Vignettes In The House On Mango Street

The House on Mango Street portrays a young girl named Esperanza growing up and becoming a woman. During her childhood Sandra Cisneros stated that she felt out of place. She didn’t feel like she fits in as a Latina women in America, and went through some tough times; therefore she wrote about Esperanza to express how Cisneros grew up as a woman and matured through out her childhood. This novel expresses a coming of age story, and the goal of Esperanza to gain understanding of both herself and her community/culture. Throughout the novel The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros Esperanza attempts to become an adult and tries to overcome the obstacles that allow her to be comfortable in her own skin.

She says, “I have decided not to grow up tame like the others who lay their necks on the threshold waiting for the ball and chain” (88). By having Esperanza mention this warm, Cisneros introduces the idea of feminism. She speaks of the power of woman and states, “Her power is her own. She will not give it away” (89). On page 89, Esperanza says, “I have begun my own quiet war… I am one who leaves the table like a man…” She is refusing to act like a demure, obedient female and is instead fighting, one small step at a time, to become

In the beginning of the novel, Esperanza presents the example of Id which is the first structure of the psychoanalytic theory. During the stage of Id, a person wants whatever feels good at the time, with no consideration for the reality of the situation. To continue with, Esperanza also goes through the stage of Id, and she always gets embarrassed to show her house to the other people. Esperanza writes, a nun from my school passed by and saw me playing out front [...] Where do you live? she asked. There, I said pointing up to the third floor. You live there? There. I had to look to where she pointed—the third floor, the paint peeling, wooden bars Papa had nailed on the windows so we wouldn’t fall out. You live there? The way she said it made me feel like nothing” (Cisneros, 5). This quote shows that Esperanza always ashamed of her poverty, and instead of compromising with her situation, Esperanza expresses her desire to have her own dream house. Esperanza says, “I knew then I had to have a house. A real house. One I could point to. But this isn’t it. The house on Mango Street isn’t it” (Cisneros, 5). Esperanza

Esperanza is an intelligent girl who has experienced many misfortunes and successes, that have impacted her for the better and the worse. Throughout the novel, Esperanza meets many people who are considered to be “stuck” in Mango Street. This was not apparent to her until one of the sisters, in the chapter titled The Three Sisters, said “You must remember to come back. For the ones who cannot leave as easily as you” (105). Although the text does not state who specifically she should return for, Esperanza knows what the sisters meant. The interaction between Esperanza and the sisters really opened her eyes about what life was like on Mango street for herself and others. She is ready to leave but the sisters say something

Women are constantly put down and left to do the housework that men do not want to do. By rejecting these ideals, Esperanza is showing that she can accomplish more than what is expected of her. A change in behavior can create a whole new world for Esperanza to explore. By declaring that she wants boys to desire her but wanting to hold the power in these relationships, there is already a change from where Esperanza was in the beginning of the novel. As she grows and matures on Mango Street, Esperanza is shown to be cognizant of injustices that are happening with the women around her. “Getting out” of Mango Street is a vision that Esperanza keeps in her back pocket through the full novel and “Beautiful and Cruel” is a perfect example showing how to fight back against the stereotype that comes along with the

After a year passed from her father dying, Esperanza grows to be humble. On page 227 the novel states that “ ‘I want you to have something that will last more than one day,’ said Esperanza. She lifted the doll from the valise and handed it to Isabell. ‘To keep as your own.’ said Esperanza”. This proves that Esperanza became humble because she no longer cared about the child toy, and she knew it would make the young girl happy.

