House On Mango Street Essay Topics

Social Issues in The House on Mango Street Essay
The House on Mango Street: More than a Story In today's world there are countless social
problems. People are often treated as an inferior or as if they are less important for many different
reasons. In The House on Mango Street, the author Sandra Cisneros addresses these problems.
Throughout the story Cisneros does a thorough job explaining and showing how these issues affect
the public. This novel is written through the eyes of a young girl, Esperanza, growing up in a poor
neighborhood where the lifestyles of the lower class are revealed. Cisneros points out that, in today's
society, the expectation of women and their treatment, discrimination based on poverty, and
discrimination because of a person's ethnicity are the major...show more content...
Esperanza tells us many stories where it is evident that women are treated as possessions and
often have little or no say in the affairs of the family. Too often it seems that in Esperanza's
experiences women are beaten by their husbands' or fathers'. One such example of a beating is
when Sally explains to Esperanza why she often has so many bruises. "He never hits me hard"
(92), is how Sally tells Esperanza that her father often beats her. During many instances in The
House on Mango Street people are treated according to their wealth. People often look down upon
Esperanza and her peers with no reason except that they live differently because they have less
money. During one part of the story Esperanza talks about strangers by saying:
Those who don't know any better come into our neighborhood scared. They think we're dangerous.
They think we will attack them with shiny knives. They are stupid people who are lost and got here
by mistake. (28)
Cisneros shows how people often have misconceptions about people who are different from them
and are often too quick to judge. This idea is shown again when Esperanza is talking to a nun and
the nun asks, 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
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The House On Mango Street Women Essay
Society has built a role for women. And there's no better example of this idea than The House on
Mango Street, in which Esperanza describes specific moments of her life which lead her to believe
in women independence and feminism. She has different ideas and thoughts on the definition of
women and what they should be. Esperanza doesn't fit into the constructed definition Mango Street
has of how women should be. Esperanza believes in feminism and women independence. In the
vignette Rafaela who drinks coconut and papaya juice on Tuesday, this character is confined in her
house because her husband thinks she is too beautiful to look at. "And then Rafaela who is still
young but getting old from leaning out the window so much gets locked indoors...show more
content...
She doesn't let men rule over her. In this vignette thou, Esperanza doesn't agree that hips were
made to do "womanly" things. As stated in the quote that says "Hips are good for holding a baby
when you're cooking." Women have hips to hold babies and do other things women are expected
to do. For example, women are expected to pick up the plates and clean the table after everyone is
done eating. "I am the one who leaves the table like a man, without putting back the chair or picking
up the plate." Here Esperanza is making a statement. She isn't doing things women are expected to
do. By defying this "rule", Esperanza is showing that she is different and she doesn't believe that men
should be the dominant gender role. Mango Street has built a definition of how women should be
like. In the vignette Linoleum Roses, Sally is living the way her husband wants her to live.
"Sally says she likes being married because now she gets to buy her own things when her husband
gives her money." Here we see how Sally depends on her husband's money. "She sits at home
because she is afraid to go outside without his permission." Sally is a prisoner who lies to herself
saying she's okay when in reality she is not. She has so many limits that she's afraid to break the
rules. We see how men insert fear in women's

House On Mango Street Analysis
The House on Mango Street Reading the House on Mango Street was very interesting. It was
fascinating to read someone else's story and be able to relate to someone with a completely
different life than me. It also compelled me to look at life through a different culture and growing
up experiences than mine and challenged me to think about things I initially would not think
about. I enjoyed reading it because I was able to mentally create a timeline of all the different
vignettes, each of them showing me different little snippets of her growing up and figuring out
how to exist in the world. There was a reason for each story. Some of them had very clear lessons
that she learned, others were experiences she went through that she never forgot. Some were
happy, others not so much. All of them combined made the story of her life growing up in the
house on mango street. This is why I think the dominant theme to this book is growing up. The
struggles and the experiences one goes through to figure out themselves and the world around
them. A lot of the vignettes she wrote seemed to be her retelling parts in her life from a very
young age all the way into adulthood, but there are three in particular that stood out to me as stories
that revealed her growing up. The first Vignette that I think really backs up my theme is The Family
of Little Feet. It depicts how Esperanza and her friends learn a lesson through a not very
comfortable experience. They seem to be teenagers at the time,

