Three short answers about American Literature - Essay Example

She comes to accept her house and her past as part of who she is, and she matures enough to realize that although she can leave the house physically, it will always have an impact on her and her life. In the beginning of the novel, an immature Esperanza comes to see the house on Mango Street as limiting, and representing of a way of life she wants to leave behind. She does not see much happiness in this house, as her mother is single, with no father in the house, and she is left to her own devices to grow up in a poor and urban neighborhood, surrounded by people who do not share her sensibilities.

She desperately wants to define herself apart from this lifestyle, and she wants no part of this house and its environs. She even goes so far as to give herself a new name, Zeze the X. As Esperanza matures and sees herself more as a writer and artist, she comes to realize that writing may be the avenue available to her to escape from the constraints of the house and its lifestyle. This turns her again to searching for a definition of herself, and to her, this can only be accomplished by escaping the confines of this house on Mango Street and living in a house of her own-- a life of her own, surrounded by people with similar creative and expressive sensibilities.

By the end of the novel, as Esperanza matures, and she realizes that although she will one day leave this house, it has affected her life and has become part of who she is. She realizes that she cannot just throw this part of her life away, and she must take it with her and realize that her formative years were spent in this house, learning from the many women around her (her mother, Sally, her younger sister, Nenny, and Aunt Lupe, amongst others). She changes a lot in this year of her life, and realizes that her identity will be eternally tied to this house and the people in her life.

She cannot simply throw them away and move on, and must continue to confront this house again and again throughout her life. It is this spirit of self-examination and reflection that sets the Cisneros and the modern American writer apart. They are not afraid to tackle their past, and to claim it as part of them, rather that eschewing a part of their lives and "starting over." It is impossible to deny part of one's existence, and the modern American writer, like Cisneros, has excelled at embracing difficult periods in their lives and examining how they shaped them as people and as artists. 2. Each of the three short story selections functions as its own microcosm of perspective of its primary characters.

 How does *one* of the three stories develop the concept of perspective and what does it tell us about contemporary perspectives on knowledge? "Lullaby" is written from the perspective of Ayah, in the Native American storytelling tradition. As an old woman, Ayah reminisces about some of the more tragic events in her life, as she searches for her husband at the local bar. In each instance, there seems to be some intervening force of the white authority figure in these tragic events throughout her life, from the death of her son, to the exploitation of her husband, Chato, by white ranchers for whom he works.

It is this singular perspective of a Native American woman, who has