What's Next For Esperanza?

When Esperanza finally leaves Mango Street, I predict that she intends to do for herself what the other women in er neighborhood were unable to do. Throughout this book there are many women and girls mentioned who are stuck on Mango Street and either didn't or won't have the opportunity to get an education so that they could live their lives with out relying on a man.

"Not a man's house. Not a daddy's. A house all my own. With my porch and my pillow, my pretty purple petunias. My books and my stories [...] Nobody to shake a stick at. Nobody's garage to pick up after." (p.108)

This quote clearly shows that Esperanza intends on having a house of her own completely without  the help of a man weather it is her father, or her husband, she definitely wants to be independent. The last two sentences of this quote also make it seem as though she doesn't want children to have to pick up after either, at least at the moment. She want to be able to be alone and do well for herself before she had to take care of other people.

When Esperanza leaves Mango Street, she seems to be glad to finally get away and go on and give to herself what many of the other women she encountered couldn't give to themselves, which I think is an education. I also think that she mainly wants to get a job good enough to be able to provide for herself. However, she mentions that she won't forget to return to Mango Street.

"They will not know I have gone away to come back. For the ones  I left behind. For the ones who cannot out." (p. 110)

When she says "... I have gone away to to come back for the ones I left behind," it seems as though Esperanza is saying that once she has achieved her goals in the new place she has left to, she will come back for others. These other people that she "left behind" are most likely the women she mentions throughout the book. By coming back I think Esperanza means that she will return to help these women leave Mango Street and succeed for themselves just as she intends to do herself. She would like to help them achieve accomplishments so that they would no longer have to rely on a man to provide for them and so that they won't have to be stuck being a house wife. Esperanza wants to do what is best for herself and then use her achievements to help the women that made her realize she doesn't want to rely on any man when she gets older like they had to. 

The House on Mango Street: boys vs. girls

In the House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, the series of events are told through the perspective of Esperanza and I've noticed that a majority of them are about the many women she meets and has encounters with throughout her time on Mango street. I would say Cisneros is definitely in favor of women rights because of the way Esperanzas perspective is, but in these vignettes many of the women mentioned appear to be very weak and the main cause for this seems to be by a male in their life, weather it is their husband or father, or some other male figure.On the topic of raising children, I think Cisneros would agree that boys and girls should be raised a little differently, but mostly the same. However, by reading her book it is obvious that she understands that people in society raise their sons differently to their daughters.

Assuming Cisneros is a strong believer if women rights, I conclude that she believes boys and girls should be raised roughly equally in society. However, she definitely addresses the reality that this is not the case for most families.

"Her father says to be this beautiful is trouble...He remembers his sisters and is sad. Then she can't go out. Sally I mean."(p.81) "But who believes her... A girl who comes in with her pretty face all beaten and black can't be falling off the stairs. He never hits me hard." (p.92)

In the first vignette that Sally is introduced , Esperanza explains how she is a beautiful girl, who seems to have no freedom. She mentions that she is always running home after school and doesn't really stay to play with the other children after school. When I first read this vignette, it wasn't really clear to me what her home life was like. However, the second time Sally is mentioned in the vignette, "What Sally Said" it becomes pretty clear that Sally's father abuses her at home. When Cisneros mentions that Sally's father's sisters left and that he's afraid that Sally may do the same, it seems to me that Cisneros is saying that since Sally is a girl she is treated a certain way by her father. This makes me think that it may be a cycle. Maybe Sally's father saw what his sisters did and assumed Sally would do the same since she is a girl. This shows that Cisneros realized this is un fair, but it is a reality in the world that girls are sometimes raised differently than boys.

In The House on Mango Street, there are also a few places where Cisneros mentions the stereotypical views of what women should do with their lives that are common in this neighborhood. It seems as though most of these women are expected to wait until they find a man to marry and they will be the care taker of the home and take care of the children. This view is addressed in the vignette "Alicia Who Sees Mice".

"Alicia, whose mama died, is sorry there is no one older to rise and make the lunchbox tortillas. Alicia who inherited her mama's rolling pin and sleepiness, is young and smart and studies for the first time at the university [...] because she doesn't want to spend her whole life in a factory or behind a rolling pin."

Since Alicia was the oldest girl left after her mother died, she was the one that had to take on all her duties and responsibilities.  This vignette shows how Alicia is sort of forced to take on the roll of a caretaker since she is a girl. However, it also shows how she continues to work hard and go to the university because she doesn't want to be one of the stereotypical women who just stay home and take care of children. To me this vignette shows that Sandra Cisneros thinks that girls should be raised to achieve greatness- getting an education, getting a job to provide for themselves etc; It seems she is giving the message that girls shouldn't be brought up and just be expected to be stay home moms, but they should have an equal chance to achieve things in their lives just like boys.

