The House on Mango Street

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The House on Mango Street

• Cultural Context

I knew then that I had to have a house. A real
house. One I could point to (Cisneros 5).
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The House on Mango Street

• Told in a series of vignettes stunning for their
  eloquence, The House on Mango Street is Sandra
  Cisneros's greatly admired novel of a young girl
  growing up in the Latino section of
  ChicagoSometimes heartbreaking, sometimes deeply
  joyous, The House on Mango Street tells the story
  of Esperanza Cordero, whose neighborhood is one
  of harsh realities and harsh beauty. Esperanza
  doesn't want to belong -- not to her rundown
  neighborhood, and not to the low expectations the
  world has for her. Esperanza's story is that of a
  young girl coming into her power, and inventing
  for herself what she will become (Major
  Works).

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Real-life connection

• Much like her heroine in The House on Mango
  Street, Cisneros grew up in poverty dreaming of
  a day when she could have a home to truly call
  her own. But even after achieving artistic
  success and financial independence, Cisneros
  goals were still hampered by society.
• Cisneros now does have a house of her own--a
  bright purple house, no less, in San Antonio. In
  July of 1998, The New York Times featured an
  article describing the furor raised by her
  neighbors--belonging to the the King William
  neighborhood association--who declared that the
  color is historically incorrect. Arguing that
  purple is indeed historically correct--that it is
  a pre-Columbian color celebrating pride in
  Mexican heritage, Cisneros tried and failed to
  defend her color choice. She was allowed,
  instead, to paint her home a more traditional
  pink (Juffer).

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real-life connection

• Though stifled by societal norms, Cisneros has
  found a way to live in harmony within cultural
  confines, My house is no longer violet because
  the sun faded it from violet to blue after a few
  years. We painted it Mexican-pink so it can fade
  into pink, then built my office in the backyard
  and painted it Mexican-marigold. The colors make
  me happy (About Sandra Cisneros).
• Though she has reached her own personal goals,
  Cisneros still reaches out to those in need of
  assistance and inspiration, Much as the writer
  Esperanza promises to return to Mango Street at
  the end of that novel, Cisneros has continually
  returned to her community, showing the powerful
  connection between art, politics, and everyday
  life (Juffer). Through teaching and activism,
  Sandra Cisneros makes Esperanzas closing words
  ring true, I have gone away to come back. For
  the ones I left behind. For the ones who cannot
  out (Cisneros 110).

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Prosetry Blurring Genre LInes

• Neither prose or poetry, The House on Mango
  explores instead the linguistic borderlands in
  between, Cisneros' narrative style rejects
  traditional short story forms in favor of
  collage, often a mosaic of interrelated pieces,
  blending the sounds of poetry with oral story
  telling techniques. Her ingenious use of language
  includes the rhythm, sound, and syntax of
  Spanish, its sensibilities, emotional
  relationships to the natural world and inanimate
  objects, and its use of tender diminutives. She
  also uses the poetry of urban street slang,
  children's rhymes, and song creating her own
  innovative literary style at once musical,
  spontaneous, primal, and direct (Thomas).
• According to the author, The language of Mango
  Street is based on speech. It's very much an
  anti-academic voice--a child's voice, a girl's
  voice, a spoken voice, the voice of an
  American-Mexican. It's in this rebellious realm
  of antipoetics that I tried to create a poetic
  text with the most unofficial language I could
  find. I did it neither ingenuously nor naturally.
  It was as clear to me as if I were tossing a
  Molotov (Thomas).

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Major Resources

• About Sandra Cisneros." Sandra Cisneros. 08 Oct.
  2009. Web. 17 Nov 2009. http//www.sandracisneros
  .com.
• Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. New
  York Random House, 1984. Print.
• Juffer, Jane. "Sandra Cisneros Biographical
  Note. Modern American Poet. University of
  Illinois, Web. 17 Nov 2009. http//www.english.il
  linois.edu.
• "Major Works." Sandra Cisneros. 08 Oct. 2009.
  Web. 17 Nov 2009. http//www.sandracisneros.com.
• Thomas, Carol. "Cisneros, Sandra." Contemporary
  Women Poets. Ed. Pamela L. Shelton. St. James
  Press, 1998. 63-64. Rpt. in Poetry for Students.
  Ed. David A. Galens. Vol. 19. Detroit Gale,
  2004. Literature Resource Center. Web. 8 Nov.
  2010.