What is next for Esperanza?

Is Esperanza leaving? Forever? Finally! At the end of The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros! As we read the last four vignettes the four vignette describes her choice of getting her own real house and possibly moving out and from Mango Street forever?

“When you leave you must remember to come back for others. A circle, understand? You will always be Esperanza. You will always be Mango Street. You can’t erase what you know. You can’t forget who you are” (105)

Esperanza had dealt with many things in her life when she first moved into her house on Mango Street. She wanted to make new friends. In this book it describes her life when she moved and what happens after she moves and how her life was like. The quote represents how Esperanza plans on leaving. Possibly go to college or get a good education. Everything that Esperanza says in this books represents her life and childhood has she looks back on these moments in the book. The one that really represents herself is the house itself. The house will always be a part of her because of the moments she had with herself, friends, and family also. Esperanza has to come back and come back for the ones she left behind and I believe that she will do that. One of the important reasons why she would come back is because she wrote this book so that she would not miss the House on Mango Street.

“Before Keeler it was Paulina, but what I remember most is Mango Street, sad red house, the house I belong but do not belong to.”

Esperanza’s teen childhood is bases around Mango Street. All the symbolism she had encountered while living in Mango Street means something in her life like windows as being trapped or stuck, red as being something dark and sad, and pink as her past childhood that she is not willing to give up. All of these symbolism represents her time at Mango Street. She believes that she does belong in Mango Street in some parts but at the same time she believes that she does not belong here. Stuck in the middle between belonging and not belonging, she chose to spread her wings and be more independent somewhere else other than Mango Street but will come back.

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Gender differences HoM.

In the book The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros talks about a teenage girl named Esperanza. Esperanza deals with her life with her house full of family, friends, and her house. In the book there are some vignettes that shows how Cisneros views how parents/guardians treat girls and boys differently. In some certain standards, it depends on the situation whether or not to treat boys and girls the same or differently.
One example in the book from the vignette named Sally is

“Her father says to be this beautiful is trouble [...]  She can’t go out. Sally I mean”.(81)  “[...] and nobody could call that crazy.”(83).

Cisneros shows how families might treat how boys and girls differently. Some families would treat girls and boys the same but some might treat them differently. It seems to me that she implies that it depends on the child and the parent/guardian itself. This quote talks about how her father wouldn’t give her as much freedom because her father thinks that she is pretty and because of that more guys would be attracted to her and she would be expected to do stuff that she was not allowed to at a young age.

Another example is how girls are not given much freedom because they are expected to be a “mom figure”

    “Since she comes right after me, she is my responsibility.” (8)

Esperanza is expected to take care of her little sister, Nenny. Her family expects her to take care of her little sister and this shows how Esperanza is expected to be the “mom figure” because she has a little sister that she has to take care of and look after. Cisneros believes that parents/guardians needs girls that are responsible to be a “mom figure” so that the younger sibling will have a guidance to what is lady like or not. She also implies that if something happens to the mother then the oldest female siblings will have to take responsibility and take over the mom’s job in order to keep the house normal and keep it the way the family rule is.

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ITS FRIDAY FRIDAY GOTTA GET DOWN ON FRIDAY!: Vignette Project

My life begins
Say hello to vegetables and fish :
I realized how much land animals are going through. Animals are living beings just like humans, only we can talk and not moo.
It was then when I saw a documentary of how animals are being in a farm/barn to being at Lucky’s or Safeway. The video was horrifying to watch. I cringed every time they would cut off a chicken’s beak. I remember that one scene where a cow was hanged upside down and the person stabbed the cow’s neck. A pool of red thick liquid poured out instantly. The cow’s eyes drifted every second. I decided to limit my red meat but still consume chicken/turkey. One of an Asian dish is having boiled chicken with the head included. I saw my mother put the head in the trash can. I went to the kitchen to spit out my gum so that I can find some food to eat then I spotted a chicken’s head it looked so helpless and its eyes were closed and looked yellow. It felt as if the chicken was trying to breathe and it made me realize what I was eating so I decided to be a Vegetarian.
Not long ago that I forgot that I love sushi I had to become from a Vegetarian to a Pescetarian.
Quiet:
When the teacher picks on me to read, I forget about the context of the story and focus on how I read. I just want to try my best to not seem like a complete implausible. When the teacher asks a question, everyone knows she picked the student without their hands up. So, I raise my hand for a split second, but then I start over thinking stuff, like what if she’s just simply going to pick on the students with their hands up or she notice me, someone who never volunteers and doesn’t want to miss out on the chance. What sucks the most is when you don’t even get to get pick on by hands, but by pulling sticks. I panic when I heard my name come out of her mouth to answer the only question I wasn’t paying attention to. She just caught me off guard. My face turned red. I was heating up. My armpits were sweating. I kept telling myself to be calm, be calm. It didn’t work. The bell rang. I was saved. I raced out of the classroom avoiding eye to eye contact with the teacher. My face made it back to its pale colors, just the way I liked it.
Breaking out of the shell:
I promised myself that I would try to be confident and leave my quietness/shyness behind. New school , New beginnings, New friends. I knew that I didn’t want to be the old Christy. That one that turns bright red, the one that stutters during author’s chair. I want to be social, out there, not shy but confident. I was the black sheep. Looking back on the first day of freshman year made me realize how much I broke out of my shell and comfort zone. I would be comfortable to speak in front of the class. I wasn’t afraid to answer any questions when the teachers asked me. I noticed I was not as nervous as I was a year ago.
My name:

My name is Christy, sometimes I like that name and sometimes I don’t. My parents did not know what to name me so they asked their friend and they decided to put names in a fish bowl. The first name was pulled out, it was Kristin. My parents did not like it so they picked out the second one. The paper said Christy. Thank god I do not have a super fobby name. Most people I meet like my name but the only reason why I like it is because I haven’t had another classmate with the same name as me.This is good because I know a lot of people that have the same names which I wouldn’t be pleased to have. I would want to be different. What sucks is that whenever I would go souvenir shopping and I want to get a pack of mint with my name on the box or a key chained name they would never carry my name. The closest they can reach is Christine. This is pretty sad.

Talent :
So what do you do in your spare time? Do you have any hobbies? Talents? ____ said.
Nothing, no and no I responded.
Why don’t you have any talents? she replied
Because I am not good at anything I said.
What is your talent?
Oh I play the piano and I can sing
Wow that is pretty awesome I said.
Yeah she replied with a smile
I despise people when they ask me what my talent is. I seem to never have one but other people do.
Don’t worry you’ll find your talent
I don’t think I will, I have been waiting for 14 years to find out what my talent was but it never happened
You’ll find your talent she said cheerfully.
I remembered that one time where I was cruising around Youtube and I saw a girl named Tiffany Alvord and I watched majority of the video and she played her guitar while singing and I watched as how she moved her fingers. The sound of her guitar was the same as if the music was instrumental. I must say she was really talented. If she can do it, I can do it. Of course after watching one video I did not just jump into buying a guitar right away. I wanted to feel like I was really into it. I did not want to be the kind of person that quits after 2 months of playing it. After a year I decided to buy a guitar. My first guitar was absolutely stunning. Jet black body that shined in the light. The light colored wooded neck fits in my palm perfectly. I know that the first strum would last forever.

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In the book The House of Mango has many symbolism in the book. Like last week on our blogs we discussed about windows symbolism and what it represents as in the book. This week we got to choose many different types of symbolism in the book but today I will be talking about what red symbolizes in the book. The main character Esperanza, uses red to symbolize what she is forced to do and because of this she is not able to make her own decisions. 

“Until then I am a red ballon, a ballon tied to an anchor,”(9) 

This quote symbolizes how she is brought down and she isn’t able to express herself freely. I believe that in the beginning Esperanza doesn’t know who she is as a person and struggles to find it. Meanwhile with her stuggles to find her identity she lets herself bring her down and instead of “being untied to an anchor” she stays tied to it. The quote also connects to one of the vignettes that symbolizes windows and windows represents being trapped in a house like what I wrote about last week. Another symbolization that connect with red and the meaning of red like being forced to do something, not letting go yourself, and being stuck is something that connects to Pink.
At first in the book she talks about pink shoes and shoes alone and it represents past childhood and when she incorporated red in the vignettes shows the opposite of that.

“He said I love you, Spanish girl, I love you, and pressed his sour mouth to mine. Sally, make him stop..”(100) 

This quote is from the vignette “Red Clowns” shows that she was forced to kiss someone and she did not want to be kissed and red symbolizes scariness and being forced. hence the title “Red Clown”. So far in this book there are many more things to symbolize like more red connection and or pink connections that shows how her life was bringing down and how she has to be forced to do something or someone telling her what to do and much more.

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Windows

In the book The House of Mango has many symbolism in the book. Yesterday in class we discussed about how shoes symbolizes childhood and growing up from it. There are more stuff in the book at also symbolizes in the chapters like My Name, No Speak English,Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut Juice on Tuesdays, and Sally. In the chapter or vignette called “My Name” talks about how she inherit her name , Esperanza.

She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow... I have inherited her name, but I don’t want to inherit her place by the window,”(11)

This quote talks about her great grandmother and how she was forced to marry. Once her great grandmother was married, she spent most of her life sitting by a window and look at nothing but watch time pass by. Since she inherited her great grandmother’s name she didn’t want to be forced to marry and be trapped all her life.
In the next vignette is called “No speak English” which is also kinda about being stuck in a situation where you are trapped in a house.

“She won’t come down. She sits all day by the window and plays Spanish radio show...” (77)

This quote expresses how she misses her home and isn’t happy with living in that house and shes more happy living in Mexico where her home is. She feels like she doesn’t fit in when she moved to her husband’s house and because of that it affected her being social so she just sat there and dwell on her situation

“Rafaela leans out the window and leans on her elbow and dreams her hair is like Rapunzel’s,” (79)

What this quote means is how Rafaela is  trapped at home and she wants someone to save her, hence the Rapunzel hair. She wants to live her own life and be free instead of being trapped and lonely with nothing to do.
All of these quotes reflect on how young women are trapped in their own home and the only choice to do is just sit there and dwell on your situation and wait for someone to save them in the trapped house.

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