The book being reviewed is titled, The House on Mango Street and was written by Sandra Cisneros and first published in 1984. The book follows a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago as she travels on the roller coaster of life trying to find her way. The story is told in a series of vignettes. The price of the book is $11. 00 and ISBN: 978-0-679-73477-2. Sandra Cisneros is well known for her poetry and short story collections; her ability to connect several short stories/vignettes is flawless.
The purpose of this book was to tell a coming-of-age story. Covering a year of the life of a Mexican-American girl, Esperanza, who faces many challenges as she finds her own way through this crucial year of development both physically and mentally/emotionally. My own perception of the purpose of this book was to expose some of the cultural traditions and circumstances of a Mexican family living in America. Also, on the page before the Table of Contents, there is one page with the words “A las Muejeres….
To the Women”; clearly Cisneros intended to make an impact of the lives of females. In any well written novel there are several themes. The main theme that jumped out at me was the idea behind language and how it can define you. For example, Esperanza talks about how her father couldn’t make any choices about what he would eat when he first came to America because he wasn’t able to communicate in English; consequently he ate “hamandeggs” for three months because he didn’t know any other words in English.
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Also, when Esperanza’s mom writes a letter to the school and it doesn’t get much positive attention because it’s so written in broken English. Finally, when the lady arrives to live with the man across the street, Esperanza calls her “mamacita”. Mamacita never comes out of the house and Esperanza thinks it’s because she doesn’t speak English; she sits and listens to Spanish radio all day and encourages her son to “No speak English”. The thesis is that in order to have power in this country, Esperanza will need to not only speak English, but master the language.
Cisneros describes Mamacita as having a need to stay in the house all the time because she can’t speak English; even further, because she stays in the house all day she is sad and often fights with the man she lives with. Cisneros also exposes Esperanza’s father’s choice to never eat ham and eggs again because he was forced to eat it breakfast, lunch and dinner when he first came to this country. Both of these situations explain the negative effects of not speaking English and how it leaves you powerless in American society. The House on Mango Street is a quick read that leaves a huge impact.
Esperanza’s struggles as a member of a Mexican family in America are not isolated to relating only to Mexican-American families or other immigrant groups; every reader can find a way to relate to Esperanza’s story in this novel. In particular, the lesson of befriending Sally stood out. Esperanza befriends Sally because she is starting to be curious about boys. She finds that Sally is very popular among the boys and wants to hang out with her to earn their attention as well. Eventually being involved with Sally leads Esperanza into an unfortunate and traumatizing experience.
I think that our teens and young adults in society will really resonate with this part of the novel and possibly learn something from this story. Also, pay special attention to the women Cisneros describes as sitting by windows. Each of these women represents a negative and almost helpless figure in society for a variety of reasons. Cisneros has received many awards for her work and has been internationally recognized. Cisneros is the founder of the Macondo Foundation, an association of writers united to serve underserved communities.
To learn more about Sandra Cisneros, you can visit her website at www. sandracisneros. com. In the final chapter Cisneros writes “One day I will pack my bags of books and paper. One day I will say goodbye to Mango. I am too strong to keep me here forever…Friends and neighbors will say, ‘What happened to that Esperanza? ’” This is a very profound statement; it shows that Esperanza differentiates herself from this current life she’s experiencing. That with her life experience and language proficiency she will escape from Mango Street, leaving behind those who are not strong enough to get out.
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