her home and surroundings, and cannot be until she is happy with her own character.

She says they are skinny but were strong enough to grow through the concrete. Esperanza believes her strength is also hidden but is still there. I liked this chapter because of the metaphor between her and the trees. I also liked that somethings seemingly small like four trees could have an impact on how Esperanza thinks. These trees have no purpose except to be what they are. Esperanza feels the same way about herself.

The vignette “Beautiful and Cruel,” conveys the impact it has on Esperanza. In this vignette, Esperanza feels that she is “an ugly daughter” and “the one nobody cares about” (Cisneros 88). She does not need, or want, a man to lead her life, unlike the women she knows. She does not need, or want, a man to make decisions for her. Unfortunately, she still feels the pressure to look gorgeous and stunning: “Nenny has pretty eyes and it’s easier to talk that way

Throughout the course of Mango Street, Esperanza’s relationship towards her house change. As time passes her feelings about the house itself change and the emotional impact of the house of her changes as well. Esperanza’s house on Mango Street symbolizes her Mexican culture. For so long she has wanted to leave it. She envisions a different type of life than what she is used to - moving from house to house. “this house is going to be different / my life is going to be different”. One can look at all the things she envisions - the "trappings of the good life" such as the running water, the garden etc. as symbols for the new life.

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

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

In The House on Mango Street, Esperanza narrates “One day ill 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” (Cisneros 87). This quote from the story displays how considerate Esperanza is.

1. Identify an instance where Cisneros uses powerful imagery. Explain the effect of that imagery upon the reader. Remember that imagery can appeal to any of the senses, including sight, sound, taste, smell, or touch.

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

Cisneros uses simple syntax and tells the story in vignettes to present the story as if it were told in Esperanza’s eyes. Vignettes are short little descriptions of an event or idea. The House on Mango Street is strictly told in vignettes which makes sense as it is told in a child's eyes. These vignettes tend to get larger as the story progresses and as Esperanza becomes more aware of her surroundings. As a result of this, the vignettes not only become more complex, but more mature as well. In vignettes such as “Hairs” and “My Name”, Esperanza writes about simple innocent ideas like what she likes and does not like, but later in the story vignettes such as “The Monkey Garden” and “No Speak English” cover much more mature situations such as the patriarchy and rape in the near-poverty-line Latino neighborhood of Chicago. Esperanza finds herself in these situations because of how she begins to mature and become an independent sexual being. With all of this information in mind, Cisneros uses the power of the vignette convey the fact that Esperanza is becoming an individual sexual being.

In other words, Esperanza comes to understand that identity is very much beyond where one's house is located. It may even be connected to art. In examining these profound themes, Cisneros has been able to achieve a significant amount of influence and success in the role and status of minority writers.