Literary Analysis Essay on The House on Mango Street

Introduction

"The House on Mango Street" is a novel written and published by American-Mexican author Sandra Cisneros in 1984 at Arte Publico Press. The book has sold over two million pieces. The novel is chiefly based on the narrative of a young Latina woman in Chicago. In other words, the perception of a teenage Latina, Esperanza Cordero was used in writing the book, as she struggled with her life around Puerto and Chicano the neighborhood of Chicago (Taylor 13). The book combines the modern American customs and Mexicans old traditions and helps to discover the trouble of denominated Latinos fighting for survival in a white country. The book won many awards and considered as modern classic literature of Chicana (Taylor 13). However, since the book deals with debatable matter, it has been banned from schools that face criticism (Wright 127). Despite a lot of criticism from school boards, it is still considered as a highly influential and crucial coming-of-age novel and has high appearances on young adult reading lists (Wright 118).

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Book Review

Book Summary

The book "The House on Mango Street" by Sandra Cisneros reviews several short stories narrated from the first point of view of Esperanza, a teenage girl. Together with her family, they moved on Mango Street in Chicago, where she never liked, and according to her, the place was unpleasant (Rodriguez 176). She defines her shelter as a small run-down in a poor neighborhood. Also, being an unattractive lady, she got no attraction from men like her friends.

Esperanza also presents the life of her neighbors living around her (Rodriguez 176). The author outlines the importance of their lives, mostly the difficulty moments they encountered, such as the arrest for her cousin after stealing a car and when her aunt Lupe died (Wright 143). Esperanza narrates about neighbor Marin, a young mother trying to raise her siblings. Marine dated a man called Geraldo breezed up to the dead that night. The author also discusses Sally, a schoolgirl whose father physically abused her, and Sally ends up marrying an older man and moves away (Taylor 29). Severally in the story, Esperanza describes highlights the situations where the abuse occurred. For instance, she had secured at a photoshop where her fellow employees used to kiss her on the mouth on her first day (Rodriguez 176). On a day she was to meet Sally at the carnival, who never showed up and instead of an older man sexually assaulted her. The author continues to describe the people who got disappointed with their way of living and the way life turned out to them (Wright 139). For example, the case of her mother, who is a school dropout hence ends up being ashamed of her wardrobe (Rodriguez 176). Esperanza encounters a forecasting women who promises her that her dreams were to come true one day, and reminded her she was not supposed to ignore her home on Mango Street (Taylor 36). Instead, she was to return and help the people unable to help themselves in that condition. At the end of the story, after dwelling on Mango Street for a year, she realized she was going leave one day, but she will return to help her poor neighborhood.

Character Details, Setting, and Plot

The story setting was a poor Hispanic neighborhood in Chicago. Besides, ruling from the lifestyles of people for example, from the houses built to the type of cars they drove, it was probably in the nineteen sixties (Wright 118). The neighborhood is perceived as a place full of immigrants who rarely leave the area and do not speak fluent English. However, the plot of the whole book is based on Esperanza's responses to the way things and people around her as well as how they shaped her as she stayed for one year there (Taylor 2).

The main character is; Esperanza, who is a young girl about twelve years American-Mexican whom the story revolves around. One of the minor characters includes; Nenny, who is presented as Esperanza's younger sister. Esperanza cared for sister though she found her annoying due to her childish attitude (Taylor 11). Rachael and Lucy (sisters) who were brash, mischievous and played together are also included in the novel as minor characters (Wright 125). The two sisters (Rachael and Lucy) never cared a lot about how people thought of them, which made Esperanza like them.

Sally is another character. Sally was Esperanza's great admiration; Sally knew how to control men; she was beautiful too and exotic for a mango tree. Esperanza highlights that Sally was not as independent as she faked to be (Wright 135). Lastly, Mrs. Coredero, a caring, an intelligent homemaker, and Esperanza's mother, took part in the story. Esperanza's mother was saddened in her life for not completing her education, as she felt she could have achieved in her life (Taylor 15).

Exploration of Style, Language, and Theme

Themes

Power of language was used throughout in the novel "The House on Mango Street." Notably, in no speak English, those who never spoke English fluently were classified in the level of bottom ten communities or societies (Wright 137). For example, Mamacita had moved to the country to stay with her husband, and she was imprisoned in her home because she never knew English. Mamacita had to stay home and listen to a radio station in Spanish and got distressed when her baby grew up and was able to speak in English (Taylor 23). Likewise, Esperanza' father could not differentiate between when he came to the country and what to eat. The text indicates that Esperanza's mother was better in the narrative, but her letter to the sisters where Esperanza schooled, was not convenient enough due to poor writing (Wright 143). From the novel, we see this power made Esperanza realize that with the ability to interpret the English language would give her strength and not knowing and mastering the language lead to powerlessness (Taylor 39). The power of writing kept Esperanza spiritually free since putting her experience into words made her more powerful.