House on Mango Street essay
Growing Up in Poverty In the novel, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, a young
confused girl has trouble finding herself as she grows up in the Latino section of Chicago.
Esperanza and her family move to a small, crumbling red house in a poor urban neighborhood.
Determined, she decides that someday she will leave and move somewhere else and totally forget
everything about Mango Street. Throughout the novel, Esperanza significantly matures sexually
and emotionally. The many stories of her neighbors gives a full image of what Mango Street is
like and showing the many possible paths Esperanza may follow in the near future. However
towards the end, she begins to write as a way of expressing herself and as a way to escape the...show
more content...
At first, she was a strong woman, but after her forced marriage she spent most of her days looking
out a window and hoping for escape. Explaining the interaction between both sexes of children on
Mango Street, Esperanza states that the boys and the girls live in separate worlds. Even at a
young age, divisions between gender are present among the characters. By living in separate
worlds, they are demonstrating real life situations that are already occurring in society at that time
period. All in all, unfair gender roles in society is another important theme illustrated in the
beginning of the novel. Lastly, the third theme portrayed in the first few chapters is society and
class. Expounding the looks of her house, "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" (4). The
description of Esperanza's home contains clues about their social class. Obviously, her family lives in
poverty by living in a poor quality house in the impoverished Latino section of Chicago. When a
nun from Esperanza's school examines her house, she states, "You live there? The way she said it
make me feel like nothing. There. I lived there. I nodded" (5). She feels immensely judged by the
woman who must live in a much higher social class. The way she says the word there tells
Esperanza that there is something wrong with her home.

Essay on House On Mango Street
Women's Escape into Misery Women's need for male support and their husband's constant
degradation of them was a recurring theme in the book House on Mango Street. Many of
Esperanza's stories were about women's dreams of marrying, the perfect husband and having the
perfect family and home. Sally, Rafaela, and Minerva are women who gave me the impression of
[damsel's in distress].CLICH&Eacute;, it's ok though. It's relevant They wished for a man to
sweep them of their feet and rescue them from their present misery. These characters are inspiring
and strong but they are unable to escape the repression of the surrounding environment. *Cisneros
presents a rigid world in which they lived in, and left them no other hope but to get married....show
more content...
Cisneros presents the loneliness that Rafaela feels because of her husband's continuous
imprisonment of her. Rafael's beauty is used as an excuse in order to avoid the truth, male
dominance in a woman's home. Esperanza explains that, &quot;Rafaela who is still young
gets locked indoors because her husband is afraid Rafaela will run away since she is too
beautiful to look at.&quot; (79). Thanks to these women, Esperanza is able to avoid
problems that come with a marriage. She is young and does not want to &quot;look out the
window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow&quot; (11).
Unlike most of the women in the book her escape is no longer the window. &quot;But that
night he comes back and sends a big rock through the window&quot;(85), shattering her glass
hopes [???] and making her turn to poetry as an escape. &quot;Minerva is only a little bit
older than me but already she has too kids and a husband who left.&quot; (83) She is a
perfect example of a woman who is subjected to the consequence of suffering because of marriage
She &quot;writes... on little pieces of paper that she holds in her hand for a long
time&quot; (84). Like unhappily married women, she always takes him back even after the
incessant beatings. &quot;She has many troubles, but the big one is her husband who left her
and keeps on

Essay On The House On Mango Street
The chapter, My Name, gives many metaphors and similes that begin to help the reader understand
Esperanza's battle to be acknowledged and approved in society. "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. The
young protagonist also explains her fear of inheriting her great–grandmother's...show more content...
Esperanza. I have inherited her name, but I don't want to inherit her place by the window," (pg.11).
Cisneros makes the readers visualize a woman, time creasing her skin, as she stares out the
window, time passing by as she accepts the life that has whisked her away so suddenly, "as if she
were a fancy chandelier,". Esperanza is repulsed by the thought of having to follow in the footsteps
of her great–grandmother, forced to throw her life away so easily. She confesses as well that her
classmates "say my name funny as if the syllables were made out of tin and hurt the roof of your
mouth,". Esperanza is singled out for this one issue: her name. Which greater delves into her
insecurities when she begins talking about giving herself a new name. "I would like to baptize
myself under a new name, a name more like the real me, the one nobody sees," (pg.11). When
people struggle to accept her, she begins the struggle of accepting herself, desperately trying to find
a way to conform to a society that tells her she's substandard. The House on Mango Street gives
many compelling vignettes that affect the main character greatly however, the chapter My Name
reveals Esperanza's insecurities and her willingness to be accepted into this new