Thoughts of the Past by Karisa Coleman

Thoughts of the Past

by Karisa Coleman

Table of Contents

He Pushed the Puppet House...................................................................................................1

Cabin Scars.............................................................................................................................2

Summer in Hawaii....................................................................................................................3

Hair.........................................................................................................................................4

Worst Summer ever.................................................................................................................5

“He Pushed the Puppet House”

When I was younger- about six or seven years old, me and my friend Tatiana went to this program for kids at this school called Synergy after school on certain days of the week. I remember one day all of the kids were playing and running around the room after taking their naps as they waited for their parents to come pick them up. Me, Tatiana and a few other kids were playing behind the puppet pox where kids could put on little puppet shows. As we were all playing, having a good time, this other little boy came up with rage in his eyes. Neither I, nor any of the other kids were quite sure what he was so upset about. However, we knew he was pretty mad as he aggressively pushed the wooden puppet house down on all of us. As a fifteen year old this doesn't seem like a harmless act, but in the back of my head I can still remember the horror that went through my mind as this seemingly enormous figure fell on top of me and all of my friends. Now that I think back, it seemed as though this square figure could have crushed me and my friends, but as you grow up, what seemed large and a big deal to you can seem like nothing.

“Cabin Scars”

For as long as I can remember, my family and I have gone on annual camping trips every summer. I always had so much fun playing with my cousins and enjoying time with my aunts and uncles, and all my other family members. One summer I distinctly recall because I still have a scar on my knee that prevents the memory from fading. On one camping trip we went, to we were all sitting around the brown wooden tables eating lunch and my mom asked me to go get a drink for her from our cabin. I remember running there and when I tried walking up the two small steps I tripped and fell on my knees. This probably wouldn't have hurt so bad if it was just wood I fell on, however the front of the porch in this cabin had some sort of sand-papery material on the floor, probably to prevent people from slipping. Unfortunately it is what gave me the scar I still have on my left knee today. It severely scratched me, and my knee was bleeding tremendously. I was crying and in so much pain as the red blood flooded from my leg. What made it worse was that after this I was afraid to go swimming because I was worried that it would make my new cut sting. Although my trip and fall on my camping trip was unpleasant at the moment, it is now a marked memory of one of my family camping trips.

“Summer in Hawaii”

The summer of my transitioning year to seventh grade was probably one of the best summers a kid could have. I was so happy when my parents told me they would let me go to Hawaii during the summer, and the coolest part- I got to go with out them. When I was about to enter the seventh grade my parents agreed to let me fly to Hawaii on my own to spend about a month with my cousins who lived there. While I was there I had a great time staying on the beach and wandering around the island with my cousin. We also met another girl who was from California as well and we all had a pretty good time. We would go to the beach at least once day and would get ice cream just as often. Back then, although I tremendously enjoyed my vacation in Hawaii, I didn't think I would want to live there because of the sun. That may still be the case, however despite the constant hot weather I don't think I would mind living there at all.

“Hair”

I have a very large family and everyone has a different kind of hair. My mom has curly hair that is a little less curlier than mine, which I love and wish mine were the same. You can't tell because he shaves it, but my dad also has curly hair which is closer to resembling mine rather than my mom's. I have many cousins who have different kinds of hair. My cousin Nasia has dark blonde hair than stretches down all the way to her hips. It is silky and straight and reminds me of mermaid hair. It's super thick, which makes it hard to comb, but it is very nice. Another one of my cousins Sophia used to have the same kind of hair except it was black. When she was a teenager and in her early twenties, her hair also swept all the way down her back. I remember when I was little and I loved playing with is. A few years ago she cut her hair to a bob, but it is now growing back and is at her shoulders. Although it isn't very long anymore, it is still silky and healthy- which I envy, and always smells like flowers. These are just a few members of my family to name who have different types of hair.

