The House On Mango Street Analysis

Sandra Cisneros is a Latin originated American female writer. However these obstacles, she became a writer, surely one of the first female of her ethnicity. In THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET, she explores her own past through the eyes of Esperanza, a Latina youth growing up in the Barrio in Chicago. In this novel, she engages the readers through a variety of different literary devices such as Imagery, Personification, and even Simile.

But when she saw the house that they moved into, it was not what she had expected. In the book, Esperanza says, “But the house on Mango Street is not the way they told it at all. It’s small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you’d think they were holding their breath. Bricks are crumbling in places, and the front door is so swollen you have to push hard to get in. There is no front yard, only four little elms the city planted by the curb. Out back is a small garage for the car we don’t own yet and a small yard that looks smaller between the two buildings on either side. There are stairs in our house, but they’re ordinary hallway stairs, and the house has only one washroom. Everybody has to share a bedroom-- Mama and Papa, Carlos and Kiki, me and Nenny.” (Cisneros 4). By reading this, the reader can see the parallel between the house and Esperanza’s struggle with her identity. Esperanza expected her house to be this beautiful, huge, almost mansion-type place, whereas in reality it was a small house, with not much inside. Just like that, Esperanza wants to be this amazing, strong, confident, prolific writer, whereas she does not even know who she is yet. Like the house she imagined, she wants there to be so much to her, but now, she is like her house on Mango Street with not much to her that she has discovered

In the novel,The House on Mango Street, Cisneros uses a powerful collection of imagery however, one of the strongest examples would be in the chapter My Name, which displays Esperanza’s insecurities in a land who struggles to accept her. “In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting,” (Cisneros pg.10). Esperanza explains the meaning of hope for Hispanic people in a few simple words: sadness and waiting. For millions, it represents the wait of a new life, a better life for them. It’s sadness, knowing many reject them in a land they were promised opportunity. This motif of repudiation and racial discrimination appears frequently throughout the novel which greatly affects Esperanza’s life.

As the book progresses, Esperanza witnesses the emerging sexuality of her peers and begins to encounter her own sexuality, too. This is a confusing state to be in, and Cisneros captures the confusion by blending these moments of sexual exploration with the brutality of gendered violence. Men beat their wives and daughters, and in most cases the sexual encounters in The House on Mango Street are unwanted. The boys and men of this book tend to take things, while the girls and women deal with the consequences. Esperanza knows all this already, and it contributes greatly to her desire to

In life, we are often deeply influenced by the people who surround us. Consider the age-old adage “Birds of a Feather Flock Together”; this familiar saying reminds us that, in life, we gravitate toward people who appeal to us, and those people can have a great impact on who we are and the choices we make. In Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, Esperanza meets many women who play a role in her life. Some of the women impact her in negative ways, but others help her to see that she can make more of her life than what her Chicago neighborhood offers. Of all the women in Esperanza’s life, Esperanza is most influenced by her mother and Alicia because they teach her to rely on herself in order to escape Mango Street.

Esperanza is led by the dream to leave Mango Street at once, nevertheless she knows that she will have to return one day to help and encourage all those who will fallen in the big hole of hopelessness. She can leave Mango Street but she can not escape

Her parents struggled with financial problems, taking care of their kids, and finding a home since they were foreigners. They moved around from house to house when she was a little girl. Wherever they went they could never seem to be happy with the decision. As the story goes on Esperanza fantasizes about living in an beautiful home and leaving Mango Street, never to come back. Life continues on miserably for Esperanza. She continuously writes, wishes, and hopes for this gorgeous house she will eventually live in. Maturity grabs hold of the hopeful girl, and slowly but surely, leads her to the conclusion that Mango Street will always be apart of her, whether she likes it or not. At first Esperanza does not want to believe this, but as time goes on she comes to accept the facts. By this time in the read, Esperanza still dedicates her life to leaving the street, but now has her mind set on coming back for the ones she left behind. Being young at the time she said it, she never would of believed she feels the way she does now. In conclusion to all of these events, Esperanza now almost accepts Mango Street, for it has shaped her into the you lady she now is. The conflict of this journey was internal as well as external. Sometimes she would have an outside force influence her, such as when a local opened up her eyes about how Mango Street will always be a part of her. The conflict is also internal because she has many decisions

Cisneros' The House on Mango Street is a novel about the importance of not forgetting where you come from. Esperanza, a young Latino girl and the story's main character, wants to

The House on Mango Street’s main themes include self-discovery, the roles of women, and the blending of two cultures to form another. Esperanza’s journey on Mango Street is an inspiring one, teaching readers many truths about life. From self-defining moments to the difficulties of womanhood, all themes expressed in this novel change people's view of the world around

In Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, Cisneros’ captures “the image of the Chicana who needs to create her own path, not only within her culture and society, but also in Chicano fiction” (Martinez 1). This book is not like an ordinary novel, as it is “a loose-knit series of lyrical reflections, her (Esperanza’s) struggle with self identity and the search for self-respect amidst an alienating and often hostile world” (De Valdes). The men and women in Esperanza’s life play drastically different roles from each other, which tells the reader about Esperanza’s Mexican culture. Additionally, by the way women are depicted in The House on Mango Street, the reader can see that there are a great amount of expectations for Mexican women.

For my project I decided to draw a picture of Esperanza’s dream house where she can go to write about her experiences on Mango Street. When I was drawing the picture of the house, I made the house to fit Esperanza’s dream of what will bring her happiness and an inspiration for her passions. This house acts as a safe place where she can write about her true emotions about Mango street. “I put it down on paper and then the ghost does not ache so much. I write it down and Mango says goodbye sometimes. She does not hold me with both arms. She sets me free” (110). This chapter and project reveals Esperanza’s true feelings about Mango Street and how she can make use of those feelings. A deeper meaning that is explored in this chapter is that women do not need a man to be happy and productive because when Esperanza thinks about this house, a man is not in the picture.

Many would agree that finding one’s identity is essential to making a life of their own. In the novella “The House on Mango Street” Cisneros expresses the discovery of Esperanza, as well as how it affects her later in life. Throughout the story, the idea of realization is placed on the main character Esperanza, through which she displays by her thoughts and feelings about herself. Esperanza’s negative view of herself slowly changes as she begins to focus on her larger community and her place within it.

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 wishes to be grown so she can be free from Mango Street, but she is faced with a sense of powerlessness and no role models to show her to be powerful. Esperanza is surrounded by women who have submitted to their fate instead of standing up for themselves, except for Alicia. Esperanza, instead of following every woman who has submitted to their powerlessness, has chosen a role model who is showing her to be powerful. After Esperanza is raped, the peak of her powerlessness, she is speaking with Alicia, “No, this isn’t my house I say and shake my head as if shaking could undo the year I’ve lived here...No, Alicia says. Like it or not you are Mango Street, and one day you’ll come back too. Not me. Not until somebody makes it better. Who’s going to do it? Not the mayor” (Cisneros 106). Alicia is telling Esperanza that no matter how hard she tries, Mango Street will always be a part of her past, and she will come back someday. But at the same time, she’s hinting to Esperanza that she is strong enough to come back and change Mango Street for the better. Because who else is going to do it? Esperanza understands Alicia’s message to her and reflects upon what she wishes her future to be like, “One day I will pack my bags of books and paper. One day I will say goodbye to Mango. I am too strong for her to keep me here forever. One day I will go away...They will not know I have gone away to

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