How does Sandra Cisneros use imagery?
Through the character of Esperanza, Cisneros writes about the ghosts that haunted her. She writes using imagery, personification and other literary devices. In this quote, Cisneros uses the literary device known as the simile. This quote is filled with imaginative similes.
What is being described in Chapter 1 of The House on Mango Street?
The dream of a better, more beautiful, and more autonomous house will carry on throughout the book – Esperanza and her family and neighbors are always hoping and dreaming of something better. The nun’s comment is the first example of society shaming Esperanza for her race and class.
What symbols are in The House on Mango Street?
Symbols
- Shoes. Shoes in The House on Mango Street frequently evoke images of sex and adult femininity, and for Esperanza they illustrate the conflict she feels between her emerging sexual attractiveness and her desire for independence.
- Trees.
- Poetry.
What is the main message of The House on Mango Street?
One of the most important themes of The House on Mango Street is the power of words. Esperanza first learns that the lack of language (especially English) means powerlessness, as with Mamacita, who is trapped in her apartment by her ignorance and fear of English.
What do the four trees teach Esperanza?
3. What does Esperanza learn from the trees? The trees teach Esperanza to keep reaching for what she wants, and they show her it is possible to grow. Why does Mamacita move to Mango Street?
Who are the four skinny trees symbolize?
“Four Skinny Trees” is centered on the ideas of strength and endurance. From the four trees that exist outside her house, Esperanza learns how to persist in her saddest moments.
Why does Esperanza stop going with her family to look at nice houses?
Esperanza finally matures and realizes that she needs to change her strategy in trying to get what she wants. She separates herself from her family, refusing to go with them to visit houses in the suburbs because she no longer wants to dream about a house.
What does Esperanza say about Ruthie?
Esperanza says that Ruthie is good at many things, but instead of getting a job she got married when she was young. Esperanza can’t understand why Ruthie returned to live on Mango Street with her mother, but Ruthie says she is just waiting for her husband to come and take her away.
Why is Esperanza afraid of Sire?
Esperanza is afraid of Sire because he makes her uncomfortable; she says, “it (makes) your blood freeze to have somebody look at you like that”.
What lesson did Esperanza learn from Ruthie?
What does Esperanza learn from Ruthie’s experience that helps her formulate goals for herself? Ruthie is very childish and Esperanza can see what happens when you are constantly in your own universe, and Esperanza sees her as someone not to turn out like.
What does Esperanza learn from Rafaela?
Esperanza implies that even if Rafaela escaped her husband, she would only go to a bar and find another oppressive man. Esperanza’s writerly voice grows stronger here, and she is able to understand more about the states of the women of Mango Street, as well as her own inner conflict between sexuality and autonomy.
What is Esperanza hoping for?
What is Esperanza hoping to do when she visits Elenita? Esperanza is hoping to have Elenita consult some tools and determine if Esperanza will ever have the house she dreams of.
What Esperanza learns?
When her mother falls ill with Valley Fever, Esperanza learns the value of family and friends. She finds ways to care for her mother and cope with the difficulties of making a new home, rising again like the mythical phoenix in the stories her grandmother told her when she was a child.
What is the theme of Rafaela?
Theme: Women Controlled by Men In the chapter “Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut & Papaya Juice on Tuesdays,” by Sandra Cisneros, is about a young woman who gets locked away in her apartment by her husband. The theme of this story is if you allow yourself to be controlled by a man you will waste your life away.
Who is Rapunzel Why would Rafaela wish that she had hair like Rapunzel?
Rapunzel is a fairy tail character. Rafaela wishes to have hair like hers so that she can get out of her house in which her husband has locked her in, and do the things that she wants to do.
What happens to Rafaela every Tuesday?
Summary: “Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut & Papaya Juice on Tuesdays” On Tuesdays, when Rafaela’s husband has his poker game, he locks her in their third-floor apartment because she is so beautiful, he’s afraid she’ll escape. She spends these afternoons and evenings leaning out the window, which makes her prematurely old.
Who is Rafaela similar to?
Rapunzel
Why does Esperanza compare Rafaela to Rapunzel?
Rafaela longs to be like Rapunzel so that she can still connect with the world and with someone who will love her. Without Rapunzel’s long hair, she is stuck in her house and pays neighborhood children to buy her juice, which symbolizes the sweet life she wants access to.
What does Esperanza say the Vargas kids dont?
What does Esperanza say the Vargas kids don’t have? (There Was an Old Woman) She says they don’t have respect for themselves or anyone else.