Struggle for self-definition was another theme used in the House of Mango Street. For example, from the novel, it is apparent that Esperanza strains to understand and define herself, which made her undermine every move she made. At the start of the book, she desperately attempts to escape her identity, which reflects her parent's background (Taylor 33). Since Esperanza never knew who she was, she tried to fake her identity from everything she thought would be. She attempted to be like Sally, the girl with eyes like nylons, and the color of smoke; however, later she found she could not fake her identity (Taylor 36). The journey through the novel made her learn how to define herself. Also, she learned to admit where she is born in and knew she will always remain to be the girl from the house on a Mango street. From the struggle of defining herself, she is sophisticated and robust heroine to this complex and robust novella (Burcar 360). Also, after getting assaulted by an older man, she feared to define herself as cruel and beautiful anymore. However, she decided not to separate herself from others or her family heritage by maintaining her real name (Taylor 38). Eventually, she accepted her community in the place she lived and decided to define herself as a writer.

The form of inequality presented in the book is gender inequality. From the book, it clear that women, especially in minority groups or communities, are affected by gender inequality. A good example is where the Mexican-American women have been facing gender inequality in their lives (Wright 135). Thus, the book is using different motifs and themes to bring out gender inequality and shows that the only way it can be stopped is through the empowerment of women (Taylor 37). Esperanza believes if she runs away from home, she will return later to unite women's toward the elimination of gender inequality.

Lastly, the theme of sexuality and autonomy was used in the novel. Esperanza's dream in "The House on Mango Street" is lucid. In regards to independence, she wanted to run away from home and dwell in her own house. These thoughts were always in her mind, and begun to mature and built desire for men (Burcar 357). Later Esperanza observes the marriages binding women in her neighborhood and doubts if she could pursue both (Taylor 33). Most women Esperanza met with were either tied down by the children or trapped in marriages. Esperanza decides not to be like them, though her negative thought never separated her from her sexual desiring neighborhood boys (Wright 118).

Nevertheless, she finds it is difficult to be cruel and beautiful in her male-dominated society after getting sexually-assaulted. The assault made Esperanza realize if she pressured relationships with men in her neighborhood, she would not be able to attain true independence (Taylor 39). Later Esperanza kept away sex awareness and rejoined with Rachael and Lucy, who were less affected by sexuality and spent her time in writing instead of concentrating on boys (Burcar 361). This was an indication to show she chose autonomy over sexuality, which gave a chance to escape.

Styles Used

The author's writing styles in the novel "The House on Mango Street "uses two styles, the short story, and poetry. The novel is documented in poetic pieces that make it easy to read (Wright 143). Different characters are combined to form a backbone of Cisneros's structure and style. Most readers are probably confused by the novel since it reads like poetry, yet it is a narrative. The writer accepts that many parts are lazy poems, which means they can be poems if she finished those (Wright 118). On the other end of the scale, the novel is made of many narratives. The novel shows that the writer intended to give the reader a chance to develop an ability to choose the story and understand from any point what it meant. Therefore, the novel contains different narratives, each with its end. In the same book also, the stories are merged to form the whole book (Wright 147). Also, in the novel, there no specific changes nor drastic, indicating that the book is structured in chronological order (Burcar 350). This shows or helps to understand the character is growing up, but the rearrangement of the existing structure could be arranged without overlooking on the readers understanding.

The Language Used

Through the novel, the author uses language such as imagery, personification, and simile to create a theme; growing up is a challenge. In the book, Sandra Cisneros uses personification in essential quotes. For instance, the main character, Esperanza, was named after her grandmother (Burcar 354). Esperanza avoided growing like her grandmother, who sat by the window full of sadness. 'Esperanza's grandmother sitting by the window, shows how many women sat their grief on an elbow (Taylor 382). The novel shows, she would not be sad if she had not been kidnapped and forced by her husband to marry him.

The author also uses metaphoric language to present a distinctive sense of Esperanza. One example of a metaphor is the small house. The house, as used by the author, shows the pervasive sadness and rare joy that resembles miserable life as of Latino family in the United States. Esperanza is another metaphoric name. The narrator of the novel says that "It is the Mexican records my father plays on Sunday mornings when he is shaving, songs like sobbing" ((Taylor 10). This shows that her name meant hope, was not tied with sadness since her family hoped for better life United States, which they have never attained. Most of the metaphors in the novel carried the sadness Esperanza had in her life. For example, "my hair is lazy. It obeys bands or barrettes" ((Taylor 6).

The Book’s Str...