House On Mango St - Grade: A PDF

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Teacher- Dr. Hasso...

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Dr Hasso English 45 6 October 2018 House On Mango Street: The Analysis of Esperanza Esperanza is a Mexican-American girl who comes from a poor family. Esperanza struggles with portraying herself as who she is -a poor mexican girl- though that’s not just what she is. Esperanza is a strong-willed,intelligent,shy girl who feels she has to disassociate herself from others from her neighborhood and her heritage. Esperanza has this realization when a nun from her school walks by her home and questions her with a simple question, “You live there?” (5). That question seems harmless, but to Esperanza,she said it made her feel like nothing and she new from that moment she needed a house (5). Since her family moved to the house on Mango Street,Esperanza finally had her house. Now they don’t have to worry about having to move again because they have their own place, their house on Mango St. The first time we read about the house is in Chapter 1 when she says, “The house on Mango Street is ours, and we don't have to pay rent to anybody, or share the yard with the people downstairs, or be careful not to make too much noise, and there isn't a landlord banging on the ceiling with a broom.”. She was ready for her new home, she hoped it was a big house with a yard with trees, with a basement and stairs and everything else she hoped. The house seems to be a symbol or a metaphor for everything that goes wrong for Esperanza. Everything comes back to the house with “bricks crumbling in places’’.

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 e see E  speranza struggle with not having any friends except for In Boys & Girls, w Nenny. Esperanza says Nenny doesn’t count because that’s her sister. Esperanza seems to be stuck in a mindset that she can’t have friends because she has to watch over her sister. She feels she needs to take responsibility for Nenny and from my experience as being the oldest it’s true. Being the oldest you feel the need to watch over your younger siblings because depending on the circumstances, it’s because it’s your job or you’ll get in trouble if you don’t or simply because you feel obligated too. But Esperanza doesn’t feel like she’ll get in trouble, she just doesn’t want Nenny to become like the Vargas kids as mentioned on page 8. Esperanza hopes for a best friend that she can tell jokes without explaining them and to tell all her secrets to, but she states til she does states “I am a red balloon tied to an anchor.’’ (9), meaning til she gets her best friend she stuck with Nenny, Esperanza as the balloon and Nenny as the anchor,weighing her down. As we get further into The House on Mango Street , Esperanza tells us she doesn’t like her name. She was named after her great-grandmother, but its not the only thing they share. They were both born in the Chinese Year of the Horse which is bad luck if you’re a woman, but Esperanza thinks it’s only because the Chinese don’t like strong women just like Mexicans.I share the same heritage as Esperanza and it’s sad but true. Growing up in a Mexican household as a girl we’re always told we must be able to cook and clean to be able to care for our husbands while he works. If your mother doesn’t tell you that all your learning is for your husband than your grandparents or some different relative. People called Esperanza a “wild horse of a women” (11) because she was such a strong-willed woman,but that phrase “wild horse of a woman”,shows how the community sees strong women as somehow non-feminine.Her  grandmother was such a strong woman she didn’t want to marry until she did and never forgave

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her husband. Her grandmother sat by a window thinking about what her life had become and what it could’ve been. Since  Esperanza inherited her grandmother’s name she’s worried she might inherit her life too, wondering what could’ve been. She says the kids at school can’t say her name properly and wishes she could be like Nenny where she’s Magdalena one place and go home to be Nenny. But Esperanza is always “Esperanza’’. She would rather change her name to Zeze the X because it’s more like her. She wishes she could be more like herself, a side of her that nobody sees. To her this might be a power move for herself, to give her reason to not want to be dominated over because of her heritage. Esperanza has an understanding of the power of language and a desire for her own identity. Cathy, is the queen of cats according to Esperanza because she seems to have a lot of cats. Cathy claims she’s related to royalty,the Queen of France. Here we see Cathy showing us the racist views of  Anglo-American  society towards the Hispanics moving onto Mango Street. Since the queen of cats’ father seems to believe the neighborhood is deteriorating because people like Esperanza are moving in is proof that parents have an influence on what their children believe because Cathy tells Esperanza the neighborhood is getting bad (13). Meanwhile, Cathy’s family is no better than Esperanza’s, and Cathy must also create a dream of a better life for herself – that she is related to royalty. They continue on to be friends until Cathy’s family moves. Later, we meet Lucy and her sister Rachel. Esperanza is drawn to them and Cathy disapproves of them because they “smell like a broom’’ (14). The girls ask Esperanza to help them buy a bike, all she needs to do is give them $5. Rachel tells her she’ll be her friend forever if she helps and Esperanza thinks it over, she runs inside to get her two dollars that she’s saved and take three from Nenny. Cathy leaves and Esperanza had lost a “friend” and gained two new

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ones and a bike in the process. From this experience Esperanza had learned the type of friend she’s longed for. She realizes why she is so drawn to Lucy and Rachel,and it’s because they share her same status as the “outsider” Nenny is Esperanza’s one and only sister. Esperanza has mixed feelings for her and it starts off with Nenny being her responsibility to being her best friend and Esperanza hasn’t realized that yet. All siblings have these feelings toward each other. But Nenny understands Esperanza more than her new acquired friends. An example would be that Esperanza cannot share everything with Rachel and Lucy, and she must still create her own identity and grow up mostly alone. Another would be that they both laugh suddenly and loudly like “dishes breaking.” One day Esperanza sees a house that reminds her of Mexico, though she can’t explain why (17). Rachel and Lucy laugh at her, but Nenny immediately understands what Esperanza means. Esperanza might think that Nenny can’t be her friend now but as she gets older she’ll realize that Nenny is the best friend that she’s been waiting for. The next chapter begins to introduce other characters on Mango Street. I n Gil’s Furniture Bought & Sold t here are two major themes playing a role: beauty and language, and Esperanza’s perspective of “otherness”. The owner of the store is the first African-American character introduced and Esperanza says that she doesn’t to talk to him and his race might have something to do with it. On the other hand Nenny has no problem talking to him especially after she notices a music box. Once Esperanza heard about the music box her interest peaked and looked and was disappointed in what she seen. Just like the house she hoped it was something beautiful but was disappointed because it wasn’t what she expected. The owner plays the music box and they all are mesmerized by its song. This where Esperanza decides to test her poetic sense trying to

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describe the music with different images. For each of them the music seems to take them out of their surroundings and let them escape for a moment. Despite their differences this experience brought them closer for a momentarily. After they share this beautiful moment, Nenny goes on to ask the price of the music box and the owner refuses to sell it. Esperanza, a strong-willed girl who dreams big despite her surroundings and restrictions. At the beginning of the novel she is immature but as we continue to read we see the she is maturing. To what level is she maturing? That’s unknown until we finish reading Esperanza’s story. So far she is yearning to be able to portray herself as who she feels she is. She still has many things to learn and they’ll come to her as she grows up to be her own person....