What does Esperanza's future hold? Will she come back?

I think that Esparanza is going to move out of Mango Street and finally live in the house she always dreamed of. In a vignette called A House of My Own, she talks about what she wants to experience in a house. She says,

“Not a flat. Not an apartment in back. Not a man’s house. Not a daddy’s. A house all my own. With my porch and my pillow, my pretty purple petunias. My books and my stories. My two shoes waiting beside my bed. Nobody to shake a stick at. Nobody’s garbage to pick up after.”

Well Esperanza is pretty much stating the different aspects she does not want in her house. She will at last obtain the peace in her life she always wanted. She will not have to worry about these issues she states in the quote. Her future looks brighter now that her “shooting star” took her away, and I do not think that she will ever go back to the house on Mango Street. I think Esperanza will come back for the ones she left behind, but not literally. I think that the way she influenced them was by writing the book. It makes so much sense now after reading it. The whole book is about issues women have to face in the harsh reality of that neighborhood. And all the ones she left behind are women, so I think the book is a way to transmit this optimistic attitude to them that will encourage them to turn their lives around the way Esperanza did.

There was this vignette called Alicia and I Talking on Edna’s Steps which is basically Esperanza and Alicia talking about her house she is ashamed of. Alicia is telling her how Mango Street is her home no matter what, and that someday she will come back. Alicia says,

“’Like it or not you are Mango Street, and one day you’ll come back too.’

Then Esperanza says, ‘Not me. Not until somebody makes it better.’

‘Who’s going to do it? The Mayor?’ And the thought of the mayor coming to Mango Street makes me laugh out loud. Who’s going to do it? Not the mayor.”

For Esperanza, there was no one to make it better, she overcame Mango Street all on her own. And now that she is out, there is probably another girl in Mango Street just like Esperanza who is just waiting for someone to make it better for her. And that person to make it better is now Esperanza, she has to come back for the ones she left behind. She helped them by writing this book.

What would Sandra Cisneros say?

After reading the book The House on Mango Street, I think that Sandra Cisneros believes that boys and girls should not be raised differently.  There are examples throughout the book that prove this so. First of all, there are many struggles and challenges people have to overcome. The thing I noticed was that pretty much every person who has to face these challenges are young women. I could not find any vignettes where a guy was in a dark time in his life. This just shows that because girls and boys are raised differently, women end up having more problems in their life than men. This is one way of saying that they should be raised the same.
There is this vignette on page 31 called Alicia Who Sees Mice. It is about this girl who’s mom died. It talks about how she goes has to do a lot of work around the house now that her mom is not there. She also has to worry about her education. Even though she goes to a university and has to take two trains and a bus to get there, she is still very willing to do it because she does not want to live her life working in a factory or “behind the rolling pin” like most women are. Here is a quote from that vignette:  

“Is a good girl, my friend, studies all night and sees the mice, the ones her father says do not exist. Is afraid of nothing except four-legged fur. And fathers.”

I think she is trying to say that mothers understand teenage girls the most. They can see through their perspective. The mice can symbolize the dilemmas she has in her life. So whenever she tries to talk to her dad about these “mice” she encounters, it is almost as if he denies there to be any because he just does not understand.
There is another vignette on page 92 called What Sally Said which is about a depressing girl with a complicated life. Here is a very meaningful quote from this vignette:  

“One day Sally's father catches her talking to a boy and the next day she doesn't come to school. And the next. Until the way Sally tells it, he just went crazy, he just forgot he was her father between the buckle and the belt.”

This quote says a lot about what the fathers expect their daughters to do. In this setting, boys had more freedom than girls. Sally’s father beating her just for talking to a guy shows how strictly girls are raised. This is the reason Sally is always feeling down. And this is how I know Sandra Cisneros believes boys and girls should be raised the same.

A Unique Group of Letters

Wheels:
Skateboarding is probably one of my favorite things to do. It works as a stress reliever from all the crap in my mind. Whenever I need a break from doing homework, I skate. That crispy feeling when I pop an ollie is so refreshing! It’s one of those feelings you have to experience to understand. No words in the English language can be arranged in any structured sentence to describe the amount of joy landing a trick on a smooth concrete platform one feels. If there was a song that was basically just the sound of someone’s board rolling on the mind-easing ground of tranquility, I would have to lock myself in my room forever, so i can experience a limited amount of happiness. Some people smoke to relieve stress, but all I need is two pairs of wheels attached to piece of wood. The wheels are the engine and the deck is my world, and I can take it wherever I want. Sometimes I ride with my earphones plugged in to a little device which produces a strange phenomenon known as music. It gets me in the mood, and it tells everyone around me to just leave me alone. I used to do it all the time. I used to be really good at it. But now it seems as if I’m drifting apart from it. It’s like everything I do slowly detaches me from that source of happiness I used to know. Now every time I try to get back on my board, I find it hard to keep balance. I can’t land the same tricks I used to land. My wheels won’t spin as fast as they used to and it’s frustrating. The friend I once loved is now my enemy. It's good to know your enemy. Know Your Enemy.

