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House On Mango Street Research Paper

415 Words2 Pages

Mason McCabe
Period 1

Mango Street Essay Thingy

On the topic of ‘gender’ in relation to House on Mango Street (by Sandra Cisneros) is quite the fiery one, as Esperanza, along with other women in the book, faces the problems of sexism-related depravity quite a few times. In ‘My Name’, pg. 10-11, Esperanza talked about how her great grandmother was kidnapped and forced to marry her grandfather, having her whole life shut down in the process. She mentioned that she ‘doesn’t want to inherit her place at the window’, because her great grandmother looked out of the window of their house sadly for the rest of her life. Esperanza wonders if she made the best with what she had, or if she was just sad she never got to lead her life like how she wanted. When Esperanza and her friends get the high heels from the family in ‘The Family of Little Feet’, pg. 39, she and her friends see the world in a whole new light. A shop owner tells the girls the shoes they are wearing are dangerous, and that soon becomes evident as a boy catcalls them, and then a hobo attempts to kiss one of the girls in exchange for a dollar. As soon as they get home, the shoes are thrown out, but they don’t seem to mind due to the implications said shoes brought along with them. …show more content…

In ‘The First Job’, pg. 53, Esperanza gets tricked by an old man to give her a kiss, and in ‘Red Clowns’, she even gets raped when her friend Sally abandons her at the carnival. But it’s not all about her as I said before, because ironically in ‘What Sally Said,”, pg. 92, Esperanza muses about how Sally was beaten by her father for petty things like talking with a boy, because he believed she would run away like his sisters did, showing that she isn’t the only one who has to put up with the abuse of the

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Mitchell Curtis English 9 / Period 6 Mr.Boyat 17 October 2016 Three Influential Characters in The House on Mango Street In the novel The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, the story is developed through the eyes of a young girl Esperanza. She learns about the realities of life in a house that she recently moved into. There are many characters that are written as she learns about her new neighborhood. The three most influential characters in the novel are Sally, her Mother ,and Marin.

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Essay On Obstacles In The House On Mango Street

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Esperanza and her family are always moving because they do not have much money, but they finally moved into a house on Mango Street where they “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” (703). Although it sounded like a nice place, when a nun from her school saw where Esperanza lived, she said, “You live there?” (703). That made Esperanza feel like nothing and made her realize she needs a real house, one that is really nice. Esperanza wants to change her life and make the best of what she has.

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The House On Mango Street Shoes Analysis

1240 Words | 5 Pages

. . scuffed and round, and the heels all crooked that look dumb with this dress” (47). Esperanza is so ashamed of the shoes that she doesn’t want to dance. This incident with her shoes connects with her feelings about so many other things in her life like the house she wants. Her parents told her one day they would move “into a house, a real house that would be ours for always . . .

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Esperanza's Poverty In The House On Mango Street

519 Words | 3 Pages

She had to get a job because her parents couldn’t afford a good school, but her father said if you go to public school, you want to turn out bad. For example, “The Catholic high School cost a lot, and Papa said nobody went to public school unless you wanted to turn out bad.” (53) We can all assume that Esperanza is definitely not the type of girl that wants to turn out bad because she is willing to get a job to help her through school. Even if it was an easier job like when she said, “I thought I’d find an easy job, the kind other kids had, working in the dime store or maybe a hotdog stand.”

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1999 Words | 8 Pages

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1204 Words | 5 Pages

Many girls desire a female role model from a young age. The way these women are treated, and deal with this treatment can heavily impact the way young girls view themselves, and their future as well. Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street brings attention to issues of sexism and gender roles. This is done through a series of vignettes about the main character Esperanza navigating life by the example of her many role models. Each role model impacts Esperanza in a special way, Sally who is married at 13, Marin who is waiting to be rescued by a man, and Alicia who is balancing school and home responsibilities.

