There are a lot of different themes running through this book, but the one that I connected most with was the theme of a young girl trying to find herself. Having grown up in a culture that "requires" women to grow into a social role, I can identify with Esperanza's struggles. Every thing she says and does is underscored with the issue of trying to figure out where she fits and how she needs to adapt. It broke my heart to read the passage about her name (pg 10 - 11), especially when she says, "She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow. I wonder if she made the best with what she got or was she sorry because she couldn't be all the things she wanted to be. Esperanza. I have inherited her name, but I don't want to inherit her place by the window" (pg 11). Those words echo the feelings so many girls have, even in today's society. I personally struggle with feeling like my own thoughts, ideas and desires are suppressed or unwelcome based on the fact that they don't match society's rules and regulations for what is acceptable from females. It's hard to find yourself in a man's world.
Nevertheless, The House on Mango Street is full of hope. All the while, the reader knows that Esperanza isn't the kind of girl who takes what life gives her. She tries to make the world work the way she wants it to, and she constantly clings to her desire to break away from the norms which is illustrated best in "Four Skinny Trees" (pg 74 - 75). But trying to change her world doesn't come easily (it comes with sexual assault), and not without watching other girls, like Sally, fall victim to the life she doesn't want. The House on Mango Street reads like a diary, which I think makes it seem all the more real. You know that you are reading the best and the worst, her hopes and her dreams, and you want her to succeed.
I think that The House on Mango Street is a great book for adolescents to read. It speaks loudly to the adolescent female population to have hope and to, for lack of a better phrase, "be the change you want to see in the world." It speaks to the racism, poverty, danger, shame associated with communities like Esperanza's while also speaking to the feeling of "otherness" and feelings of inadequacy that adolescents of all backgrounds experience. No matter who you are, there will be something in The House on Mango Street that speaks to you.
I loved this book! I love the passage on hair, so simple yet so powerful. I found this with a lot of the vignettes. I agree, it's hard to find a place in a patriarchal society. I love the way she works through these difficulties though. And I found it extremely interesting that this book was so applicable years after it was written. Our patriarchal society hasn't changed much at all!
ReplyDeleteI agree that this novel offers a lot of hope. I love the way this book simultaneously offers the struggles of young womanhood and all of the excitement. And the most powerful aspect is that, although Esperanza comes from a different culture than what I am used to, I could relate to all of her struggles as a female.