The Value of Life:
I remember I went to Disneyland last summer with my family. I went there when I was in first grade, and now it was time for my six year old brother to experience the fun. It was so boring over there. There was nothing but rides for little kids. Everywhere I looked there were guys in the costumes of Disney characters, I bet they liked hugging the children. Every day was as boring as f**k, same annoying kids and stupid rides. The food there was terrible and so freaking expensive. Junk food every day. I think I gained five pounds that week, I felt so unhealthy. The worst thing I ate was this burger. It just looked gross and it tasted weird. I can’t really describe the taste, all I remember is it tasting gross. I still ate it though. Eating that burger made me think about how they made the patty. Then that made me think about how humans attain the patty in the first place. I thought about it for a while, visualizing men slaughtering cows. There was blood EVERYWHERE. The next day we had to go back home. Two days later I went on Facebook. I was scrolling down the statuses and I found one that caught my attention. “Just had the nastiest burger…it’s not even worth killing cows if they’re going to taste this bad!” It reminded me of that nasty burger I had in Disneyland. Then I thought about cow slaughtering again, but this time I Google searched it. After three hours of watching videos and reading articles, I finally stepped out of my room. I was so astonished, the way cows are massacred is so inhumane. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Visions of animals suffering in agony were locked inside my mind and I couldn’t find the key to get them out. I ate cows that day, but I couldn’t finish it. A couple days later I finally found the key I was looking for, I stopped eating meat.
             


Earphones Predict Your Thoughts:
Everyone I know listens to something. My parents, uncles, and aunts listen to Spanish music. I personally don’t like that stuff. I can tolerate it up to the point where it’s overplayed, then it gets really annoying. Sometimes when I go to parties they have their music turned up so loud. Then at night (when the men are drunk) they sing along with the songs. Sometimes I see them with an acoustic guitar, playing and singing…embarrassing themselves. My sister used to listen to R&B only, but something inside her changed because now she listens to rock. She listens to punk and emo bands. It probably has something to do with the way she dresses. She wears skinny jeans, black shirts, bracelets, and has one eye covered with her hair. She listens to music all the time. I always see her with her earphones plugged in. Music so loud I can barely hear myself think, when I have something to think about. She does it because she doesn’t want to hear it. She’s tired of people telling her what’s good for her, reminding her of her expectations, her parents asking her about her personal life, and people telling her what to do. Punk rock is freedom. She doesn’t care if too much sound will make her develop a hearing problem or something because according to peers, she already does. She locks herself in her room and doesn’t come out unless she’s hungry. Her parents worry about her and ask what’s wrong, they say they want to be aware of her problems and how she’s feeling. But she doesn’t care if they think she’s crazy, she doesn’t want them to understand. It’s not worth talking if you know nobody can help you. That’s why she writes her own lyrics. That’s why no one ever sees her without her I-Pod. As for me, I don’t listen to music. I don’t have to.

Six-String Darkness:

We have to go to this barbecue at my cousins’ house. I’m not too excited; it usually isn’t very interesting when I go there. But this time it was different. I saw this kid. He was about my age, my height, and looked bored. He has a blue electric guitar strapped to his shoulder, with a pretty big amp plugged into the outlet on the wall. His guitar was covered in stickers. They all meant something to him, and sent a confusing yet important message to anyone who looked at them. One of them said “In Rainbows”. That painted a bright visual of a group of a perfect group of people living in a perfect, colorful world. By colorful I mean healthy, full of ideas, and no depression. I can imagine a variety of species arranged in a line, creating poetic symbol of life in a way not many people notice…kind of like a rainbow. I see another phrase, it says “Shut up! Don’t Wanna Hear It!!!” That reminds me of my parents. Recordings of their demanding voices playback in my head. It annoys the hell out of me, and I hate how it does. The guy doesn’t talk much, but he’s not shy. He demonstrates that in the way he plays. He strums the living hell out of his guitar. So aggressive, but it’s addicting to watch. I wonder what’s on his mind as he’s playing. Is he thinking about his problems? Or is he thinking about how cool he looks when he plunks the power chords and throws them at my face? Or maybe both. Those power chords he’s playing are pretty solid. I feel that sense of rebellion he feels. He probably doesn’t care about school. I’m sure he’s desperate to be in a band. He locks himself in his room for several hours writing music and lyrics. I’m impressed. And he’s depressed.

