The Experiences of Teenagers and Young Adolescents in The House on Mango Street - Essay Example

? The House on Mango Street of of school/college Month, year The House on Mango Street The House on Mango Street is a series of vignettes that talk of the experiences of Esperanza, a Mexican-American girl. During the course of the work, Written by Sandra Cisneros, her family moves into a house that is located in Mango Street. This is located in Chicago. While the family’s shift to a house which it owns signals an increase in the social status that it enjoyed in society, the same cannot be said about the protagonist. Estrangement from herself follows and the protagonist is unable to come to terms with her changing mental and physical self. The work talks about the changes that women have to undergo during the period when they enter puberty. Their change from children to sexual beings is accompanied by many social and somatic changes and the author provides the reader with a sensitive portrayal of these changes in the life of the protagonist, Esperanza. The problems that she faces as a result of her belonging to a race that was marginalized is also an important theme of the series of vignettes that analyze the position of immigrant families and their conditions of living in the United States of America. The House on Mango Street thus, also interrogates notions of the ‘Great American Dream’ which promises wealth to anybody who is willing to work hard in America. The form of The House on Mango Street is something which makes it unique and endears it to me. This is one of the main reasons as to why I like this book. A series of vignettes, it talks of the differences that occur in the life of Esperanza; however, the fact that the protagonist remains the same throughout the series makes it clear that the different vignettes are part of a single story that is linked together by the characters who are a part of the different vignettes and yet a part of the entire story of the work. The themes too help in connecting the different parts of the work. All of this serves to provide the work the feel of a novel that is divided into separate chapters. The kind of unity that is found in a novel is a feature of this work as well. The fact that the different vignettes join to form a single work that is able to articulate the experiences of people of a certain community and sexual belonging makes the work an important part of postcolonial fiction that talks of a world that is globalized (Cisneros). The significance of the work also lies in the depiction of racial marginalization as seen through the eyes of a girl child. The changes that appear in the body and mind of Esperanza are expressed sensitively by the author. The child protagonist goes through the pain of puberty and sexual assault during the course of the vignettes and the manner in which these problems are handled by the protagonist endears both the character and the novel that she is a part of, to the reader. The House on Mango Street talks of the experiences of teenagers and young adolescents. The experiences that people of these ages go through are similar, irrespective of the country that they are a part of. The specific political and cultural dynamics of that place obviously play a part in the exact situations of the youth of that place; however, the fact that they have to face similar somatic changes makes their experience similar. Teenage girls all over the world have to face troubles during the age when they hit puberty as a result of the cultural associations that it carries. In many parts of the world, t is an affair that is hardly talked about and thus, it does not receive the attention that it deserves, a situation which books like The House on Mango Street would serve to, at least partially, redress. In communities that have migrated from their homelands to another country, this conservatism would be greater as the cultural threat that they would feel would be greater as well. This is true of the community that is spoken of in The House on Mango Street as well and this makes the book a very interesting object of sociological study as well as it provides people with material with which they can analyze the links that exist in society between race relations and the politics of it and the politics of gender. This can also be studied in conjunction with how patriarchy affects such notions in people. What can be discussed in public and what cannot greatly depend upon such conventions of the society. The House on Mango Street thus is a work of fiction that appeals to me. The mix of universality and particularity that it is able to bring into itself along with a sensitive exposition of the politics of gender is something that makes the book stand out among the ones that I have read. The characteristics of this book, which have been mentioned in this paper make it one of my favorites. Another reason as to why it is my favorite is because it corresponds to life as I have lived it. The book reveals race tensions and the complexities of living in a multicultural environment. These are problems that have vexed me during my life. My experiences have taught me to adopt a tolerant approach to other communities and their culture and this makes The House on Mango Street a book that is able to appeal to me at a personal level. The book also talks of the angst that teenagers face and this is something that I have faced and experienced at a personal level. The importance of these issues are hardly ever addressed in the way that Cisneros does and this makes the book one that is able to relate to the personal experiences that I have had in my life. The book talks about the different mental changes that happen during a person’s adolescence, something that I was able to identify with as a result of the sensitive portrayal of these issues. The ability of the book to connect with me made me realize that the book had the power to deal with people of various kinds and is not just an individual account but one that can touch the lives of many. The House on Mango Street is different from Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss in many ways. One of the primary points of difference would be the fact that The Inheritance of Loss, unlike The House on Mango Street, is a novel that is not divided into vignettes. At a formal level, thus, the novel is greatly different from The House on Mango Street. Apart from this, the novel written by Desai delves into postcolonial ideas of race and shows how these are different in different places. The novel focuses on the ideas that prevail in the United States of America and Darjeeling. The different characters in this novel talk of the differences in lifestyles that they have to encounter in other cultures. This is however, done from a point of view that is not very feminist. In fact the representations that one finds in this novel are quite male chauvinist and do not manage to capture the lives of too many women. Unlike the sensitive portrayal of what women have to face as is seen in The House on Mango Street, The Inheritance of Loss is unable to reveal the experiences of women as one finds them in the society (Desai). Poets like Adrienne Rich, however, provide a complete alternative to hegemonic structures that are prevalent in society and thus enable a questioning of the system. The overturning of heterosexual structures of the society and an establishment of a homosexual order is something that poets like Rich have attempted to do. The poems thus, seek to address the issues of gender that works like The House on Mango Street attempt to explore. The poetry of Rich also serves to enhance the stature of women in the society and creates an atmosphere where people of marginalized sections of the society are allowed to come to its forefront. The distinctions between mainstream and marginalized stand exposed as they are seen to be hollow and unimportant. This is similar to the themes that are found in The House on Mango Street; however, a complete shift from a heterosexual atmosphere is something that differentiates Rich’s poetry from The House on Mango Street (Rothenberg and Joris). Homosexuality, in a manner that is not dissimilar to that of Rich, is present in the works of Caryl Churchill as well and this is something that differentiates it from The House on Mango Street. Since the issues that are discussed in Cloud Nine are in a great way to do with the homosexual orientations of many of the characters of the play, the story presents a thematic departure from the story that is related through vignettes in The House on Mango Street. Apart from this, the fact that Cloud Nine is a play and not a series of vignettes makes it different from The House on Mango Street. This however, should not make one lose track of the fact that the play too, looks at the issues of gender and sexuality that determine the dynamics between the different characters of the play. As in The House on Mango Street, a frank discussion of sexuality and the issues associated with it seem to be what the driving force behind the play is. An understanding of these issues is clear in the play in a manner that is similar to the awareness of sexuality that is displayed in The House on Mango Street (Churchill). The very employment of vignettes in creating a fragmented effect is one of the most important literary devices that are employed in The House on Mango Street. The work uses the protagonist as the narrator and this enables the reader to understand the problems that a teenage girl may have in a place where she is a part of a racial minority. The importance that is given to fragmentation needs to be understood in the light of these events. This fragmentation can be seen to be symbolic of the fragmentation of the postmodern mind which has to be divided in its loyalties and affections. The identity of such a person and such a work of art is also something that is created through the agency of multiple factors and this would result in a fragmented identity, one that would not be able to be a part of an organic community or an organic society. The breakdown of organicity in society is considered to be the reason behind the development of narrative such as the one that a reader encounters in The House on Mango Street. This narrative is fragmented and the protagonist is also someone whose loyalties are divided between American, Mexican and women’s sensibilities. Another literary device that is used in The House on Mango Street is that of internal rhyme. In some cases, this enables the reinforcement and reiteration of certain themes that the author had to talk about, apart from introducing a certain element of rhythm and music into the proceedings. The element of music is important as it recalls Native American and Mexican folk rituals where music played a great part. This phenomenon is similar to the use of jazz elements in the works of African American writers like Toni Morrison. The use of indigenous elements serves to infuse the work of art with a feel of multiculturalism and cosmopolitanism, thus enabling the crossing of boundaries for the work of art, the reader and the writer. The use of such elements in The House on Mango Street serves to place Esperanza squarely within the community of the Mexican-Americans who were not very well off, economically and politically. The House on Mango Street is a work of fiction that introduces thematic and structural innovations. Its significance lies in its convergence of racial and gender marginalization. The author is able to quite masterfully demonstrate how both these oppressions combine to form a heavy yoke for those who have to suffer under it. Cisneros’ portrait of the child, Esperanza, is a moving account of the manner in which a child grows up and comes of age. Works Cited Churchill, Cary. Cloud Nine. New York: Methuen, 1984. Print. Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. New York: Vintage, 1991. Print. Desai, Kiran. The Inheritance of Loss. New York: Penguin, 2010. Print. Poems for the Millennium: The University of California Book of Modern and Postmodern Poetry, Vol. 2: From Postwar to Millennium. Eds. Rothenberg, Jerome; Joris, Pierre. California: U of California P, 1998. Print. Read More