She feels she doesn't really belong to that house because that is not the house of her dreams. That is what prompts her to start writing. Her creative pursuits help her stay sane so she doesn't feel so trapped by the "ghost" of the sad red house. "I put it down on paper and then the ghost does not ache so much. I write it down and Mango says goodbye sometimes. She does not hold me with both arms. She sets me free" (p. 101).
It is highly interesting that house in this novel doesn't only represent the physical house but also the imaginary dwelling in the mind that Esperanza escapes to in order to alleviate the anguish. The house is thus a place of escape for her. When the reality becomes too unbearable, Esperanza seeks another dwelling. This dwelling exists in her mind and produced by her creative skills.….

Esperanza transforms into a girl who wants nothing else but to leave the house on Mango Street and all the neighbors behind into a woman with a real sense of responsibility to the people in her neighborhood. She goes from thinking only of herself to really considering the lives of those in her community. This sense of responsibility and her set of values show that Esperanza has transcended even herself.

Esperanza's most important transformation is, arguably, her transformation into a real writer. In the beginning of the story, Esperanza can only imagine stories in which she is one of the characters; however, by the end of the story, Esperanza is able to imagine stories that don't involve her -- and this denotes that she is becoming a real writer and a true artist. It is ironic that through her writing she is able to detach herself from her neighborhood while, at….

"
Thus, although she is not aware as such of her position in society, she realizes however that the house they moved to does not correspond to what her family had been dreaming about. The small and crammed house offers almost as little space as the other places they lived in. When describing the small house, the author introduces the single metaphor in the speech of the child narrator, saying that the windows were so small that one would think "they're holding their breath":

But the house on Mango Street it's not the way they told it at all. it's small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you'd think they were holding their breath."

The metaphor is very significant as it highlights the main theme of the story: the interplay between the personal space and the space of the others, or the relation between the self and society.….

The frequency of window imagery in the novel highlights both the importance of expectancy ("Esperanza) and houses. Esperanza's namesake was said to always be looking out of a window, after she was 'carried off' by a man, symbolizing Esperanza's fears of maturity. Esperanza is ashamed when people point to her house through windows, like the nun at her school points at the house from a window to indicate why Esperanza cannot eat her rice sandwich with the 'special students' who do not live nearby. The first chapter of the novel chronicles all of the many problems with the house she lives in, from the crumbling steps to the leaky plumbing, and worst of all the fact that it, just like all of the houses Esperanza has lived in her life, is leased.
A window is something both 'of' a house, but also allows an individual to look away and beyond….

House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros [...] theme of search for self-definition. The protagonist of this novel, Esperanza, narrates a series of "chapters" concerning her life, her world, and the barrio as she sees it happening around her. Throughout the book, as Esperanza watches the world, she struggles to discover just who she is, and where she fits in the world around her. This self-definition is a compelling theme of the novel, but it also shows the difficulties many young Latinas face as they come of age in America.
Published in 1984, many critics believe "The House on Mango Street" is one of the best Chicana stories written. Author Sandra Cisneros writes with knowledge and pathos of growing up Latina in America because she herself experienced the difficulties of growing up in multi-cultural family. Her mother is Mexican-American and her father is Mexican, and she spent her childhood "commuting"….

House Mango Street Sandra Cisnero"(book) the question paper: Is book represe
It would be exceedingly difficult to represent all of Latino culture in any book, regardless of how talented the author is. Nonetheless, Sandra Cisneros is that rare breed of author for whom, particularly as it relates to her unique blend of poetry and prose, virtually nothing is impossible. She has been hailed as "a major literary talent" (Cruz, 2010, p. 56). One of her most revered works, The House on Mango Street, details her life and those around her who grew up in the continental United States. Virtually all of the characters (and the vast majority of people that the characters interact with, for that matter) are Latino. Still, the Latino culture is, if nothing else, extremely diverse and as variegated a group of people as one can find on the earth itself. This fact takes on a particular….

El Epilogo
Yo se siempre seria Esperanza y yo se siempre seria de Mango Street. Pero hay mas. Yo he aprendedo mucho en estos anos.

Yo he aprendedo de amor. Amor verdadero, y no el amor egoista.

Yo recuerdo todo. No quiero olvidar.

Yo quiero recorder los nombres, las caras, las amigas, mi gente.

Yo quiero recorder el dolor, si, tambien el dolor. Porque el dolor puede seria nuestro maestro.

Quiero dar a mis hijos la oportunidad aprender, conocer Mango Street.

Para estas razones, yo no quiero salir.

Si, todavia quiero una casa propia. En esta casa seria amor.

Adentro esta casa seria flores de todos tipos: en cada color, como un arco iris.

Seria una cocina magica, donde hacer las delicias de la vida.

Entonces, nosotros ser juntos. Comemos juntos y duermen juntos.

Todo lo que ha pasado en Mango Street, todo paso por un razon.

No mas. Ya no quiero salir. Mango Street es mi hogar, simple.

Los aviones lo que vuelen….

house is the symbol in the House of Mango Street.
The title of the novel A House on mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros, is both straightforward and deceptive. The name of the street suggests a quiet street in a nice neighborhood, a street lined with trees in a lazy afternoon. As soon as the first chapter begins, the reader will find out that the street and therefore the house in question are anything but. Houses do indeed symbolize in the novel stability, anchors in childhood memories, family life, and shelter.