Motivation is Such an Aggravation:

So I was talking to this friend of mine about school. He is doing really poorly in school.

“Dude, you have to work harder in school.”

“I know, I know.”

“Are you planning to going to college?”

“Maybe, I don’t think I can though.”

“You can, just do your freaking homework!”

“I’m just lazy, you know.”

“At least give it some effort, you’ll ruin your life if you don’t.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Doubt it.”

House on Mango St.: falling stars

                 In the book The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros I noticed a pattern that had to do with stars. I found three parts of the book (could be more) that talked about stars. At first I was trying to write about how “falling” was a symbol, but then I read some more and the whole thing about stars caught my attention. Okay so I think stars symbolize tranquility in a person’s life. It can be a symbol of peace. In one vignette, it meant change.

               The first vignette I found about stars is called Marin. It is basically about this girl named Martin who pretty much lives on her own. It is like she is emotionally isolated from the people she once cared about. She was living with Louie’s parents, but now they are sending her back to her single mother because she is “too much trouble”. Here is a quote from this chapter, “Marin, under the streetlight, dancing by herself, is singing the same song somewhere. I know. Is waiting for a car to stop, a star to fall, someone to change her life.” In this quote, stars symbolize the change that will make Marin’s life happier. Marin is just waiting for her problems to resolve themselves…..wait no. She is hoping for someone or something that can give her an extra “push” to make the changes she wants in her life that will finally give her serenity she has been looking for. Yeah that sounds about right.

               There’s another vignette called There Was an Old Woman She Had So Many Children She Didn’t Know What to Do that also mentioned falling stars but I’m not going to talk about that one because I have no idea what it means. Sooo instead I’ll talk about this other one called Bums in the Attic. This one is basically Esperanza talking about how she wants to live in a house on the hills. Here is a quote, “People who live on hills sleep so close to the stars they forget those of us who live too much on earth. They don’t look down at all except to be content to live on hills. They have nothing to do with last week’s garbage or fear of rats. Night comes. Nothing wakes them up but the wind.” I think what she is trying to say here is that she wants to live in the hills because the people who live in the hills never have to worry about anything. They’re so high off of tranquility and peace that nothing really bothers them. They don’t have to worry about “last week’s garbage” or their “fear of rats” because all they’re really in to is their peaceful lives on the hills, which is what Esperanza wants.

Vignettes in The House on Mango Street

 There are four vignettes I read in the book called The House on Mango Street. They are called My Name, No Speak English, Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut & Papaya Juice on Tuesdays, and Sally. All of these vignettes talk about specific people with lives they are not proud of. They talk about how windows are a place for each individual to sit by and look out of. It is a place for troubled people to watch the world go by and think about where they are in their life. For example, in My Name, Esperanza talks about her grandmother’ sorrow when she sees her sitting by the window. She says, “She [her grandmother] looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow.” This quote explains what her grandmother did with her life (I think she was sad because her husband left her or something, it wasn’t so clear to me).

                No Speak English is about a depressed woman who misses her home in a different country. She barely speaks any English, and sits by the window just like Esperanza’s grandmother. “She sits all day by the window and plays the Spanish radio show and sings all the homesick songs about her country in a voice that sounds like a seagull.” This quote elucidates the lady’s feelings about the situation she is in. What she does during the day makes it obvious that she misses her home in whichever country she’s from. This lady, like Esperanza’s grandmother, is truly not satisfied with her life. As a result, “she sits all day by the window…” with nothing on her mind but the sweet unforgettable memories she shared in her real home.

                Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut & Papaya Juice on Tuesdays is about a wife who stays indoors all day because her husband doesn’t trust. Rafaela has no life because of her husband and sits by the window throughout her day. It says, “Rafaela leans out the window and leans on her elbow and dreams her hair is like Rapunzel’s. On the corner there is music from the bar, and Rafaela wishes she could go there and dance before she gets old.” This quote is very significant because it lets us understand what Rafaela really wants. She doesn’t want to wish for something she deserves, she just wants to get out there and take it. She has the option to overcome her situation, but she doesn’t believe she has the energy. She can either take it or leave it, leaving it just takes less effort.