What a Home Really is in The House on Mango Street
"Home is where the heart is." In The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros develops this
famous statement to depict what a "home" really represents. What is a home? Is it a house with
four walls and a roof, the neighborhood of kids while growing up, or a unique Cleaver household
where everything is perfect and no problems arise? According to Cisneros, we all have our own
home with which we identify; however, we cannot always go back to the environment we once
considered our dwelling place. The home, which is characterized by who we are, and determined
by how we view ourselves, is what makes every individual unique. A home is a personality, a
depiction of who we are inside and...show more content...
"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.
The neighborhood is not exactly a pretty place as Esperanza describes it. She says, "here there is
too much sadness and not enough sky. Butterflies too are few and so are flowers and most things
that are beautiful" (39). In the one year of Esperanza's life that this book covers, she is raped,
abused, and sees the death of the only person who would listen to her poetry– "Her name was Aunt
Lupe and she was beautiful like [her] mother" (70). Her discontent with the neighborhood
surrounding the house on Mango Street and the rough times that she experienced caused her to want
to move away from

House On Mango Street Culture
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to grow up in a different culture? Or face
discrimination because of your gender? These are just some of the challenges the character
Esperanza encounters in the coming of age novel The House on Mango Street. Written by Sandra
Cisneros, this book depicts the life of an adolescent girl named Esperanza. The novel covers her
time spent in a racially separated neighborhood where she experiences the hardships that come with
being a girl in her time and culture. Self–discovery, the responsibilities of women, and the clash of
two different cultures are all major themes throughout the story. To begin with, the theme of
self–discovery is unmistakable in this novel. Discovering one's self is an important...show more
content...
Esperanza's neighborhood, home only to Mexican–American families, is separated from the rest of
society. Many parents of these families were raised in Mexico, and although their children now
reside in America, they still expect them to continue to practice the traditions of their initial culture.
Esperanza, like many other young Hispanics, is thrown into this situation along with her siblings.
She tries to balance holding on to the customs of her family with fitting in at school and among her
peers. Despite her efforts to blend in, the severity of the segregation causes both the American and
Mexican cultures to conflict each other. Esperanza senses the grudge between the two cultures and
tells readers that "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" (28). The Mexican–Americans
in Esperanza's community are regarded as lower class and threatening to the rest of society. As a
result of this labeling, Esperanza will never be completely like her white American peers. The
amount of influence coming from her home culture changes her in a way that is so unlike the
Americans that she gives up trying to fit in. Instead, she decides to take the best of each culture and
create her own way of living. To conclude, this novel distinctly explores the theme of two different
cultures striving to mix together. 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

House On Mango Street Essay Thesis
Introduction
Hook: In the coming–of–age novel, House on Mango Street, the main character Esperanza narrates
the story through her perspective of the situations she encounters as she grows older in her new
neighborhood.
Background Info: By writing in vignettes, she illustrates her emotions and the feelings she expresses
towards the people that surround her.
Specifically: The roles of Esperanza's neighbors allow Esperanza to compare herself
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.
Specifically:
Thesis: As the story continues, Esperanza matures mentally, emotionally, and sexually.
Body1
TS: Throughout the novel, Esperanza...show more content...
CM: At first, Esperanza's mental image of herself changes as she feels more confident with who and
how superior she feels while walking in the heels.
CM: This is important because it is one of the first encounters Esperanza is comfortable and
brandishes herself throughout the neighborhood.
CD: However, as
CM:
CM:
TRANS:
Body2
TS: Esperanza changes emotionally once she begins to like boys, particularly a boy in her
neighborhood, Sire.
CD: In the vignette titles "Sire", Esperanza admits to trying not to look Sire in the eye, but instead
stare straight, as she walks past him.
CM: This shows that
CM: This is important because
CD: Esperanza also admits that she would not mind taking Sire's girlfriend, Lois's place.
CM: However, Esperanza's mother continuously refers to Sire as the neighborhood punk which has a
girlfriend that is on
CM:
TRANS:
Body3
TS: The final and most critical change Esperanza experiences is a sexual awakening.
CD: At the beginning of the novel, Esperanza describes her relations to the boys in her

