Sandra Cisneros’, “The Monkey Garden”, uses juxtaposition and personification to provide ominousness to her vignette. For instance, a bit after Esperanza first entered the garden following the family moving, she noted the “hollyhocks perfumy like the blue-blond hair of the dead”, comparing aromatic flowers to dull colored locks from the deceased, foreshadowing that there must be an upcoming negative event of some sort involving death. The foul use of corpses’ hair color to describe a fragrant plant is placed to accentuate their clear differences. Cisneros also uses personification to establish an ominous mood to this piece. For example, after stating the garden was taking over itself, the “flowers stopped obeying” their designated areas.
In the past, authors have used different kinds of diction and imagery in order to express their thoughts and experiences on the thought of growing up. In the vignette “The Monkey Garden” from The House On Mango Street Esperanza deals with the pain of her friend growing up before she does. Her lack of maturity in social situations causes her confusion and pain. At the beginning of the vignette Sandra Cisneros uses positive diction and peaceful, playful imagery in order to show the beauty and innocence of childhood. Cisneros then shifts the tone and uses negative diction and Sorrowful imagery in order to express that growing up can be a painful, revealing process.
“The Monkey Garden” is a short story by Sandra Cisneros about a young girl named Esperanza who lives near a fantastic garden. The diction and personification in the story affects how Esperanza breaks free from her childhood and loses her innocence. Esperanza enjoys playing in the garden, but her friend Sally tells her she is too old to play where the children play. Esperanza realizes that “the garden that had been such a good place to play didn’t seem mine either” (Cisneros 2) after her friend Sally plays an unorthodox kissing game with boys at the garden. As a result, Esperanza loses her innocence when they laugh at her for trying to “save” Sally.
This person goes and applies for another job, this time better built and ready to face the world. This relatable moment is similar to The House on Mango Street, due to the fact that, in “The Monkey Garden”, Sandra Cisneros conveys symbolism with the garden, for people must face hard times, but it is those hard times that build people up and prepare them for the future. To begin, Sandra Cisneros’ “The Monkey Garden”, actively uses symbolism within the garden, for people
In the vignette, “The Monkey Garden,” Cisneros uses similes, personification, and juxtaposition to show how the garden quickly changes from a child’s playground to a place of haunting grownup memories. In the beginning, Cisneros uses similes to describe the carefree nature of the garden: “There were big green apples hard as knees. And everywhere the sleepy smell of rotting wood, damp earth, and dusty hollyhocks thick and perfumey like the blue-blonde hair of the dead" (Cisneros 95). Initially, Esperanza and the other children are young and naive and play in the garden without any worries. The garden is a place of childhood innocence and shows that although Esperanza wants desperately to grow up, she is still a child.
“The House on Mango Street" is a Bildungsroman novel written by Sandra Cisneros. "The House on Mango Street" is about a 12-year-old girl who struggles with her identity and what type of person she wants to be in the future. Esperanza faces many problems and as she endeavors not to get stuck on Mango street. Neighborhoods and communtites are very important in life but they do affect a person to a minor degree if they are strong of chararcther and have a mighty conviction.
The House on Mango Street is a touching and timeless tale told in short vignettes. It tells the story of a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago. Her life, and the lives of the people around her, are laid bare to the readers in this touching novella. In the beginning, Esperanza is not accepting of herself. Her family’s poor financial situation, the sadness of the people around her, and the problems she faces in her daily life make her very cynical.
The House on Mango Street is a novel written by Sandra Cisneros about a young girl named Esperanza and her family and friends that live on Mango Street. Esperanza had always lived in different crumbling apartments. Because of this she had always held on to the dream of living in the big white home that her parents had told her bedtime stories about when she was younger. She had always felt embarrassed by the shabby rented homes she had lived in, and when she finally moved to the red house on Mango Street, she felt ashamed of it too. It was not anything like what her parents had told her about.
In The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, a young girl narrates her families seemingly perpetual moving. Through detailed imagery she develops a tone which communicates the families’ socio-economic status, care for one another, and vison to one day live in a house. When the narrator moves into her families’ new house on Mango Street, she states, “There is no front yard, only four little elms the city planted by the curb” (Cisneros 552). The four elm trees Cisneros writes about are symbolic of the narrator and her three siblings. The young girls states there is no front yard and the trees did not grown their naturally, concluding that they did not belong there.
Isabelle Muldowney Mrs. Itzen English III, Honors 12 April 2023 Cultural Context of the Novel The House on Mango Street The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros takes place in a low-class neighborhood of Chicago around the 1960's. The story narrated by a young Latina girl, Esperanza Cordero, as it follows her growing up and coming to grips with her surroundings.
Not everyone can be good at everything, flaws and strengths are a part of human nature. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cineros breaks down parts of the young teen Ezperanza’s life in a series of vignettes. In the vignette,“The Monkey Garden,” Cisneros characterizes Esperanza as someone whose mature and creative observations about people contrast with her lack of social understanding. Cisneros’s use of contrast shows that Esperanza is observant of people, even if she often doesn't understand the reason behind their actions.
Shame is an impactful emotion that we all feel. Though there are a multitude of motifs in the novel, which help convey Cisneros’ desired effect, but the motif which most indicates the desired effect of Sandra Cisneros’s writing The House on Mango Street is The Shame Cycle, specifically shown in the vignette “The Monkey Garden”. The House on Mango Street is a novella that focuses a great deal of shame and the shame cycle. Sandra Cisneros often demonstrates the recurring literary conflict of man versus society is, in actuality, Esperanza versus the shame she feels from their community. This concept is best illustrated in the vignette, “The Monkey Garden.”
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.
In the House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, Esperanza suffers with insecurities within herself and her race. Racism has always been an issue in all different types of races no matter the location and no matter the circumstances. Anyone who would come into Esperanza’s community would be frightened because of their
Matthew Chavez Misinco English 3 Honors Period 2 July 22, 2023 The House on Mango Street Theme Analysis Sandra Cisneros’ novel The House on Mango Street is a story about the life of a young girl who faces challenges and goes through experiences that help her find her identity. The story used vignetting to create a timeline that does not follow the structure of a common novel. Using vignetting allows the author to explain a story or moment the character faces without having to use a large plot while still providing imagery and great description. The theme in The House on Mango Street is that experiences and people shape the identity of people .
