Esperanza's Future

           Esperanza's future sounds like it holds a good one for her. I think Esperanza will become a teacher or some kind of job around other kids so she can devote her life not only as a teacher but to also helping out people that want to escape their lives like she did.  Esperanza was told by the three ladies that her house on Mango Street would always be a part of her, and that she couldn't just forget about it. She would however be happy in life, but in return, she would have to help other kids like her that wanted to change their lives and have a home somewhere else or be happier with their lives in any other way. She was also told that when Esperanza felt happy about her life, that she had to help other people who wanted desperately for their lives to be better but wouldn't have such a lucky turn of events that Esperanza had at the end of the book. Esperanza, at the end, seems happy with her life and seems to like her house on Mango Street instead of hating it. This, therefore, is evidence that she will stay near her house and help others who were in the same situation as she was.
            Esperanza is obviously going to keep her promise to the three ladies and make sure that many others in need can find a way to make their lives better and help "those who can't escape" as the ladies put it. She'll be there for them and be kind of like a mixture of a mother and a counselor. She'll give those kids help and stuff and try to give them more confidence so they can have better futures. Then she'll tell those kids in need to come back for the others like the three ladies told Esperanza, so that a chain reaction can start and continue and everyone will help each other escape their terrible lives and make a better one.

What would Cisneros Think?

In the novel The House of Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, there are manty qoutes that contain contrasts between how girls and boys are treated by their parents. However, it is clear that Cisneros wants both girls and boys to be treated equally by their parents and have the rules appply to all of the siblings. This is a shown in the vignette Boys and Girls which talks about how they are treated differently.
            "The boys and the gitrls live in separate worlds. The boys in their universe and we in ours... Nenny is too young to be my friend. She's just my sister and that is not my fault...She can't play with them Vargas kids or she'll turn out just like them. And since she comes right after me, she is my responsibility." (p8)
             This qoute contains quite a bit of information on how boys and girls are treated. For one, it says that boys and girls live in separate worlds, which could be influenced by their parents. They  might tell the boys to go play soccer or something like that, and they'll tell the girls to read or something. So maybe they lived in separate worlds because their parents indirectly taught them to. This could be the first sign where parents influence their children to be different and to have different lives. The second sign ties in to the first. Where it says that Nenny can't play with the Vargas kids and is under the responsibility of her sister, Esperanza. Therefore Esperanza's only friend (so far) is her sister. So apparently the parents want their daughters to be polite and obedient, which is unlike the Vargas kids that are crazy and disobedient.
             The second qoute that exemplifies how differently boys and girls are treated is in the vignette Sally.
"Her father says to be be this beautiful is trouble. They are very strict in his religion. They are not supposed to dance. Then she can't go out. Sally I mean." (p81)
              This qoute shows that Sally is limited to certain things by her father. She can't dance, she can't go out, and she can't even talk to other boys without the permission of her father. She is so limited that she desperalty wishes that she could be in a place where she could have someone to love and not be told what do all the time by her father. Her father probably does all of this because she's a girl and he wants to keep her safe or all his so she can always be his daughter and not grow up too fast. If it were a boy though, then the father would probably just accept he was growing up and would let him do whatever he wanted.

Bonds over Blood

Note: This is a fictional story, not my real life.                                                                       


                                                                       Bonds Over Blood

                                                                       Wishing for Impossibilities

            I've heard home is a great place. It's supposed to be where you belong and where everyone is nice to you. Home is your mother and father and little brothers and sisters that look up to you that have your own blood. I wish for that, a home with a nice house and parents that love me and brothers and sisters that will play with me and we can be happy together. Whenever I tell Jeffrey this, he's always replies,

             This is your home. The other children and I are your family now. Think of us as family because the ropes are only as strong as the bonds, so make your bonds with us strong. Forget about everything. Forget your sadness, and replace it with the joy you will find here. Forget your anger and replace it with the comfort from this orphanage. It will be for the best, so you can move on with what happened.  And I did forget. I forgot what me and my family did together, what they looked like and everything else about them. Except their screams. That and the sound of a swerving car and the smell of a car fire. I'd much rather forget that than everything else about my parents. I used to wish it whenever I thought about it. But wishing is for the gullible and for those that think if they talk to themselves about how much they want something it will come true, but it's all just false hope. I don't wish anymore. It's a waste of time and only makes you reflect on what already happened, and I don't need to reflect anymore on my parents' deaths in the car crash, when I could have died with them. My car door opened somehow. My seat belt broke. I fell out of the car safely. My parents crashed into the opposite car, and they died. I'm alive, but left to die from my own depression. I used to wish. I don't anymore. Otherwise I have to look back at what happened. I should have died happy with my parents. I'll never be happy.

