Analysis of the Chapter 1 of The House on Mango Street - Essay Example

 “The House on Mango Street: Chapter 1 Critical Essay” The first chapter of Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street, there are several themes and messages that arise, one central theme being the idea of “home” versus “house.” The setting definitely affects how the tone of the story comes across. Finally, one sees reflections from the life of author Sandra Cisneros in her literature. In some ways, for Esperanza, the house that she sees is not representative of an actual home. She knows this is where she lives, but the house itself is not appealing. Its shutters are dingy, the steps are cracked, and in general the house is in disrepair. Not being exactly what she expected, the house on Mango Street is, still, in some ways better than what she has been accustomed to in the past. The Cordero family had to deal with landlords in their previous several apartments that they had rented. The main difference here is that the house on Mango Street is a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment. The family can actually call this house its own because it owns the place. Esperanza explains, "I knew then I had to have a house. A real house. One I could point to. But this isn't it. The house on Mango Street isn't it. For the time being, Mama says. Temporary, says Papa. But I know how those things go."1 Of course, her life, like the house, is filled with broken promises. This home that Esperanza was envisioning, however, is a metaphor for a larger concept at work: the idea that she would be able to develop as an individual. “[Esperanza’s] visions of a home…can [be] interpret[ed by] the family's absence as a natural expression of Esperanza's normal, healthy, adolescent need to discover herself as an individual. As opposed to a mere "house," a "real home" functions as symbolic shorthand for a fully developed identity.”2 Coming to the second point, Esperanza’s real life is filled with despair as is understood by the tone of the story. She is frustrated with her ethnic hair that is not straight like that which society approves of, thus compounding her impoverished state: “… [Her] hair is lazy. It never obeys barrettes or bands.”3 In the beginning of the book, it is obvious that Esperanza does not have friends. What friends she does have, either move away or are not very close to her. She does have dreams of one day cultivating friendships that are long-lasting and personal, when she says, “Someday, I will have a best friend all my own. One I can tell my secrets to. One who will understand my jokes without me having to explain them.”4 Of course, this story comes from facts garnered from the author’s own life memories. These small vignettes are based on several true stories, stories from author Sandra Cisneros’s life living in the Latin ghetto in Chicago. Sandra lived “…in a family that…visit[ed] her father's family [often]. 
 Since new living quarters had to be found after each trip to Mexico, 
Cisneros' childhood was spent in a variety of run-down Hispanic 
neighborhoods until 1966 when her parents purchased a small, two- 
story bungalow in a Puerto Rican neighborhood on Chicago's north side.”5 This is the story of Sandra Cisneros’s life growing up. It is a testament to who she is as a person having grown up in such dire circumstances. Many times, books like The House on Mango Street are editorial in nature, the entire book being an opinion piece on growing up a poor Chicana in Chicago. “The House on Mango Street is a book about growing up, what critics call a bildungsroman. This genre is cultivated commonly in the United States 
by emerging writers…especially within literatures emerging around the periphery of a dominant 
society. It [has] a first-person narration that becomes the 
basis for the expression of subjectivity...”6 Sandra encourages other women writers, through her writing, that they should not give up. “Each [woman author like Sandra] encourages us, in spite of the 
mixture of despair and triumph that we are likely to experience as we face the 
deep-rooted sources of our own oppression. Reading their works, we feel that 
although reencountering our matrices may be bittersweet, the claiming of 
them is necessary and potentially empowering.”7 Through the character of Esperanza, it is obvious that Sandra Cisneros had people encourage her to continue writing. Esperanza herself is encouraged to write by her Autn Guadalupe who has a serious illness, for whom Esperanza reads her poetry and other stories. “For the first time Esperanza shares her dream with another person. Guadalupe responds, ‘You just remember to keep writing, Esperanza. You must keep writing. It will keep you free, and I said, yes, but at that time I didn't know what she meant.’ Esperanza and Minerva, whose husband beats her, also share their writing.”8 Ultimately, Sandra Cisneros—and Esperanza, hopefully—do keep writing. One sees Esperanza self-actualized in the success of The House on Mango Street’s author, Sandra Cisneros. Finally, one realizes that the values of home, the tone of the book, and the fiction story that came true in real life is a powerful testament to the triumph of the human spirit in the face of adversity. Living in the Latin ghetto was obviously a harrowing experience. It is through the pages of Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street that one realizes the horribleness of having to survive poverty and what it is like to be in a family that is barely making it and struggling to keep its head above water. Sandra Cisneros, through her lively and interesting accounts of Esperanza’s life, is at the same time recounting her own life history and, in the process, is making memory. Not only does Sandra Cisneros parse the meaning of the word “home,” but she is able to convey that a house can be a home if there is love there, and that a home is more than just a building or a house. Secondly, Cisneros conveys the tone of poverty that runs throughout the book. Third and finally, the author shares vignettes in Esperanza’s life that are based on the true stories from her own life growing up poor and Chicana. WORKS CITED Carter, Nancy Corson. “Claiming the Bittersweet Matrix: Alice Walker, Sandra Cisneros, and Adrienne Rich.” Critique 35.4 (1994): 195. Print. Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. USA: Vintage, 1991. Maitino, John R., et. al. Teaching American Ethnic Literatures: Nineteen Essays. Albuquerque, N.M.: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. Novel Guide Site. “Metaphor Analysis.” Retrieved 13 Feb 2011. Online. Available: . Olmos, Margarite Fernández, et. al. U.S. Latino Literature: A Critical Guide for Students and Teachers. “Female Voices in Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street.” Connecticut, London: Greenwood Press, 2000. Zuercher, Nancy. "Reading the Neighborhood: Community as Text in The House on Mango Street." WILLA 6 (1997): 29-32. Read More