Summary Of The House On Mango Street
Lexi Jencopale
ENGL 1302- Janders
June 20th, 2015
Paper 4 The short story “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros is about a younger child whose family moves frequently. The child recollects the promises that one day the parents provide a home outside of poverty that isn’t dilapidated. Although the family owns the house they currently exist in, it is not the dream home that his parents envisioned and painted a picture of living in. When the child is playing outside a Nun on the street asks where the child lives, it points to the third floor of the home, the Nun is taken aback, obviously shocked at the condition and indirectly belittles the value of the child because of the condition of the home. The central idea of the story reveals
that the course of a life is ever changing and unguaranteed, and the importance of a home isn’t the physical place, but a feeling of belonging. The main character in the story is young but is aware of the situations the family faces. The character has a truthful sense of the life the parents would like to give and what they are able to give. After explaining the home only told in stories, to have the luxuries of real stairs, a basement, and a front and backyard with a fence, he is built up for disappointment and resentment. The character shows disappointment when he transitions to describing the house on mango street being, “…not the way they told it at all.” (Cisneros 247) The supporting character, a nun, is a contradiction to her vocation. Nuns vow to live a life of poverty and her reaction to the child’s house, continuing to ask him bewildered if he’s sure that is the correct one, (Cisneros 246) shows that even though you can promise a life of humility, human nature, judgment and disgust, are traits that cannot be suppressed. The conflict of the story is that Esperanza feels the house on Mango Street, old, filthy, and decrepit represents who she is as a person. The resolution of the conflict is that she realizes that it doesn’t have to be that way, that the house she lives in be what it may, does not define the person she is, nor does it halt her dreams or aspirations. The point of view in this story is first person. The narrator is the child in the story giving their account of what the parents stand hopeful in achieving. The narrator reveals the situation, and the coming to terms by its conscious. The first person point of view in the story is evident when the child quotes its feelings towards the comments of the Nun saying, “The way she said it made me feel like nothing.” (Cisneros 247) The child’s point of view in this story is key because adults believe that children are naïve and inattentive to surroundings. But this first person point of view tells the reader that it is in fact a farce. That this child is receptive to words, tone of voice, language, and surroundings.
Works Cited
Cisneros, Sandra."The House on Mango Street." Fiction 100. Ed. James Pickering. Boston:Pearson.2012.pg.246-247.13th Ed.
ENGL 1302- Janders
June 20th, 2015
Paper 4 The short story “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros is about a younger child whose family moves frequently. The child recollects the promises that one day the parents provide a home outside of poverty that isn’t dilapidated. Although the family owns the house they currently exist in, it is not the dream home that his parents envisioned and painted a picture of living in. When the child is playing outside a Nun on the street asks where the child lives, it points to the third floor of the home, the Nun is taken aback, obviously shocked at the condition and indirectly belittles the value of the child because of the condition of the home. The central idea of the story reveals
that the course of a life is ever changing and unguaranteed, and the importance of a home isn’t the physical place, but a feeling of belonging. The main character in the story is young but is aware of the situations the family faces. The character has a truthful sense of the life the parents would like to give and what they are able to give. After explaining the home only told in stories, to have the luxuries of real stairs, a basement, and a front and backyard with a fence, he is built up for disappointment and resentment. The character shows disappointment when he transitions to describing the house on mango street being, “…not the way they told it at all.” (Cisneros 247) The supporting character, a nun, is a contradiction to her vocation. Nuns vow to live a life of poverty and her reaction to the child’s house, continuing to ask him bewildered if he’s sure that is the correct one, (Cisneros 246) shows that even though you can promise a life of humility, human nature, judgment and disgust, are traits that cannot be suppressed. The conflict of the story is that Esperanza feels the house on Mango Street, old, filthy, and decrepit represents who she is as a person. The resolution of the conflict is that she realizes that it doesn’t have to be that way, that the house she lives in be what it may, does not define the person she is, nor does it halt her dreams or aspirations. The point of view in this story is first person. The narrator is the child in the story giving their account of what the parents stand hopeful in achieving. The narrator reveals the situation, and the coming to terms by its conscious. The first person point of view in the story is evident when the child quotes its feelings towards the comments of the Nun saying, “The way she said it made me feel like nothing.” (Cisneros 247) The child’s point of view in this story is key because adults believe that children are naïve and inattentive to surroundings. But this first person point of view tells the reader that it is in fact a farce. That this child is receptive to words, tone of voice, language, and surroundings.
Works Cited
Cisneros, Sandra."The House on Mango Street." Fiction 100. Ed. James Pickering. Boston:Pearson.2012.pg.246-247.13th Ed.