         

                                                                      Irreplaceable

You are in my orphanage now, under my watchful eye, but soon you will have a new home with your new parents. That's what Jeffrey says to me all the time. Who would take me? Parents that want to adopt ignore the older kids, they want the younger ones to raise them like their own. The little kids are all cute and are always adopted. The older ones are thought to be a damper around the house because they might never accept their foster parents as their own and would never show the same love. I came here at 10, and have been around for 3 years. I'll be hear until I'm 18, no one would choose me. My friends leave as quick as they come.

             Mike and I have been friends since I came here, and he's been here about the same time as me, and we're the same age. The friendship between us was like the knot on a rope, a strong one. I tell him I want a home, but he's a bit optimistic. He too says that I am home and the orphanage is friendly and stuff like that. He doesn't understand though. No one does. As much as I'm good friends with them, they are not my family.

                                                                    A Promise

             Steve knows how to make an insult, how to taunt people and how to win a fight. This is exactly what he does to people he makes enemies with. And Jeffrey (being his usual optimistic self) refuses to see the bad in anyone, so he always thinks of Steve as misunderstood and just has a problem controlling his actions and his anger. He's the big bully in this orphanage, and he's got it in for me. During lunch on my first day here, I had tripped and all my food spilled on him. He made sure that I regretted that, and whenever I tell Jeffrey this, he always talks about me apologizing and how Steve goes through a tough time and stuff like that. Two years ago last summer Steve pushed me into a fight, and I ran outside so we could take it there. I fought back a gave him a good bloody nose. He looked up and saw everyone in the orphanage looking out the window gaping at what I had just done: I stood up to the alpha and got away with it. He swore that he would get adopted before I did. I don't have any hope that I would anyway, so he doesn't worry.

                                                             An Event of Hope

               Jeffrey says I'm a pessimist. He says I always look at the negative side of things and I rain on everyone's parade, scoffing and making sarcastic comments at people who hope for good things. Usually he's wrong, but this time he's right. A couple came in looking for a kid to adopt. Apparently they wanted one that was well behaved and obedient, because the man told me that I was to address him as Sir and his wife as Ma'am. They chose me. Me out of all people. I was overjoyed and Mike was happy for me too, but I could see his sorrow. I was the only friend he had that wasn't adopted, so we were great friends. I gave him a quick look of sympathy, but he didn't really catch it. When I finished packing my stuff and left the orphanage, I saw two things that upset me: Mike fiddling with two pieces of rope that when tied together, they would make a knot that was one of the strongest and represented the joining of two ropes looking distraught, and the menacing look on Steve's face as I drove away with my new family.

                Something wrong son? Sir asked.

                When I heard him say son, I was immediately comforted and replied, No. He gave me a glance. No Sir. Then he nodded his head approval.

                                                                      Making Up For It

                My new family was great. New parents, a new house, and I felt happy. I no regret surviving the car crash. My new parents have given me love to erase those thoughts. They turned out to be a little more strict than I thought however. I heard a shatter of glass one time and saw a beautiful glass that was treasured by Ma'am. She came in seconds after me, and wailed over the broken glass, and Sir came in and yelled at me so loud, I thought I would go deaf. He told me the glass was an extremely important family heirloom and to never do anything like that again. I told him it wasn't me, but he picked up a rock next to the shattered glass. He told me he wouldn't tolerate lying either, and anymore would earn me a ticket back to the orphanage. When I looked outside, I saw someone running away with a slingshot in one hand and a fistful of pebbles in the other. It was Steve.

                  The next day, Sir and Ma'am made me clean the garden as punishment. I was to clean up all the leaves and petals on the ground and water everything. There garden was beautiful and and a small pool, many bright pink and yellow  They saw that I was doing a good job on it, so they figured it was okay to go get some groceries really quickly and that I had the garden under control. As soon as they left, I saw Steve with a sly smile on his face. He told me that since he didn't keep his promise, he would have to make up for it by getting me into trouble again to send me back to the orphanage. With a triumphant grin, Steve pushed over a second antique item: The bird bath fountain that Sir specifically told me to be careful with. It was now broken. With that, Steve ran away, and left me with more than just a broken fountain: he left me with a future that once again pointed towards the impossibility of having any kind of family at all. I only stood there in silence, as I heard Sir stepping inside and dropped all the groceries upon seeing me.

                                                                  A Promise Kept

                     Steve succeeded. Sir sent me back to the orphanage, explaining that I was to disobedient and I disregarded the rules. When I came back, Sir and Ma'am came looking for another kid, so they chose Steve. He left with victory on his face, until Sir said that they'd send him to boot camp first so they won't get another kid like me. Steve was extremely lazy, a late riser, and always gave attitude whenever he was told to do something. He wouldn't last a day with Sir and Ma'am. He wouldn't get the special treatment or pampering that he always dreamed of when he would get adopted. That would never happen: Steve would have to be obedient, quick-thinking, and a hard worker, all things that Steve wasn't. It would be a long time before Steve got to move away from Sir and Ma'am.