“Worst Summer Ever”

Summer is supposed to be one of the most exciting times in a kids life. Unfortunately this was not the case for me in the year 2006. When I was about ten years old, my friend Michele and I went to, what was supposed to be a “super fun” summer camp. It was located in the forests of Santa Cruz and was my first time going to sleep away camp. As Michele and I sat in the back seat of her mom's small silver car, we were so excited to reach our destination as we drove through the mountains, past the ten feet tall, dark green trees. When we each said our goodbyes to our parents I was a bit nervous, but I tried to convince myself that everything would be fine and that I would have a great time. However, the complete opposite is what happened. The next morning I realized that we would be woken up every morning to pray. This was a religious camp, but even at this time of my life I wasn't too “spiritual” since I never went to church. However, I stuck through it as we sat around the unlit campfire with the smell of pine trees in the air and participated in the morning activity. As the next day came I was wondering what we were doing during the afternoon and I soon found out what this was: raking leaves in the forest. The counselors and all the other adults who ran the camp said this was good “service” for the place we were staying at, but I just thought it was ridiculous. Aren't leaves meant to be in the forest? But all I could do was continue to soldier on and participate. On the third day, I began to have a reaction to the pollen that filled the air and my eyes became red and puffy. By this time I couldn't wait to go home and when the day to be picked up finally came, I couldn't wait to arrive back home in the bustling city. Now, I know I will never go back to that camp again.

Significance of Trees in The House on Mango Street

In The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, there are many symbols scattered throughout the book. Last week we focused on windows, but another symbol i noticed in this book were trees. Trees were mentioned a couple of times in The House on Mango Street and it seems like they are used to represent Ezperanza's feelings of not fitting in and feeling like she doesn't belong.
In one of the vignettes, Esperanza describes the trees as being tall and skinny and not belonging where they are, but they're there anyways. She relates this back to herself and you can tell that she feels out of place in her society, where she's growing up and that she feels like she is just living there, but she doesn't really belong there, like the trees.
Esperanza also states, "I am the only one that understand them" and they are the only ones that understand me. This is another quote that shows that Esperanza feels like she doesn't belong because she is saying that nobody truly understands her besides the trees. This shows that she feels alone and that she can not exactly find anyone where she lives who can relate to her or make her feel like she is important or that she actually belongs.
She also makes a comment about her sister having no respect for the trees and not recognizing them and their significance. It isn't very clear or really mentioned in this vignette, but it makes me wonder if this is how she feels about herself. I wonder if she feels unnoticed and/or unappreciated by the people around her because she does mention how the trees are the only ones who understand her so, this makes me think that another commonality she may share with these long, skinny trees is that people don't recognize the significance in her, similarly to her sister not noticing the true beauty that Esperanza sees in the trees around her.

All in all, it seems to me that these trees mentioned throughout The House on Mango Street are used to symbolize the main character Esperanza's feelings of not belonging or fitting in in the society in which she lives in. I also infer that she may also feel unnoticed or unappreciated by the people around her, however I am not completely sure.

Significance in Windows - The House on Mango Street

In The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, there are many different objects that are mentioned a significant amount of times throughout the book that are symbols/references to things the main character Esperanza experiences throughout her life. One of these symbols are windows, which are mentioned in a couple of vignettes in the book. Behind these windows, there always seems to be a women trapped on the other side of them for one reason or another.

For example, in the vignette "No Speak English," Esperanza talks about a woman known as Mamacita who is the wife of one of her neighbors that has worked very hard to bring her and her son from Mexico to the US. Mamacita never seems to come outside from her house and people have said that it is because she is too fat to fit through the door or doesn't want to walk down the stairs (No Speak English, pg.76). However, Esperanza comes to the conclusion that she doesn't want to come out side because she is afraid to since she can't speak English. She also describes how this woman is trapped behind the window of her house and longs for her old pink home back in Mexico. It seems as though this window holds her back from experiencing the world outside her new house.

Another example of a woman being trapped behind a window is in the vignette where Esperanza talks about the woman who is locked up in her  room by her husband because she is "too beautiful to look at". Unlike Mamacita who stays locked in the house by choice and fear, this woman is forced to stay inside. She is also described as sitting, staring out of the window looking at the world outside of her room. She also has to ask the children to run errands for her since she can not go out side. This is another example of a window keeping a woman from living her life in the world on the other side of the glass.

One final example of a female being trapped is in the vignette "Sally" (pg.81) In this part of the book, a girl named Sally is described as a very pretty girl, who all the boys like and the girls envy. However, Sally's father tells her that "being this beautiful is dangerous"(82). Esperanza also makes the observation that everyday after school, Sally rushes straight home with her eyes starring down at the ground.Her father is stopping her from exploring her own life for herself.

After analyzing these vignettes, it is obviously a reoccuring situation in which there is a woman trapped behind a window. These windows symbolize how a lot of woman in this area are held back from achieving there goals. Also, besides  the vignette about Mamacita, these woman/girls are also being held back by a man. For the woman who is "too beautiful to look at", it is her husband who traps her in the house; for Sally it's her father. So, based on these conclusions i've made, i believe that these windows represent a higher power or feeling that holds these women back.