neighborhood as "a red balloon that is tied to an

Essay On The House On Mango Street
What does a house represent? For most people a house is a shelter from the weather, a safe
environment, a place where one finds stability and strength, and where family gets together. In the
novel written by Sandra Cisneros, "The House on Mango Street", the author tries to explain that
every person owns a home with which an individual identifies, it describes who one is, and
determined by how a individual view itself, and so it is what makes every person unique. However,
for Esperanza, the House on Mango Streets symbolizes the struggles they went through and the
poverty they live in. In the first short story The House on Mango Street, Esperanza Cordero,
describes the place where she and her family were living in as a deteriorated building...show more
content...
She wanted to be a successful woman one day, and to be one she needed to go to the Catholic
school, as her father had told her. The Catholic school was expensive and her parents did not have
the means to cover with all the tuition that is why she was in need to start working. Esperanza
says that in order to get hired at the Peter Pan Phone Finishers, she had to say the she was a year
older (Cisneros 54). This demonstrates how deprived the Cordero family were. That in order for
Esperanza to attend a good school, she had to work as such a young age and even lied about her
age so she can get the job. In conclusion, the House on Mango Street to Esperanza symbolizes the
battles they experienced and the neediness they went through in order to succeed. Moving from one
home to another, hoping that the next one was going to be a better home or the one they always
dream about. The neighborhood Esperanza lived in where everyone struggles to survive. Also the
motivation that Esperanza had to one day leave The House on Mango Street, to a better place, a
better home with a beautiful front and back yard, and lots of tress surrounding her

Thesis On House On Mango Street
Min Seo Hyun (Mary)
Grade 8
Ms.Birute
28th/Aug/2017 Mango Street Interpretive Essay
Outline:
A.Introduction
Hook: House on Mango Street is a narrative book about one girl named Esperanza who live in
Mango street and tell us that what is happening to Mango Street at the point view of Esperanza.
Thesis statement: Esperanza has a variety of female role models in her life. Many are trapped in
abusive relationships, waiting for others to change their lives. Some are actively trying to change
things on their own. Through these women and Esperanza's reactions to them, Cisneros' shows not
only the hardships women face, but also explores their power to overcome them.
Topic sentence: There are many female role models around...show more content...
Lots of things can change when era changes except gender roles but after read this story, gender
roles are changing distinctly than others. Even though it has changed a lot now, woman still has
difficulty with when they get a job so we must strive until the equality of man and woman is evenly
distributed. Esperanza make effort to improve her life and cultivate own self but not make effort to
gender equality. She has interest in gender role but not that much so she think about it but not to act.
From this essay, I have gave examples of how people might react to the idea about gender roles.
However, we need to realize that women should take action for themselves instead of following

The House On Mango Street Analysis
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 helpless and pretty like Sire's
girlfriend, bringing her to discover what it really means to achieve that desire of hers. Within the
novel, Esperanza tries to get herself out of that loop of the women in her life have been swirled
through, by attaining a new level of feminine power to consolidate her independence.
The epigraph, "A las Mujeres, To the Women.", written at the beginning of the book clearly states
Cisneros' purpose of reconstructing the current patriarchal and misogynistic society by creating
space for women and by using them as characters that Esperanza grows and learns from. In the
fourth chapter, ВЁMy NameВЁ, Esperanza explains that she does not want to be tied down like her
her great–grandma, also describing the underlying negative connotations her name possesses.
Esperanza was named after her great–grandma, ВЁIn Spanish, it is too many letters. It means
sadness. It means waiting (10)". She believes her name symbolizes her present life state, therefore
Esperanza is