                Sally is about a demoralized girl who feels lonely all the time. “And if you opened the little window latch and gave it a shove, the windows would swing open, all the sky would come in.” This is a little different than the other vignettes. It doesn’t mention anything about Sally ever sitting by the window. I think the quote is telling her to just put herself put out there. It sounds like the quote is trying to convince her that there is a beautiful world out there just for her, she just has to “open the windows” to experience the love reserved just for her.

the color purple essay

The epistolary novel, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, is mainly about the life of a brave woman named Celie. Since her childhood, Celie had had to put up with abusive men. First her father, then her “husband” who she was forced to marry. Celie was separated from her sister Nettie, who she thought was the only person that loved her. Celie and Nettie were very close sisters who grew up together. They were very similar, but at the same time, they still had their differences. For example, Celie was way more religious than Nettie. Also, Celie suffered abuse and ignorance throughout most of her life. These differences are what separate Celie from Nettie. Celie and Nettie are similar in some ways, but their major differences in religion and the abuse they have experienced affects their education, their life, and their relationship.

Celie is a strong believer in god. She writes letters to him hoping that one day her life will turn out the way she wants. In her letters, she writes about major events in her life and the optimistic future she hopes one day will come. Even though writing to god does not solve her problems, she still does it because it gives her a sense of power that makes her feel loved, understood, and protected. In the beginning of the book, Celie writes something very interesting in the beginning of her letter, “You better not never tell nobody but God. It’d kill your mammy” (Pg.1). This quote shows just how much trust she puts into god. She probably wrote this because since her mom was dying at the moment, she thought it was best to keep all her thoughts to herself and god. Because everything in her life has been calamity, she believes that the only one to turn to now is god. This is the reason she is so religious, to feel like there is a being somewhere out there that cares about her. Along with writing to god, Celie goes to church and prays to obtain the same hope in her life. Nettie, on the other hand, is not as religious as Celie is. She’s just an average believer who just prays and goes to church. Later in her life, she became a missionary in Africa and educated children.

Compared to Nettie, Celie’s life was a complete disaster. Celie was unhappy from the beginning of the book. When she was fourteen, her father used to rape her. Not much later she was forced to marry a man known as Mr.______. Mr.______ was abusive in every way. He used to beat her, rape her, and manipulate her for his own benefit. In their society, a woman was destined to raise children, cook, clean the house, and be a wife while the husband spent all day doing whatever he wanted. That was the type of relationship Celie had with Mr.______. Celie wrote in a letter to god about how Mr.______ beat her as well as his children. “He beat me like he beat the children. Cept he don’t never hardy beat them. He say, Celie, git the belt. The children be outside the room peeking through the cracks. It all I can do to not cry. I make myself wood. I say to myself, Celie, you a tree. That’s how I know trees fear man,” (Pg.23). This demonstrates Celie’s life with her “husband”. He beats her in front of his children and thinks it is okay because she’s his wife. The problem is that Celie does not stand up for herself. She is just way too afraid of Mr.______. Fortunately, Nettie never experienced this kind of abuse. Unlike Celie, Nettie had a choice to either get married or not, and she chose not to. However, she was really close the being raped by Mr.______ as she was walking through the woods somewhere. She was being followed by Mr.______, and right when he was about to do it, she kicked him in the balls and ran away. This literally saved her life! If Nettie would not have done what she did, who knows what other path her life would have taken, and how would it affect Celie’s? Nettie took a huge step in standing up to that guy, and only in a matter of minutes. It took Celie almost a lifetime to do the same.

                Both Celie and Nettie have different levels of education, but that is not their fault. It’s not that one of them is dumber than the other one; it’s just that one of them had more chaos in their life. Because of the struggles Celie had to experience, she was not able to go to school and make something out of her life. To add on, she wasn’t even allowed to go to school. Again, she had to be a “wife”; it’s what their society expected of women. Another thing was that her father never believed in her. “The first time I got big Pa took me out of school. He never care that I love it. Nettie stood there at the gate holding tight to my hand. I was all dress for first day. You too dumb to keep going to school, Pa say. Nettie the clever one is in this bunch.” (Pg.9) Celie wrote this in one of her letters, and it shows how her father supports Nettie more than her. Because of this, Nettie had a chance to try her best in her life and Celie was to do whatever she was told. Luckily, Nettie taught Celie everything she learned in school. Celie was a fast learner, but everything was destroyed when Nettie was forced to leave by Mr.______.

                As you can see, Celie and Nettie are very different. Their main differences were in religion and abuse, which affected almost their entire lives. The way Celie’s life rolled out could have been avoided though, if only she would have stood up for herself. I noticed how she began to draw away from god when Shug Avery came in. Shug taught Celie a whole lot about herself. She made her smile and feel alive for once in her life. When Celie realized how happy she was with Shug, she earned enough dignity to walk away from Mr.______. Maybe all those letters to god was just a waste of time. Maybe it was just a distraction keeping her from actually doing something with her life. No matter how safe Celie felt when she was writing those letters, she was still going to be abused by her husband, and she probably already knew that. At the end of the day, it was love and companion that turned her life around. Not god. Maybe that’s the message Alice Walker was trying to introduce to the reader.