A Space For Expression and Introspection
A Space To Be Determined.
A Space To Be Determined.
Sandra Cisneros is an inspiration of mine. A new one admittedly but an inspiration nonetheless. In the 25th anniversary edition of her novel, The House on Mango Street, Cisneros uses text and form to confront the rules of the society around her, and around all of us still. And although awareness is rising, the themes raised in this book are still relevant today. When comparing this book (which I’m not) to Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson, I find that while both books explore themes of friendship, yearning for a better life, girlhood/sexuality, etc. each novel explores these themes in varying ways. Cisneros in particular seems to be looking back with a child-like innocence. Having listened to the audiobook of this novel, I can attest to this even further. Woodson on the other hand seems to be writing from a reflective perspective and seems to have a darker outlook on the past. While I’m in no position to critique either’s reasoning for respective povs, I do think it’s interesting that Cisneros chooses to write in the way she does. As I said before, there seems to be an innocence rising from these words even though Esperanza herself is a teenager during the events of the novel. Children are very dream oriented and they seem to operate around the world being this big place revolving around them. Esperanza is a young girl who dreams of a house all her own, she wishes to escape from the clutches of poverty. Cisneros seems to be commenting on Esperanza’s hopes as child-like dreams in the face of reality around her. That reality being that young women can be swallowed up trying to advance themselves. Esperanza mentions her grandmother early on who is forced to reside behind the window of her home as she is now burdened with being wed to an inconsiderate spouse who forbids her from working out of the home. Esperanza mentions that she wants the home but not the seat behind a window, essentially waiting to die. Her grandmother’s story is a very sad one even through the eyes of a child and this story resonates throughout the entirety of the novel. In The House on Mango Street, Cisneros writes a young woman attempting to turn her dreams into a reality among a cesspool of darkness. The un-blurring of her potential greatness.
1 Comment
Trey, your comment on the tone of this novel is extremely relevant. I think particularly in the beginning vignettes Esperanza's voice is extremely hopeful, but you're absolutely correct that while her voice certainly does shift in maturity that the hopefulness is never truly lost. It is this light that hope gives that allows Esperanza to get out from behind the window and see a life possible beyond Mango Street, which is a clear connection made possible by your imposition of darkness as a blurring tool, limiting one's ability to see their potential past their current position.
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Trey BrownA creative-writing major at Wright State with a particular interest in motion pictures. Archives
April 2019
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