The House on Mango Street

In The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros tells the story of Esperanza, a young immigrant girl maturing sexually and emotionally into a young adult. Sandra Cisneros shows throughout the story that a child’s surroundings and role models set the stage for who they will become. Throughout The House on Mango Street Esperanza’s is molded by her family and her neighborhood into an adult that will always have a piece of Mango Street inside of her. Family members tend to be role models throughout a

NEW/OLD Title: The House on Mango Street Author: Sandra Cisneros Main Characters (Protagonist/Antagonist), Title, & Traits: Esperanza – narrator – writer/storyteller, matures throughout story (dynamic/developing character), outcast, confused, growing/maturing/coming of age Mama – domestic, safe place for Esperanza, somewhat clueless Papa – boss, strict, “straight” Nenny – Esperanza’s younger sister, they are more alike than Esperanza likes to admit, childish Alicia – forced to grow up/act as

fall into a cruel cycle of abuse, but with the help of others the cycle of abuse and poverty and status of inferiority can break. The House on Mango Street takes place some time in the 1980’s. While not long ago, women during that time face domination by men and most struggle to fight back, which can still be seen today. Most women become bounded to the house, afraid to leave. Young girls however have the pleasure of going to school and most, but not all have the opportunity to play around.

The Path of Self-Definition, Becoming An Independent Woman Esperanza, the main character of The House on Mango Street, revolves around her teenage confusion to find her identity, but also becoming a strong and independent woman. She is very observant, and in order to form this foundation, Esperanza is influenced by the people around her and always looking for pathways to follow, through examples displayed within her neighborhood. She doesn’t want to throw her life away through marriage, or to be

their goals because of their financial status or surroundings. But what actually takes people far to succeed in life is their hard work and to never give up their dreams. Esperanza Cordero, a girl who dreams big, is the main character on The House On Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, who represents the females of her poor neighborhood who desire to improve and change themselves despite their surroundings and restrictions while she struggles to confront her neighborhood’s poverty. Because of her Mexican

Henrick Ibsen’s play “A Doll’s House” emphasizes the theme that discrimination is what ultimately ruins family, which is also shown in Sandra Cisneros's The House on Mango Street. Our protagonist, Nora, explains “...how painful/ and humiliating it would be for Torvald, with his manly independence,/ to know that he owed me anything! It would upset our/ mutual relations altogether…” (1. 1. 452-455). Her husband, Torvald, owes his life to Nora but she has kept this a secret because he would be very

The House on Mango Street is about a young girl named Esperanza, who looks at life from experience of living in poverty. Esperanza is a girl who struggles with finding her true self. She dreams of the perfect home, a home with beautiful flowers and also a room for everyone. When she moves to the house on Mango Street, reality is very different than the dream she imagined. Many of the other female characters identify what it is to be a woman, but her neighbor Marin, shows the “true” identity for women

provides a variety of identities and goals. Despite technical advancements in communities changing rapidly, the migration of people and their cultural histories has never failed to make urban cities such as Chicago unique and diverse. The House on Mango Street, written by Sandra Cisneros, introduces the topics of education, the eagerness to “escape” poverty, and the struggle of growing up female to readers, ultimately showcasing the difficulty of being raised in a low income home, common in highly

In Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street, Cisneros uses her Hispanic heritage to characterize the protagonist, Esperanza. In the novella, the obstacles caused by Esperanza’s background, such as racism and cultural standards set towards women, causes some self-doubt as she struggles to discover who she is and who she has the potential to become. Esperanza struggles with discovering how her Mexican culture impacts how she and others will view herself as an individual and how her culture impacts the

Journal 4 In the novel, The House On Mango Street, the women of Mango Street face numerous challenges in their lives. Women face abuse, objectification, and oppression. They are also subject to the societal roles that hinders them from being free and successful. Cisneros utilizes metaphors to reveal the theme that society’s gender roles and double standards restrict women’s sexuality and success. In The House On Mango Street, the metaphor of the “[red] balloon tied to an anchor” (Cisneros, 9) helps