The House on Mango Street
In the book The House on Mango Street, author Sandra Cisneros presents a series of vignettes that involve a young girl, named Esperanza, growing up in the Latino section of Chicago. Esperanza Cordero is searching for a release from the low expectations and restrictions that Latino society often imposes on its young women. Cisneros draws on her own background to supply the reader with accurate views of Latino society today. In particular, Cisneros provides the chapters "Boys and Girls" and "Beautiful and Cruel" to portray Esperanza's stages of growth from a questioning and curious girl to an independent woman. Altogether, "Boys and Girls" is not like "Beautiful and Cruel" because Cisneros reveals two different maturity levels in Esperanza; one of a wavering confidence with the potential to declare her independence, and the other a personal awareness of her own actions and the decision to take action and wage her "own quiet war (Cisneros 89). Author Sandra Cisneros was born in 1954 in the Latino section of Chicago (Encarta 1). Cisneros is an "American novelist, short-story writer, essayist, and poet (Encarta 1)." Her works have brought the perspective of the Mexican American woman into the "mainstream of literary feminism (Encart
Cisneros supplies Esperanza with a small voice, but also with a tone of wishful thinking, which gives her the ability to be powerful. "Beautiful and Cruel" marks the beginning of Esperanza's "own quiet war" against machismo (Hispanic culture powered by men). " This description reveals that Esperanza singles herself out of her differences, of which she seems keenly aware. " Esperanza changes from a little girl who makes wishes about her future, to a woman who takes her future in her hands as she begins a "war" on the limitations that she face in her Latino society. In "Boys and Girls," Cisneros introduces a gender separation that dominates Esperanza's experiences. The anchor hinders her flight, similar to the confines that her granted by her society. Cisneros uses Esperanza as a vehicle to express the power of womanhood and determination to reach certain goals. Her goals are "to not forget her reason for being . " The novel is constructed with a "series of short interconnected chapters (Encarta 1). " After reading The House on Mango Street, the reader is left with a greater sense of the everyday oppressions the "roles created for women in Hispanic society (Encarta 1). " Esperanza is a very strong woman in herself. " Cisneros' rough language and violent images of self-bondage reveal the contempt with which Esperanza views many of her peers whose only goal is to become a wife. Esperanza is "alienated from the rest of society in many ways (Hannon 1). " She earned her Bachelor's Degree from Loyola University in 1976 and her Master's Degree from the University of Iowa in 1978 (Encarta 1). In conclusion, Esperanza makes the ultimate change of becoming independent.
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