The House On Mango Street Film Analysis

From its inception, whether or not the canon is of any worth has been fiercely debated among the literary community. One response of those who disapprove of the canon is to, rather than completely dissolve it, revise it. A major complaint, heard from a variety of sources, is the lack of minority voice: that the canon is made up from the work of dead White European guys. (Weidauer) Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street is an example of a text which would provide a minority voice in multiple ways while meeting the requirements for canonization set forth by its creators. Told in a series of vignettes, The House on Mango Street is the bildungsroman of Esperanza Cordero, a Mexican-American girl growing up in the suburbs of Chicago. Esperanza and her family dream of owning a house for themselves, but the house on Mango street is far from their dream home. During her time on Mango Street,

If, as a literary society, we do not allow the canon to change and adapt over time, we accept stagnancy, and thereby eliminate the opportunity for progress. By adding new texts and accepting new voices, we are able to change and adapt, making us better today than we were yesterday, and better tomorrow than we are today. The House on Mango Street needs to be canonized. It meets or exceeds all of the criteria listed by those who support the canon and some who do not, and the story is relevant across cultural lines. Changing the Canon is one way which we can change our world. The texts we read shape how we view the world, and with a greater array of texts available, we will have a more globalized worldview and function better as a society. With a more inclusive canon, we will gain a richer understanding of cultural differences which, without proper understanding, could drive us