The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros | Teen Ink

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

May 26, 2015
By isabelw DIAMOND, Atlanta, Georgia
isabelw DIAMOND, Atlanta, Georgia
58 articles 2 photos 7 comments

Favorite Quote:
"They say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one." -John Lennon


“The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros is a fictional story about a Hispanic girl growing up in Chicago.  The little girl, Esperanza, tells her story through a series of extremely short stories.  They range from stories of her interactions with neighbors, workers, and friends to stories of her Hispanic family life. 
Cisneros has published many successful works including “Carmelo” and multiple poetry and short story books.   “The House on Mango Street” is one of her most influential works.  Selling over two million copies, it has become required reading for many middle and high schools.  It has also been translated into various languages. 
The book does not follow a plotline, instead it is made up of vignettes.  This, however, does not mean it lacks in conflict and resolution; her whole life is based off the constant balance between obstacles and lessons.    Esperanza’s stories can be as short as one or two pages, which makes for easy reading.  In some cases, reading was almost too easy and fast.  It is best intended for middle school or young high schools.  Given its simplicity, I did not expect Cisneros’s little character to be filled with such wisdom and understanding of the strange world around her. 
Truth and reality beam out of the book.  Cisnero shines a light on the true melting-pot identity of America that continually affects life today.  It is an identity in which not all that are born in America are truly raised in America.  Esperanza explains her difficulty in living on the edge between English and Spanish; “At school, they say my name funny as if the syllables were made out of tin and hurt the roof of your mouth… But in Spanish, my name is made out of a softer something, like silver.”  She must learn to accept her alienation in order to fully absorb its beauty. 
Cisneros’s writing has a distinctive style and syntax, and in this way the book is hardly perfect.  In fact, the book is filled grammar mistakes and a few awkward sentences.  The style and syntax adds to the innocence behind Esperanza’s story by making her appear slightly uneducated yet very intuitive and capable.  In addition, any direct quotes are not put in quotation marks and are simply integrated into the writing and Esperanza’s train of though.  Writing the way a child’s mind thinks, Cisneros succeeds in creating in authentic character though her style and syntax; however, it can be confusing at times.   
As Esperanza grows, the story turns bittersweet.  She doesn’t want to be connected to the house on Mango Street; she wishes to disconnect herself from her impoverished and stereotypically-plagued roots. She dreams of a house of her own, yet sadly, the only way to escape is by leaving her family and friends all in hopes of returning to rescue them.  In her situation being selfish is not always a bad thing. 
What makes her life as a Mexican-American so bad that it forces her hopes to take her away from her family and her home?  Is it the fact that people are afraid of her neighborhood?  Thanks to stereotypes, people tend to be more afraid of ethnic neighborhoods such as Hispanic neighborhoods than of white neighborhoods.  Or is the fact that she sees her friend show up to school “all beaten and black?”  Stereotypes might fit on some people but not on Esperanza.  She explores every aspect and human interaction of her life, and every detail is described in “The House on Mango Street.”  Eventually she comes to realize, it is not what she wants, and it’s hard to blame her.  Imagine being a different race; it’s not so bad, until racism is accounted for.  And while Esperanza, the little heroine, wants to leave her ugly little house on Mango Street, can you ever really disconnect yourself from your roots? 


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guest2002 said...
on Aug. 3 2017 at 1:37 am
guest2002,
0 articles 0 photos 1 comment
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. I would recommend this book to many because it gives a lot of life experiences, tells about many characters lives, and tells the author's point of view. I really enjoyed reading this novel because it gave all these little chapters to separate the different events and environment that was occurring. And the process of her growing up such as growing hips, having a first crush and, how she was sexually assaulted. The main plot of the story is her growing up and experiencing with her life and people around it. And how she thought it would be different know that she will live in her own house of her family. But it wasn't what she expected her new house to be but the on positive good she saw of that house was that it her her family's and no landlord was asking for the house money. She experienced some bad events as well while living there such as being sexually assaulted. But other than that she does not have her privacy and wishes she will one day leave mango street into her dream house she has been wishing for. Also as she's been living there she makes new friends along the way. She writes to express herself and her feelings as she grows. Her living in that neighborhood gives her many paths of how her future can go. She also felt very ashamed of her family's poverty and difficulty to pronounce her name, Esperanza. As Esperanza begins puberty she finds herself liking it when boys watch her dance and likes dreaming about them. But as well with that came along deaths of two family members and that kind of pushes her towards adulthood. And her going back to school and making new friends and especially with Sally is a big impact in Esperanza's life. Unfortunately she seems to be in a situation where she finds herself to be sexually assaulted without her friend Sally. I would recommend this book more to like high school students because it gives a lot of life experience that could be happening to them as well. And they could learn to express themselves with their own life experiences.