                                                                  A Second Chance                       

                Steve's adoption wasn't enough to cheer me though. My second chance to get another family was gone. Mike was happy though to have me back though. He had finished tying to ropes together in a tight knot and was now swinging it around, pulling it and yanking it to test the strength of the knot. 

Stop being so happy, I just lost my chance to leaving the orphanage, and getting a family I said. That stopped Mike. 

But I am your family. So are Jeffrey and everyone else. All our friends in the orphanage are your family. 

Family is parents and a house and brothers and sisters, not other kids whose parents died.

Family is looking out for each other and showing love, and they don't even have to be rich or successful or even your own blood. It was unbelievable. He was brainwashed by Jeffrey into actually thinking that whole bonds thing. I  I heard someone calling me. It was Jeffrey.

Yeah? Who's this? I pointed to a young couple next to him.

This nice couple would like to adopt you said Jeffrey. I couldn't believe it. The chances of this were impossible. I was getting another chance to get a family. 

Yes I shouted. Of course I want to go!

                                                                      My Hidden Family

I packed my things and was right to finally make it right and be happy with a real family. This time I would never come back though. I said my good-byes and was about to get in the car. Leaving with a family was my dream and what I wanted more the anything in the world. Before I got in, I looked at everyone that I had befriended and thought back to what Mike had told me. I realized he was right and that whenever Jeffrey said that families are only as strong as their bonds, he meant that just because I don't get adopted doesn't mean no one cares about me and that I don't have family. The couple asked me if I forgot something, and I told them that I already had a family, but I didn't know it. I told them they would have to find another kid to adopt, because I chose to stay. I ran up to all my friends then looked at Jeffrey. He smiled as though he knew why I had made that decision. Because I already have family, and I found my happiness. Jeffrey was right. He told me I had family if I only treated everyone in the orphanage like that. I understand now that blood can be thicker than water but that only depends on the bonds you make for them and how much you care about them. So for you to decide whether blood will be thicker than water, and if you care more about blood relatives than your friends or not, because Mike isn't my brother, but we made a brotherly bond, and he is my family. And Mike has never been able to untie the knot he made.            

House on Mango Street Post #2: Trees

            In the novel The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, trees show up a lot through the novel as a symbol. The first quote to talk about trees in the book is in the vignette titled Meme Ortiz. "This is the tree we chose for the first Annual Tarzan Jumping Contest. Meme won. And broke both arms." (p 22) The way the tree is talked about before this quote is presented is that the tree is so memorable and wonderful because it is a big tree and towers over all the other ones. A quote that shows up later in the book however, proves that looks can be deceiving. "Four who do not belong here but are here. Four raggedy excuses planted by the city." (p 74) These two quotes together show that the big trees are thought highly of and are the best tree, and small trees are just worthless and a waste of space. However, the big tree ends up being the cause of Meme's broken arms, and the skinny trees are comforting to Esperanza, she "understands them, and they understand her".
              The trees also symbolize Esperanza's life in a way. Esperanza compares herself with the skinny trees and talks about how they are basically the underdogs of other trees, they have a bunch of secrets they keep within them and that no one understands them but Esperanza. This can be therefore inferred that Esperanza is alone and everyone underestimates her.

House on Mango Street Post #1: Windows

            In the book The House on Mango Street, the auothor Sandra Cisneros has quite a few chapters that compare the main character's experiences to windows. The first qoute is when Esperanza talks about her great-grandmother and her sadness in life. "She looked out of the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow." (p 11) What can be assumed from this qoute is that looking out of a window is what people do when they have great sadness or are very distraught.
             The next qoute that refers to windows is when Esperanza talks about Mamacita and her life. "She sits all day by the window and plays the Spanish radio show and sings all the homesick songs about her country in a voice that sounds like a seagull." (p 77) What can be concluded about this qoute is that people who sit by the window might be missing something or someone and feel upset about it.
              Another qoute is when Esperanza talks about someone named Rafaela. "Rafaela leans out the window and leans on her elbow and dreams her hair is  like Rapunzel's." (p 79) An idea of what can be drawn from this is that leaning out a window and looking outside of it is also for people that wish about their life changing or they could be somewhere else, basically the desire to have another life.
              The final qoute is when Esperanza is talking to Sally, or thinking about it. "And if you opened the little window latch and gave it a shove, the windows would swing open, all the sky would come in. There'd be no nosy neighbors watching, no motorcycles and cars, no sheets and towels and laundry. Only trees and more trees and plenty of blue sky." (p 82) This qoute talks about the final significance of thew comparison to windows. So now all the peices of the puzzle are put together: Looking out of windows is just like wanting something out of life and just thinking about wanting it but never doing it. This leads to a lot of regret and sadness because their life isn't like that. But Esperanza says that you have to open the window and make the life you want by doing something about it and trying to change tyour life. Windows are symbols of obstacles that you have to get around, and by opening the window, you get the obstacle out of the way and being able to get the life you want.