Argumentative Essay On The House On Mango Street
In the book House on Mango Street, the author builds an argument stating that writing is a way to
freedom and a better life. The author uses education, freedom, and the remembrance of Mango Street
to strengthen the logic and persuasiveness of the argument.
Alicia is a neighborhood girl who lives on mango street on which her mother died. She has to do all
the chores such as cooking and cleaning while trying to attend college. Alicia uses public
transportation everyday to go to school so she can escape her life. One night, she stays up all
night studying and sees a mice, her father gives her a hard time about her studies and say the
mise?? doesn't exist. He basically explains that her life is to wake up morning after morning to
make tortillas for her younger siblings lunches."Alicia, who inherited her mama's rolling pin and
sleepiness, is young and smart and studies for the first time at university." Alicia tries to use her
education to have freedom, to leave her family and go have a better life.
Mama explains to esperanza that she is free and doesn't need to rely on anyone, not even neither a
man to take care of her. Esperanza already knows how to speak two languages, sing, draw, and fix a
television but...show more content...
Lucy and Rachel losing their baby sister was an awful tragedy, everyone gathered to view the
baby before she was buried. The sisters compliment Esperanza's name and tell her that she's very
special. Her wish was a selfish wish and she starts to feel guilty. They tell her that she will always
be on Mango Street and even though she has to leave , she should come back for others. Alicia is
lucky that she has somewhere to call home, Guadalajara, and she will return there someday. "You
live right here, 4006 Mango, Alicia says and points to the house I am ashamed of." Esperanza
refused that she doesn't have a home or come from Mango street until someone makes it better which
is

House On Mango Street
The ending of The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros, is very effective for two main
reasons. The last chapter of the novel, titled "Mango Says Goodbye Sometimes," summarizes
everything Esperanza has learned throughout her time living on Mango Street, and explains her
plans for the future. The reader learns that she no longer wants to leave Mango Street forever;
rather, she says she will have "gone away to come back." This leads to the other reason the ending
is very effective. The ending demonstrates just how much Esperanza has changed throughout her
childhood, showing that she has gone from a young girl whose only wish is to escape Mango Street
and the poverty that comes with it to a young woman who plans on going back to where she

House on Mango Street Essay
The Loss of Innocence on Mango Street Often in literature, authors create plot by writing about
characters maturing throughout the story. One work that explores childhood to adulthood is The
House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. In this novella, Esperanza Cordero is a young girl who
lives in a poverty stricken area in Chicago. During the story, Esperanza grows up from being an
adolescent to a young adult. In the novella, the theme is that losing innocence brings about maturity.
Cisneros expresses Esperanza growing up by juxtaposing vignettes. Tone is also used to enhance the
change in Esperanza's thoughts while maturing. Both the juxtaposition of vignettes and tone support
the theme that the loss of innocence and the gaining of...show more content...
Esperanza showing hatred toward Sally indirectly shows how Esperanza has matured. All in all,
Esperanza Cordero's lack of innocence and gaining of knowledge develops her into a more
mature character. When a character is exposed to an incident in which his or her perspective is
forever changed, he or she will gain knowledge and maturity. An event such as being raped is an
example of how one can lose his or her innocence. The House on Mango Street leads the reader
into analyzing his or her own life. It shows how Esperanza's pure view of life has changed to
become a more sophisticated and realistic one. Growing up is something that everyone, at one point
or another, goes through. This loss of innocence is something that is unavoidable and irreversible.
When people lose their innocence, they gain maturity and gain knowledge. When a person losing
the pureness in them, they open their eyes and they are able to see the world for what it really