In her observations of her new community, she learns who she wants to be and where she wants to go. The novella often shows the struggle to find your own identity when one is established for you, and are left to battle the stereotypical expectations that are given to you. Esperanza fights from giving into societies expectations for letting them choose your identity and choose what actions you take to find yourself. The reader experiences her maturing alongside with her, contrasting between who she was and who she is becoming. She matures from her innocent, naïve kid to a smart, independent and confident young woman. Growing up is like a tree, you are born with roots and eventually try different things and branch out to find

In The House of Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros depicts the character of Esperanza as a coming-of-age female who dreams about having a house of her own. The house will bring for her the personal and family stability that she needs; as evidenced by the way the author uses the house to represent Esperanza’s search for what she wants to be as an artist and as a woman. This is significant because it speaks about how people may use their imagination as a means to reinvent themselves.

Esperanza can be described as a young teen who yearns for the individuality, the spirit of “a wild horse” that her great-grandmother once possessed in the midst of the oppression and discrimination the society has against women. Just as her great-grandmother was “carried off [...] as if she were a chandelier”, Esperanza feels that the culture is restraining her true self to show. She fears of losing her individuality to the workings of the world, becoming more and more like “a muddy color.” The same way her great-grandmother was captivated, “[looking] out the window her whole life”, Esperanza is inhibited from showing the energy and freedom of a stallion and ultimately, “[less] like the real [her]” She emphasizes on baptism, representing rebirth

When she was at her sister’s baptism, she was insecure about how she looked. Her mom, earlier that day, got her a new, beautiful, dress that she loved, but forgot to get her new shoes. Esperanza had to wear the old shoes and she thought she looked ugly because of them. While at the baptism, her uncle persuaded her to go on the dance floor despite her reluctance because of her shoes. Eventually, Esperanza lost control and danced like there was no tomorrow. She realized that even with bad shoes she can be whoever and whatever she wants. The boy across the room even noticed her, which she thought he was cute so it boosted her confidence knowing she is able to be better than she

Esperanza has characteristics of all three of these types of people, and through Esperanza’s story, Cisneros shows her audience that everyone struggles, but in the end it is possible for one to make it through his or her struggle. Some of the audience may not agree with Cisneros at first, as some people feel that nothing will get better, but eventually, whether or not they finished the book recently, everyone in the audience will begin to agree with Cisneros. In addition, Cisneros simply hopes to inspire her readers through a story of a young girl striving for success while struggling to figure out her

Sandra Cisneros uses indirect characterization to prove the theme of sense of self by directing about Esperanza's actions and thoughts at the beginning to the end of the story by truly realizing who she is in “A Rice Sandwich.” In this vignette, Esperanza sees the kids in the canteen to be special because she gets to go home and eat, but Esperanza then makes an excuse for herself to get herself to believe that eating in the canteen, then “there’d be less dishes to wash,” (Cisneros 44). Though Esperanza’s thoughts, the reader grasps the idea that Esperanza is making excuses for herself to eat in the canteen, and feel special like the students who eat there. The need to feel special can overcome someone and the urge to feel it can make almost

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 future she desires to live. Through this conflict, Cisneros shows how cultures are misunderstood and she also shows how individuals are not defined by their culture nor their circumstances, yet it is a part of their identity that allows them to

Esperanza 's family has a heavy impression on her. Being the eldest out of four children made her have to mature fast if she wanted to care for her younger siblings properly. An instance in which she proves to overlook sadness for the sake of her family is when their grandfather died. She had to accept the responsibility of being a leader to her young brothers and sister, “Your abuelito is dead...Because I am the oldest, my father had told me first and now it is my turn to tell the others” (Cisneros 56). Her mother also pushed her to be mature and responsible by encouraging her to try in school and not give up, “Shame is a bad thing, you know. It keeps you down. You want to know why I quit school? Because I

Moreover, in this story the narrator makes a journey to the ‘true’ Esperanza. Along with her daily experiences playing with Rachel and Lucy, she slowly realizes the characteristics of women. Her younger sister, along with her friends, learns from older girls about cosmetics, how women get pregnant, and what the hips are for. Esperanza displays her identity in a contradiction, between what she wants and the feminine cultural models around her. For instance, Esperanza showed more admiration toward Sally, a beautiful girl that can