House On Mango Street Reflection

1. Dear Esperanza, Healing is a process that not one can undergo overnight and it is a long arduous process which requires a continued effort and often taking ones' will to live but to endure this dire period of life and to come to peace with yourself is an achievement that will help you succeed and focus on larger tasks at hand. I can relate to your emotions seeing the scars it leaves on you. I find it an "obligation to take care of the people whose lives are in danger" (page139) and you placing all of the blame on yourself for Ismene is one that will make you question your right to live. Our life is like the "flower trees turning into bean trees"(page ),our physical beauty is not one that will last forever but the beauty inside our hearts
It was first caused by the fact that they left Turtle with Edna Poppy a blind neighbour who offered to look after Turtle as they go for an impromptu trip to smell the first summer rains. Edna "thought they'd enjoy the air for a little bit... and never realised it got dark"(page 223). Edna's disability to clearly see the brightness outside and her reduced ability to see colours in the dark made it impossible for her to tell if it was a good time to bring Turtle back to the safety of home. This made it easy for "a hypnotised person speaking out of trance to... hit Turtle... on the ground"(page 223). This shows us that because Edna wasn't able to see when it was time to go home she wasn't able to be sensitive enough to know that staying out that long can be of harm to Turtle. These lack of senses is what opened an opportunity of Turtle to be assaulted and to be sent into the limbo-like world where she could barely develop. Talyor was one to have a very unusual response and chose to help escort a stray bird that had gotten inside the house out. Suspicion about what happened to Turtle called for a medical examiner "saw no signs of molestation"(page 226). This came as a news of relief to most but was not well accepted by Taylor who blamed herself for not being able to take care of her child. Unexpectedly the best advice came from Lou
It also represents the time frame that Opportunities have and how we should take them when given the chance. For example, "if the night blooming cereus was an omen of anything it was of good weather for travelling"(page 251). This shows us that the cereus flower serves as a statement that their travels will be great and this element in the novel also provides relief that their travels will be smooth and they can at leats reach the destination they hope to reach. Surprisingly the flowers "fragrance ...goes right away...after you pluck them"(page 250-1). This shows us that something are better admired as they are and tampering and trying to find shortcuts in some tasks can cause us to lose one of our main aspects. This is also seen in the situation Taylor is trapped in as if she were to try and find ways around keeping Turtle she may lose her ability to be able to parent Turtle. This is also seen in the illegal transportation of Estevan and his wife in which taking them out of Tucson was the only way even if it meant that they would one of the main backbones supporting them, Mattie. We can see that these acts were also "wide and starry as the flower she stared into... and captivating"(page 250). The mesmerization of Taylor and Turtle at this blooming flower shows us that the opportunity at hand of moving Estevan and Esperanza is