Theme Of Identity In The House On Mango Street
The most important Theme in The House on Mango Street is identity. Identity is a very
important part of everyone. Everything you experienced, you have done in your life is what
makes your identity, shapes our identity It is what defines a person and how people see that
person. Without an identity people would not know what kind of person they are. The book
overall is talking about how the struggle of self definition Esperanza is going through. "You will
always be Esperanza. You will always be Mango Street. You can't erase what you know. You can't
forget who you are" (Cisneros 105). Esperanza has to face the fact that her every experience she had
on Mango Street is what shaped her identity. The place that Esperanza has...show more content...
Therefore, she became friends with Sally so she can meet her goal of becoming beautiful and
cruel. But, once she got assaulted by a guy, she started realised she does not want to be a beautiful
and cruel girl. "Why did you leave me all alone? I waited my whole life. You're a liar. They all lied.
All the books and magazines, everything that told it wrong. Only his dirty fingernails against my
skin, only his sour smell again. The moon that watched. The tilt–a–whirl. The red clowns laughing
their thick–tongue laugh" (Cisneros 99). She started to realize the Esperanza that wanted a
boyfriend, wanted to be like the other girls on the block all trying to impress boys, marrying at a
young age was not the Esperanza she wanted to be. She saw how men treated women like dogs
being kept on a leash making them do everything they say. As of there she is unsure of who she is.
Eventually, Esperanza decides she does not need to set herself apart from the others in her
neighborhood or her family heritage by changing her name, and she stops forcing herself to
develop sexually, which she is not fully ready for. She is finally accepts her place in her
community and decides that the most best way she can define herself is as a writer. "Not a flat.
Not an apartment in back. Not a man's house. Not a daddy's. A house all my own. With my porch
and my pillow, my pretty

House on Mango Street I never had a choice. They decided it all for me and the next thing you
know, we were moved. One night, I come home and my father gives me a big smile and says,
we're out of here. I give him a puzzled look, but after staring into his grinning face, I realize what he
means. After thirty nine hard years, he has finally found the home he has always wanted. Since my
father was young, he had always dreamed of the house he would one day reside. He would say to his
mother, my grandmother, when I get big, I will live in a house as big as New York. When my
father began working, he started to save money in the bank, knowing one day it would be spent for
his dream home. He would doodle out sketches of how he...show more content...
I never believed him. I would play it off as my father's wishful thinking. More rambling that he so
often did. I figured I had as good a chance to see Elvis Presley as I did to live in this grand place. But
lo and behold, the day has come when I come face to face with my father's dream. I walk inside, see
my bedroom, and realize that my father has not gone back on his word. His dream has come true,
and we live exactly where he said we would.
But They're My Lines
What are they thinking? They are wrong, I am right. All of them have ganged up against me, but I
will hold firm in my belief this time. Terry, Mary, and Keith all think they are so good now, but
when I star in the greatest movie ever, they will comprehend what a mistake they made. These
so–called friends of mine cannot grasp the genius ideas that I have mentioned.
It all starts innocently enough, Terry and I playing some basketball in my backyard. Then, Keith
and Mary come over, but Mary is too cool to play sports, so we have to do something different.
Mary has this great idea that we should write and act in a play. Since no one else can think of
anything better to do, we all decide that this idea isn't that bad. No, no, no. My idea is better, she
says. Whatever I suggest, Mary seems to think of something that is better for the play. Terry and
Keith do not have the guts to stand up to her, so it is basically

The House On Mango Street Rhetorical Analysis
As Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani activist for females, once said, "I raise up my voice– not so I can
shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard...we cannot succeed when half of us are held
back." Malala is advocating for young females, giving them a voice that they may not have. She is
demonstrating how being a female should be liberating, and women should not feel held back by their
gender. In The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros speaks of a similar idea. As Malala
indicates, Cisneros also indicates how being a woman can be empowering; however, Cisneros also
establishes how being a woman raised in a marginalized community can have adverse mental and
physical repercussions. Through countless stories and the motif of women sitting by windows,
Cisneros ratifies how draining it is to be an average woman in Esperanza's community. In The
House on Mango Street, women by windows depict women trapped by their families, specifically
their husbands, maturing into a disturbing image that portrays the failure to be an individual that
makes her own decisions. In the vignette "Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut and Papaya Juice on
Tuesdays," the author tells of a woman who is "too beautiful to look at," saying, "Rafaela who ...
wishes there were sweeter drinks, not bitter like an empty room, but sweet sweet like the island,
like the dance hall down the street where women much older than her throw green eyes easily like
dice and open homes with keys" (Cisneros 80). Rafaela is yearning to be able to leave her home
like the women she envies. She compares the bitterness of her fruit drinks to the desolation and
seclusion of the house, and wishes the drinks were sweeter, expressing her looking out the
window and longing for something more in life, like the fortunate few women in her community
have. A character Esperanza knows named Sally has received abuse from her father, and when she
gets married, Esperanza says, "She says she is in love, but I think she did it to escape" (Cisneros
101) and, "She sits at home because she is afraid to go outside without his permission" (Cisneros
102). Sally tried to get away from her father's physical abuse, but in doing so, she is now living the
life of a woman by the window, a

