ipl-logo

Compare And Contrast Everything I Never Told You Vs House On Mango Street

1379 Words6 Pages

Julia Gerson
Block 3
Ms. Evans
1/9/22
How To Live Your Life Without Being Trapped By Expectations

How should I live my life? This is a question that has been discussed since the beginning of the semester and though there is no concrete answer, there are some concepts that are found in the novels that have been discussed in class so far. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng showed Lydia and her family’s lives before and after her death. The House On Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros told the story of Esperanza growing up and recognizing the realities and expectations of the world around her. Though the overall plot of these two novels are entirely different they both show context of how to live your life by showing how each character decided …show more content…

Her thoughts show that she has decided how to live her life so that she is happy and no longer constantly feels the pressure to be perfect all the time, “She will begin again. She will tell her mother: enough. She will take down the posters and put away the books. If she fails physics, if she never becomes a doctor, it will be all right. She will tell her mother that… She will give her father back his necklace and his book. She will stop holding the silent phone to her ear; she will stop pretending to be someone she is not. From now on, she will do what she wants” (Ng 274-275). Lydia’s new thought process on how to change her life so she can live it better shows a plan that has elements that can be applied to everyone's lives and how they can live it to the fullest. Esperanza on the other hand seems to know exactly what she wants from the beginning and does not waste years trying to become something that she does not want just to please others. She has a dream for herself and she knows what she wants from her life, “Not a flat. Not an apartment in back. Not a man’s house. Not a daddy’s. A house all on my own. With my porch and my pillow, my pretty petunias” (Cisneros 108) Her future home that she has created in her mind she uses as motivation to do what she can to get her dream home. She knows what she wants from her life and she will do whatever she can to achieve it. Lydia reaches a similar thought process to Esperanza in the end of how she should live her life. Unfortunately she spent so long living her life how others wanted her to that she was never able to live the life she

Show More
Related
337 Words | 2 Pages

Esperanza has the responsibility of her younger sister, Nenny. Esperanza does not like being responsible for Nenny. She wants a best friend of her own, not just Nenny. “Until then I am a red balloon, a balloon tied to an anchor” (Cisneros 9). Esperanza believes she is tied down and held back from what she wants.

Read More
1062 Words | 5 Pages

She was at a point to where the relief she felt helped her to become more caring and fond of her family. The girl wanted to be loved and understood. This was all a part of her maturing. She made a transition that gave her a positive spirit on life that she did not have before. When she spoke on how: I always felt her gray eye on me.

Read More
732 Words | 3 Pages

One of the earliest examples of a sacrifice made by Esperanza would be the moment she confirmed to a nun that the worn-down, nailed-up house was, in fact, her own. Although initially insignificant as a “sacrifice”, it becomes increasingly apparent throughout the novel that Esperanza feels very emotionally vulnerable regarding her family's financial status, which is mentioned and symbolized consistently throughout the novel. Because of her financial instability, she is sacrificing her self-preserving instinct through the display of integrity to those around her whenever it is mentioned or she is reminded that she can’t afford everything she

Read More
1388 Words | 6 Pages

She

Read More
1002 Words | 5 Pages

Just by having a positive attitude and trying so hard, already makes Esperanza overcome the obstacle of being out of place in her

Read More
433 Words | 2 Pages

Esperanza finds out that she needs to become promiscuous in order to be popular like Sally and she’s not comfortable with that idea. Later on Sally and Esperanza go to the carnival, Sally leaves her alone to go with a boy. Esperanza is now by herself vulnerable and ends up getting raped. She realizes that boys are not what she thought they were, so she decides to focus on herself. Esperanza changes what she thought she wanted for the future.

Read More
1353 Words | 6 Pages

She

Read More
922 Words | 4 Pages

This can be interpreted as her self-improvement and attempt to participate in school activities. In the middle of the story, she is not around anyone and realizes that only she can mend her mistakes and improve herself. She also realizes that having friends isn't as important or vital as everyone makes it out to be and that it's sometimes better to be alone if you know what you want to do and the path you want to pursue. We witness her actually acting on this as she begins to improve her grades, even if just slightly. She tries talking to more adults and being more open, as well as feeling better and not caring what others say until they are presented to her.

Read More
876 Words | 4 Pages

Everyone is affected by life’s circumstances. The responses to those experiences can have a positive or negative outcome in one’s future. In Sandra Cisneros's The House on Mango Street, the protagonist, Esperanza, gives us her views on life, how she views herself, and she views her future. Not only does she give her perspective throughout the story, she tells us of the numerous experiences that she grows through. These experiences have an impact on her, creating new emotions and new adult like perspectives she has never faced before.

Read More
1174 Words | 5 Pages

What happened to her books and papers? and Espereranza answers to herself: “They will not Know I have gone away to come back. For the ones I left behind. For the ones who cannot out”

Read More
575 Words | 3 Pages

These characters influence Esperanza’s choices and her overall viewpoint of life. Sandra

Read More
468 Words | 2 Pages

she

Read More
1117 Words | 5 Pages

Many people are undermined by the drawbacks of belonging to a low socioeconomic status. In The House on Mango Street, Esperanza is raised in a poor, Latino community, causing her to be introduced to poverty at an early age. This introduction of poverty affects Esperanza in many ways, one including that she is unable to find success. Esperanza struggles to achieve success in life because the cycle of poverty restricts her in a position in which she cannot break free from her socioeconomic status.

Read More
1348 Words | 6 Pages

The main protagonist Esperanza, matures from a childish girl to a young confident woman through many critical and life changing events in the story. Ultimately, the author, Sandra Cisneros implements the symbols of confidence, the house on mango street and the metaphor of shoes to show how Esperanza develops into a more mature state. Sandra Cisneros

Read More
540 Words | 3 Pages

In the series of vignettes The House on Mango Street, the author Sandra Cisneros details the life of main character Esperanza, a young girl living in a barrio of Chicago. As Esperanza tells the reader about her experiences in her day to day life, the reader hears about her struggles and dreams, her hopes and expectations in life and how these affect her. Being a young girl, Esperanza holds naivety and hope for the world, not having experienced many mature situations or society yet, and since she is going through the time in her life when she begins experiencing these issues, we see her heartbreak and the world she knew shatter. For example, when Esperanza and her family move to Mango Street, as our story kicks off, her parents would often talk about the life that they would get when they win the lottery, like having “A real house that would be ours for always so we wouldn't have to move each year. And our house would have running water and pipes that worked.

Read More

More about Compare And Contrast Everything I Never Told You Vs House On Mango Street

Related Topics

Open Document