In 1984, Sandra Cisneros published a collection of forty four vignettes titled The House on Mango Street. This Bildungsroman narrates the experiences of growing up in a Hispanic-American neighborhood in Chicago through the eyes of Esperanza Cordero, a fictionalized adolescent girl who is transitioning between childhood and adulthood. Due to parallels between the lives of Cisneros and Esperanza, Esperanza functions as a surrogate for Cisneros. Cisneros suppresses the milieu she witnesses as a child; therefore, when searching for her literary identity, she uses phantasies to channel those experiences onto Esperanza Cordero. Through sublimation, Cisneros fulfills her desire to free herself from the limitations of traditional gender roles, which allows her to give a voice to all the women who cannot speak up for themselves.
Despite being a fictionalized character, Esperanza's life greatly resembles Cisneros' upbringing. In the first vignette, "The House on Mango Street," Esperanza states, "throughout her childhood, she moved frequently from one Chicago barrio apartment to the next because the residence had become too small for her growing family of six or inadequate for living" (Cisneros 3). Similarly, Cisneros was born in Chicago to Hispanic parents as the only girl in a family of nine. Her family moved frequently between Mexico and the United States, but for the majority of her childhood, she lived in subpar apartment buildings in the poverty-stricken regions of Chicago. Esperanza and Cisneros share a similar idea of what a "real house" should be. For example, Esperanza later in the vignette says:.
They always told us that one day we would move into a house, a real house that would be ours for always so we wouldn't have to move each year. . . But the house on Mango Street is not what the way they told it at all. It was a small house with crumbling bricks, small windows, no front yard, no trees, hallway stairs, one washroom, and everyone had to share a bedroom.
The book I read was The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. ... It is about a girl named Esperanza who moves into a new house on Mango Street. ... The house on Mango Street is not what Esperanza thought they would get. ... She is kind of upset because the house on Mango Street is not what she expected. ... The house on Mango Street was not what she wanted, but is what she could get. ...
The House On Mango Street Summary This book is about young Latino girl named Esperanza who is growing up in a poor neighborhood in Chicago. ... She then visits a fortune teller, which only helped her realize that she is still ashamed of living on Mango Street. ... Esperanza ended up getting molested because she was all alone. ... By the end of the story, Esperanza finally accepts Mango Street as a part of her. She still desired to have a new house so that she can be on her own, and pursue her dream of writing. ...
The book The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros takes place on a run down street in Chicago called Mango Street. ... Esperanza tells herself that she will get out of Mango Street and own her own house that she can be proud to go home to. ... Growing up on Mango Street, Esperanza sees men and marriage trap many women, including her good friend Sally. ... Mamacita and her family moved into an apartment on Mango Street. ... She decides that she wants to get a good education, then a job and move out of Mango Street and buy a house to be proud of....
In The House on Mango Street, a young girl names Esparanza is self-conscious about her home, her appearance, and her name. ... The House On Mango Street is a novel which traces Esperanza Cordero's childhood through a series of stories about her family, neighborhood, and secret dreams. ... The novel begins when the Cordero family moves into a new house on Mango Street. ... At the end of the story, Esperanza admits that she will never escape Mango Street. ... Esperanza finally finds her identity and plans her life so she that can leave Mango Street. ...
Esperanza had no place; she was alone even in her own new home on Mango Street. But, unlike her neighbors and family, Esperanza was ready to break away from the traditional beliefs and customs of Mango Street. ... This ugliness was one of the center points of The House on Mango Street. ... With experiences gathered from her life, Esperanza began to feel out of place on mango Street. ... Mango Street was a place of sexism, and Esperanza wanted to break that barrier and gain her rights to do whatever a boy could. ...
Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street follows the story of a young girl named Esperanza and her life experiences growing up on Mango Street, the all-Hispanic community at which people of opulence look down upon and grimace. Esperanza has always had an ideal image and dream of what living in a house should be like, and when her life on Mango Street turns out to be nothing like she expected, she struggles to make a home out of the place and tries to figure out her identity while doing so. ... "Down, down Mango Street we go. ... One particular guy, Sire, watches Esperanza walk past...
The House on Mango Street is a short novel written by a Latina author known as Sandra Cisneros. ... If I were to choose specific people, they would have to be most of the men and all of the boys that she encountered in the time she lived on Mango Street. ... The novel starts off as a girl by the name of Esperanza explaining her background before she ended up on Mango Street with her family. ... Esperanza didn't like the house she was living in and these feelings began when a nun acted stunned and shocked when Esperanza pointed to the house that she lived in. ... Her was born here, but ...
Beginning with herself, Esperanza hates her name. ... Prejudice is shown toward Esperanza when Cathy is mentioned. ... Many women on Mango Street, however, are trapped in their own homes. ... Esperanza hasn't necessarily been hanging out with the best crowd. ... The House of Mango Street constantly shows passages for us to infer that Esperanzas life is an unhappy one, and it's because of the people who surround her. ...
When she moves to the house of Mango Street, reality is so different than the dream. ... She did not want to abandon where she came from, but she knew she wanted to be free of everything that life on Mango Street brought. ... She is committed to her roots on Mango Street. ... Esperanza was embarrassed when she pointed to her house there. ... Hurt by the sister superior as she points to a row of ugly houses reminding Esperanza of the sin of being poor. ...