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However, upon entering a laundromat, they receive sexual comments from men who call them names like "pretty girl" and offer them money in exchange for a kiss. This behavior deeply disturbs Esperanza and her cousins, highlighting the idea that some men view themselves as superior to women and feel entitled to degrade and harass them. Another example of this behavior can be seen in “Red Clowns.” Esperanza gets raped by a boy who insists on her kissing him and refers to her as “Spanish girl.” We can see that this situation incredibly troubles Esperanza to the point where she doesn’t even want to address it.

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House On Mango Street Culture

437 Words | 2 Pages

The House on Mango Street is set in a poor, primarily Hispanic neighborhood. Author Sandra Cisneros creates an atypical, yet easily digestible world for the reader to experience while learning about Esperanza’s childhood. The culture of her environment influences Esperanza’s development as she becomes a young woman, and contributes to the book’s driving theme of self-empowerment. Mango Street is the source of Esperanza’s growth through her childhood, and it hides sadness and longing underneath stereotypes of Hispanic people. The characters that live in the broken-down neighborhood all seem to represent pigeonholed views of Latino individuals.

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In the chapter “Red Clowns”, Esperanza experiences her first sexual encounter, although it was not what she thought it would be. She finds herself being sexually assaulted. Forcibly introduced into the adult world, Esperanza learn that fantasies are not always what they are said to be. Esperanza states, “They all lied. All the books and magazine, everything that told it wrong.

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The House On Mango Street Gender Essay

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As she transitions into womanhood, Esperanza gains a new understanding of weighty concepts such as gender roles. On Mango Street, she is exposed to a variety of females who fill the role model and non-role model categories. Specifically, Esperanza’s observations of the characters, Marin, Sally, and Alicia, reveal the oppressive or often dangerous roles placed on women and how they ultimately influence the development of her identity. Like many of the women trapped on Mango Street because of negative societal roles, Esperanza’s

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Analysis Of Esperanza In The House On Mango Street

1115 Words | 5 Pages

The first awakening Esperanza experiences is maturing from childhood and becoming a young women. In the chapter “The Family of little Feet” Esperanza

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Poverty In The House On Mango Street

1117 Words | 5 Pages

Esperanza is often humiliated not only by where she lives, but also by her physical appearance, hence causing a restriction in her climb to a higher social class. Esperanza is frequently ashamed of her family’s broken-down house in an urban, poor

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House On Mango Street Coming Of Age Quotes

1348 Words | 6 Pages

As a child, Esperanza wants only escape from mango Street. Her dream of independents and "self-definition" also means leaving her family behind without any responsibilities to her family. Throughout the book, her has also faced some situation where is feels ashamed to be part of the Mango Street community and in some instances refuses to admit she has anything to do with mango street. At the beginning of the book near the earlier chapters, Esperanza feels very insecure about herself in general along with the house that she lives in. As mentioned before, she doesn’t want to discuss her name nor where she lives.

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House On Mango Street Compare And Contrast Essay

1042 Words | 5 Pages

The reaction to this small house affects her to dream of living in a house of her own (Cisneros 4). Esperanza isn’t all that wealthy; this is evident when they can’t afford lunch meats so she makes a rice Maggard 3 sandwich (Cisneros 44). Overall Esperanza learns to cope with her living situation just talking to people and she also works really hard in school and at home and eventually moves away. These three characters have proved to all be very unique and different.

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Inequality In The House On Mango Street Analysis

1173 Words | 5 Pages

“No, this isn’t my house I say and shake my head as if shaking could undo the year I’ve lived here (Cisneros 106).” This quote shows Esperanza’s unwillingness of accepting her poor neighbourhood because of the violence and inequality that has happened in it. In the House on Mango Street, the author, Sandra Cisneros, shows that there is a direct link between inequality, violence and poverty. The House on Mango Street shows women are held back by the inequalities that they face. Cisneros shows that racism prevents individuals from receiving job opportunities which leads to poverty and violence.

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