Comparing The House On Mango Street And A Long Way Gone

Coming of Age novels have always been a very large genre, but some comparison and scrutiny are long overdue. A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah and The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros are two books that generally well represent this genre. A Long Way Gone is an autobiographical memoir of Beah and his journey in the Sierra Leone civil war, while The House on Mango Street is a collective of vignettes about a character named Esperanza and her growth in a poor community. A long way gone has a deeper coming of age message than that of The House on Mango Street because of its portrayal of social/personal issues, depiction of relationships, central driving plot and final message about growing up. Properly portraying social and personal issues

This makes for an effective and interesting story. What does not make up for an interesting story is a misguided plot with points that are brought up once dropped. These issues are well represented in the vignette “House on Mango Street” Esperanza writes about her personal issues relating to her neighborhood, but these are explained in a shallow form, saying her house is terrible and worn down, and being judged by passersby (Cisneros 2-3). Esperanza’s journey here sets up a good plot, but the remarks by passerby are not returned upon later, nor is her hate for her house, and it ends up weakening the overall plot, making her poetry unnecessary. A Long Way Gone simply does a much better job at improving its plot and sticking to its central themes than others. What is arguably the most important aspect of a coming-of-age story is its final theme on growing up, which it says within its last few pages that provides insight into becoming mature. A Long Way Gone did this in an incredible manner. Beah portrays how his feelings for war and his growth has changed when he encounters the war again at the end of the book, this time, instead of wanting the fight, he wants to leave, and stop the fighting (Beah

The House on Mango Street, however, was not nearly as elegant as Ferguson 4 with its final message. In the final vignette “Mango leaves sometimes” the only subject is her poetry and a message saying that it helps her with remembering Mango Street (Cisneros 109-110). Portraying a message saying that it helps her issues with remembering Mango Street leaves no clear final message that really must deal with Esperanza’s growth, and it leaves the book with a more abrupt ending with little in the way of a proper final message. A Long Way Gone has effectively shown its ending and final message unlike others and allows it to be a much more impactful and meaningful ending. In the end, A Long Way Gone does a significantly better job at the portrayal of social and personal issues, depiction of relationships, a clear, concise, and central driving plot, and the final message about growing up. A Long Way Gone uses introspective moments to capture personal issues, uses deep and fleshed out relationships, and a continuous plot to keep itself as a well-rounded coming-of-age