Esperanza is torn between deciding whether she wants to escape Mango
Street. She is embarrassed by the superficial appearance of her identity, but appreciates her roots.
Her house is a wreck and the neighborhood, probably not much better off. However, she has loving
family and friends.
Although marriage has caused the suffering of many of the women in her neighborhood, she realizes
that she needs men to fulfill the new desires she attains as she hits adolescence.
Through the novel, Esperanza matures both physically and mentally. The first thing that struck me
about this novel was that the chapters were very short. I realized that the narrator is young and has a
short attention span, judging from her fragmented observations. However,...show more content...
Esperanza hopes for a different future.
Although she likes to sleep near her mother's hair, the novel eventually reveals that she wants to
escape Mango Street. Clearly,
Esperanza's name suits her; she has hope.
In House on Mango Street, Cisneros constantly reminds the reader not to judge a book by its cover.
The idea of a dirty outside but appealing inside is prevalent at many levels – the neighborhood, the
household and the individual. Cathy, Esperanza's first friend in the neighborhood, tells Esperanza
that her family is moving because "the neighborhood is getting bad", because of the many
immigrants like
Esperanza's family beginning to move in. Cathy says that Lucy and
Rachel, who Esperanza eventually befriends, "smell like a broom." Her mentioning her distant
relation to the queen of France makes her seem very pretentious. In reality, she is not much better off
economically from the rest of the neighborhood. In her house, "The floors slant"
(21). "There are no closets" and the steps are "all lopsided and jutting like crooked teeth" (22).
At the household level, Esperanza is ashamed by her house that has
"crumbling bricks", "only one washroom" and "paint peeling" (4).
However, in the second chapter, "Hairs", Esperanza writes about what is inside the house on
Mango Street: "[her mother] holding [her]", making her "feel safe" and the "warm smell of bread
before you bake it". Similarly, first impressions of individuals in the novel are based on external
factors:

The House on Mango Street Essay
As a young girl, Esperanza is a young girl who looks at life from experience of living in poverty,
where many do not question their experience. She is a shy, but very bright girl. She dreams of the
perfect home, with beautiful flowers and a room for everyone. When she moves to the house of
Mango Street, reality is so different than the dream. In this story, hope (Esperanza) sustains
tragedy. The house she dreamed of was another on. It was one of her own. One where she did not
have to share a bedroom with everyone. That included her mother, father and two siblings. The run
down tiny house has "bricks crumbling in places". The one she dreamed of had a great big yard,
trees and 'grass growing without a fence'. She did not want to abandon...show more content...
"She sits at become afraid to go outside". The leave home, she would need permission. She evolves
from a victim of child abuse to a slave–like wife. Esperanza sees this despair throughout her story.
In "My Name, "She looked out the window her whole life, they way so many women sit, with
their sadness on an elbow". Abuse to Rafaela, again subtle because she does not go out, in fear of
husband. Poverty on Loomis, Keeler and Paulina; poverty is a way of life. The impact is for all
generations, the parents who cannot get out, the children that see it and the little ones who cannot
know any better. The opportunities are limited in the barrio. Esperanza was embarrassed when she
pointed to her house "there". "There?", as if there was no place for a girl to live. But survival is
instinctive and there is a certain amount of barrio pride "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 who are lost and got here by mistake." The victim of being
called a "rice sandwich". Hurt by the sister superior as she points to a row of ugly houses reminding
Esperanza of the sin of being poor.
Machismo is something seen in the domestic situations throughout Hispanic people. The violence,
the subservience that is expected and the men believe the women are second and are second class
citizens. There role is to be domestic housekeepers and to birth children. Alicia makes

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