IntroductionSandra Cisneros's novel titled The House on Mango Street tells the story of Esperanza Cordero through a series of short chapters depicting various fictional thoughts, life experiences, and observations of people from the main characters point of view. Each account is written in a unique style; an informal matter, as if the author were telling a story to a group of people. As one reads her work, one gets the feeling almost as if they are being read a story aloud. I personally found some parts of the story to be comical, while others were moving and emotional.The setting of the story is a poor Hispanic neighborhood in Chicago. Judging from the cars people drive, it is probably the 1960's. The neighborhood is very close-knit, full of immigrants who don't speak English well and rarely leave the area.CharactersMain Character: EsperanzaEsperanza is proba ...view middle of the document...
Together, the girls have many adventures.Mrs. CorderoEsperanza's mother who feels disappointed in herself for not continuing with her education, because she feels she could have made more of her life. She doesn't want her children to make the same mistake.SallyEsperanza admires her. She is beautiful, flirty, and exotic.Style and TechniqueTo fully understand Cisneros's distinctive style of writing, one would have to sample a passage for them selves. This passage impeccably illustrates her technique of writing:In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting. It is like the number nine. A muddy color. It is the Mexican records my father plays on Sunday mornings when he is shaving, songs like sobbing.This excerpt shows many traits of Cisneros's work. She often uses similes and metaphors in order to describe something. Additionally, Cisneros frequently can go into much detail about one thing. She also predominantly writes about her own culture and heritage. Cisneros's father is Mexican and mother Mexican American. It is quite evident in her work, that her culture has a huge impact on her life and writing.Another trait that I noticed in reading her work, was that Cisneros writes rather informally, using author's creative license. For example, when writing a conversation, Cisneros will not use quotations in order to show dialogue. It is very unique and different from a lot of writing that I have seen.Main Ideas and ThemesI think that the most prominent theme through out the book is maturity. This is a coming of age book that focuses on Esperanza. She must define who she wants to be and pick who her role models are. Eventually she learns her strengths and weaknesses.Secondly, I feel that a theme is the attachment to home and identity. The house on Mango Street is clearly a major point in the book and a parallel between her dreams and who she wants to be. Tied in with that, there is an underlying theme of friendships, family and relationships in general.
