3 Sandra Cisnero’s The House on Mango Street is an well-incorporated story told through vignettes shorts sections that piece by piece fit into a puzzle and reveal a theme. This unique story is about a disadvantaged young Chicana girl, named Esperanza, growing up in a poor neighborhood where she feels she does not belong. She does not like what she experiences, and constantly searches for a new future. As Esperanza grows and changes throughout the book, she realizes that women in her culture are treated unfairly, and makes a conscious choice not to fall into the same trap as the women around her. 4 Women all around Esperanza, such as Minerva and Sally, are held hostage, within their own acceptance of an unjust cultural fate. For example, Minerva is a young girl who constantly prays for better luck, and a happier life, but enables her husband to take advantage of her, and therefore sets the path for her unsatisfactory life.
” One day she is through and lets him know enough is enough. Out the door he goes. Clothes, records, shoes. Out the window and the door locked. However, that night he comes back and sends a big rock through the window.
Then he is sorry and she opens the door again. Minerva finds herself forgiving without truly seeing that her husband is sorry. She used marriage as a way out from her undesirable life, yet her married life still carries the same characteristics. And so, without fighting for a satisfactory life she settles with the hand she is dealt.
5 Furthermore, Sally, an innocent friend of Esperanza, tries to escape her father’s cruel beatings through marriage, but her circumstances do not change, her husband still treats her as her father has in the past. ” He won’t let her talk on the phone. In addition, he does not let her look out the window. In addition, he does not like her friends so nobody can visit her unless he is working. Sally’s father controlled her and now it is her husband; she thinks that she is escaping when in reality she is just giving the leash to someone else. Sally chose the easiest way out of her life, marriage, she did not see the unfavorable life of the women near her, she just chose a route to flee, without thinking of her future.
6 All in all the women around Esperanza have all taken an easy escape from their surroundings leading them into another life of the same disappointment; and now accept their unhappy consequences, thinking that there is no way-out. Esperanza will not accept and is determined to overcome the unfair fate instructed on the women in her family, such as her great grand mother. For instance, Esperanza knows that she does not want to end up like her great Grand mother. She looked out the window her whole life like so many women sit their sadness on their elbow. I wonder if she made the best of what she got or was she sorry because she could not be all the things she wanted to be.
Esperanza. I have inherited her name, but I don’t want to inherit her place by the window” (pg. 11). 7 Esperanza does not want to live a life of sadness. She searches for a path that would lead her out of the cycle that has captured her great grand mother and so many women around her. In addition, near the end of the book, Esperanza feels a need to come back and help those who are unable to leave, because she is positive that her fate will change.
” One day I will say goodbye to Mango. I am too strong for her to keep me here forever. One day I will go away… to come back. For the ones, I left behind. For the ones who cannot get out ” (pg.
110). 8 Esperanza has a sensitive heart, one that is sympathetic; she does not want to see more people end up like Minerva, Sally, or her great grand mother. She knows that most women will not be able to see light leading out of the darkness, so she wants to be able to show them the way out. Esperanza knows that she will overcome the shabby fate that women in her neighborhood lead, because she will not give in to the miserable fate that has swallowed so many. 9 In conclusion, Esperanza is able to fulfill her dream of a better future. She sees the miserable faces of the women around her, but is certain her life will lead a prettier color.
Not only does she choose the right path, of willingness to fight for a nicer life, but she adapts to her surroundings and builds her own confidence so that she can help her fellow women do this as well. She wants the women in her culture to become stronger people and she is determined to do so. 10 I learned many things from this book. I learned about concentration camps. I learned how people were cremated alive in ovens, and killed in gas chambers there. I learned how people had to work for their lives.
I learned how people would be sometimes killed for the gold in their teeth. I learned that people were not given a good meal, but were still forced to work as hard as if they were in good health. I learned that people would be whipped and beaten by the person in charge of them if they did something wrong. I learned that many families were separated from each other, never to see each other again, during this time period. 11 Night gave me a really good idea of what it would be like to go through the Holocaust, as a Jew. It made me feel very sympathetic for all the families that got separated for this time.
I even cried a few times, because of the sheer horror of the book… I could not imagine going through this situation, not knowing if my family was alive, dead, or suffering. It made me wonder why the Germans could do this to people and not even hesitate while doing it. This story really made my mind work, and exposed the cruel realities of the Holocaust. And I think that is exactly what Elie Wiesel wanted to happen when he wrote this. 12 I really admired Elie Wiesel.
He was a very strong boy. He was so young when this nightmare (the Holocaust) came true. Many adults would not have been able to take on what pain and suffering he endured, but he survived. He was dedicated to live to see freedom.
That took a lot of courage and patience to do. It could not have been an easy task, especially when he knew he was never going to see half of his family again.