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What Is The Difference Between The Poet X And The House On Mango Street

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“Every experience makes you grow” - Elisabeth Shue
Everybody has experienced something every day, good, bad, or sometimes even in the middle. No matter if an experience is good or bad it shapes the person onward and matures them differently. Both novels The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo, and The House on Mango Street by
Sandra Cisneros have protagonists who are teenagers having many different experiences in their lives. Both authors use the motif of growing up to describe the theme that the experiences that a person goes through shape them for the future.
The protagonist Xiomara from The Poet X has an experience that she is nervous about, but it turns into something good, and she feels proud. Throughout the novel, Xiomara focuses on her poems …show more content…

“ People watch. They listen,/ and when I’m done/ saying a poem I’ve practiced/ in my mirror, they clap./
And it sounds so loud/ that I want to cover my ears,/ cover my face.“ (Acevedo 279). Because the people she performs to like it, Xiomara gains confidence and wants to do it again. “ That's when I know,/ I can’t wait to do this again. (Acevedo 280). This is showing how Elizabeth
Acevedo shows the theme of experiences shape a person's future because Xiomara at first is very nervous about performing a poem, and when she finally performs it people like it so much that she needs to cover her ears. This is an experience that makes her want to perform again and
Xiomara even finds out what she is most passionate about. This also shows how Xiomara is
Kanade 2 growing up because she is realizing that she can accomplish something if she puts enough effort towards it. Therefore, Elizabeth Acevedo is using the motif of growing up to describe …show more content…

Rachel and Lucy on the other hand do not.
“Who are you? And I wish my name was Cassandra or Alexis or Maritza-anything but
Esperanza-but when I tell them my name they don’t laugh.” (Cisneros 15). This leads to
Esperanza learning that they are good people and she can be friends with them. Both Rachel and
Lucy end up trusting Esperanza, so all three of them share the bike. They are riding the bike together and have the time of their lives. “Down, down Mango street, we go. Rachel, Lucy, me.
Our new bicycle. Laughing the crooked ride back. “ (Cisneros 16). This shows how the author
Sandra Cisneros connects to the theme by making Esperanza meet two different people, and they show how they accept her. This is an experience that Esperanza has that eventually leads to her becoming good friends with Rachel and Lucy. She ends up having lots of fun with them just because of the experience of them not laughing at her name. This also shows a moment where
Esperanza is growing up because she is realizing that life is not all boring and can be fun as well.
Therefore, Sandra Cisneros is showing how Esperanzas experience is shaping her

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