The narrator introduces a grim series of houses she has spent her childhood in, culminating with the house that will give the title of the novel. Houses are for the adult remembering childhood memories a symbol of a life style, reminders of a harsh or sometimes, happy reality. A house stands there for the one remembering the days she spent in….

However, there is also danger to the sexuality that lies behind sweetness, as when a girl Sally, marries a marshmallow salesman to escape an abusive father, entering a union that seems as bad as the home she is leaving.
A final symbol of the novel is that of play -- few adult women, except for the insane Ruthie, are seen enjoying themselves over the course of the novel. Girls can play at jump rope and look at clouds, but they worry about how the burdens and cares of an adult life -- like abusive or absent husbands, children, and money worries -- will weigh them down, as their bodies mature. Men are shown playing and gambling, but women must put their own pleasures aside for fathers, husbands, and brothers. Early on in the novel, Esperanza comments how even in her family the boys and the girls tend to separate as….

Down These Mean Streets believe that every child is born a poet, and every poet is a child. Poetry to me was always a very sacred form of expression. (qtd. In Fisher 2003)
Introduction / Background History

Born Juan Pedro Tomas, of Puerto Rican and Cuban parents in New York City's Spanish Harlem in 1928, Piri Thomas began his struggle for survival, identity, and recognition at an early age. The vicious street environment of poverty, racism, and street crime took its toll and he served seven years of nightmarish incarceration at hard labor. But, with the knowledge that he had not been born a criminal, he rose above his violent background of drugs and gang warfare, and he vowed to use his street and prison know-how to reach hard-core youth and turn them away from a life of crime.

Thirty years ago Piri Thomas made literary history with this lacerating, lyrical memoir of….

Sandra Street by Michael Anthony
Michael Anthony was born in 1930 in Mayaro. His father was Nathaniel Anthony and his mother was Eva Jones Lazarus. The young Michael Anthony was brought up in San Fernando in the busy industrial developmental units of Trinidad of that time. He found himself working in the heat and dust of the foundry even as a young boy and this influenced him into thinking of an entirely different sort of occupation for himself. He started thinking of journalism as a viable option but lacked the necessary qualifications for such a job. Michael Anthony soon traveled to England to work towards a Diploma in journalism. In 1963, he managed to produce his first publication called 'The Games were coming' and thereafter there was no looking back for this talented 'giant' among writers of this generation. (Anthony, Michael. "A Giant among Us")

Michael Anthony's Sandra Street is a short….

Esperanza's community have on her identity?
Esperanza comes from a poor Latin family. She is Chicana and her friends Lucy and Rachel are both Chicana-American as well. Although she tries to socialize and connect with her community, that community creates the urge to leave for Esperanza. The house Esperanza moved to alongside her family is small. She has no privacy and she lives in a racially segregated neighborhood.

This may be helpful for someone moving into the country, but for someone like Esperanza, it creates further divide. On top of that, she feels shame for the condition in which she has to live in. She tries to cover up the fact that her family is working class. This is very typical for children living in recent immigrant families where the parents may have immigrated and the child was born in the country. Children like this experience a sense of disconnect from….

Gertrude Stein, The Gentle Lena
The most obvious thing about this story was that nothing really happened. At the start, continually reading about the "patient, gentle, sweet and german" Lena and her "peaceful life" I was expecting there to be some twist to the story, perhaps with Lena snapping and becoming something other than patient, gentle and sweet. However, this twist did not come, which is probably what makes the story work so well. It is a simple and sad story about a life lived without consequence. Having Lena resolve the situation in some way, would not be true to the story, since any action would mean Lena's life did have some meaning.

Overall, it is a story of a woman accepting her life without questioning it. Lena does not appear either content or happy, instead it is more like she is numb. This is emphasized by the fact that nobody seemed….

Ignorance Bliss? A Comparison and Contrast of the Characters and Themes of Sandra Cisneros' "The House on Mango Street" and "Araby" by James Joyce
Plot Summary

Character Summary

Ignorance, although comfortable is not bliss at all.

Character

Gender

Age Difference

Culture

Catholicism and sexuality in Joyce

Catholicism and family in Cisneros

Home

Significance of home in Cisneros

Significance of leaving home in Joyce

Both the protagonists of Sandra Cisneros and "Araby" by James Joyce are young adolescents, poised upon the brink of realizing that older people do not have all of the answer in life. The tales detail the coming of age of the young protagonists, as they realize that the adults in their respective worlds are not as good or wise as they seem to be. Cisneros's female heroine comes to her realization when she is contrasting the promises of her family about the house on Mango Street her mother and father purchase, and the white picket fences of the houses….

The novel opens seven years after Gabo's mother, Ximena, was murdered by coyotes -- or paid traffickers -- during an attempt to cross the border. Her mutilated body was found, her organs gone -- sold most likely. Because of the fear surrounding this border town and the lure of the other side, all of the characters become consumed with finding afa. These people are neglected and abused. Like other fiction works on this topic (such as Cisneros's The House on Mango Street), The Guardians (2008) is rich in symbolism and flavored with Mexican aphorisms. The novel also shows the reader how complex and perilous border life is when you're living in between the United States and Mexico.

The book is important when attempting to understand the challenge of the border town life and it is, at the same time, a testament to faith, family bonds, cultural pride, and the human experience….