English III Research on: "The House on Mango Street" by Sandra Cisneros

English III Research on:

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

     I would like to begin with the fact, that I have attended this college for well over a year now, and still have troubles with the library and do not like using it. And I would like to state, that no offense, but I am just being honest. I don’t have the time nor the patience, when it is a lot easier to conduct searches online and obtain the same information, if not better.

     Also, for several other classes, I requested books, and I have no idea where or how to even obtain them. That’s how library illiterate I am here. Now don’t get me wrong, I love real life libraries big time. And I understand reference cards, and how to find things, the paper reference cards, and then when they went computer I could still find things too. But here? No, I can’t. 

     But that’s okay, because I still haven’t even grasped the tutoring either, and I tried to sign up for that as well, and don’t understand how you get response from that either. But that is beside the point.

Now onto my research.

     I spent hours trying to find something, everything I went for had to ordered, and several things were out. 

     I will not use someone’s work to reference, their homework as my own, even as subject matter. And there were those kinds of papers available, but I will never use them. Another persons work, is just that, theirs.

Finally, I came to this: http://search.proquest.com.southuniversity.libproxy.edmc.edu/docview/456017315?pq-origsite=summon

     It is from May 2009. The title reads: “Author to share tales at Heritage: Sandra Cisneros, renowned for ‘The House on Mango Street’ will speak Wednesday.”

     As you read through this, there is a gentleman who is sitting there with his own copy of the book reminding him as he had read it before. He has his daughter with him, and she looks at the book, falls in love with it, and later reads it to him often.  The daughter now falls in love with the book as well.

     The moral of this, is the book is great for all ages, not just one, but anyone of any age. 

     And then of course, they inform you of the when and where that Sandra Cisernos will greet them with her lovely presence and speak to them all.

     Because of the fact that my review was questioned, I did conduct further research, once I learned a few things by way of the library. I was led out of the library, by way of a link, and to this site:

http://www.shmoop.com/house-on-mango-street/literary-devices.html

     Once there, because of the several articles I did read, and because of the fact, that I was told the book was not a biography, but a story written about a character, I decided to look deeper. 

     Allow me to quote for you if I may: “Well, in a twisted way, The House on Mango Street is about all of these things. It is about a home, a family, and a girl who wants to feel like she belongs to community. But to a large extent the story defies the expectations we've formulated based on the title – Mango Street isn't in suburbia, for instance. It's not even in a nice part of the city. Nor is the house on Mango Street the kind of cute, tidy house that you see in television sitcoms. It's cramped and falling apart and doesn't even have a backyard to play in.

     As it turns out, the ways in which the story deviates from the picture-perfect image that the title brings to mind are more significant that the ways in which it conforms to our expectations. Because, just as our vision of suburban cuteness is crushed, so is Esperanza's. And ultimately, this isn't the story of a house – it's the story of a girl, her disappointment, and where it leads her.” -Cite www.shmoop.com/house-on-mango-street/literary-devices.html

     And one more thing I would like to share, because I think it is just to realize that the character saw herself as someone who could make a difference, and this site seen the same thing that I recognized: “As dismal as the situation may sound, the tone of the novel is encouraging – even hopeful. Our heroine, Esperanza, has upwardly-mobile plans. Faced with the injustices that occur all around her, she doesn't sink into despair – she plans to get out of there. And while she sees herself someday living in a house of her own, she vows never to "forget who [she is] or where [she] came from" (34.3). As the novella progresses, the tone becomes more hopeful as Esperanza realizes she has an active role to play in making her community better. The novella ends with Esperanza's pledge to come back someday "for the ones who cannot out" (44.8).” -Cite www.shmoop.com/house-on-mango-street/literary-devices.html

     All in all, I think it is safe to see, that the character, in this story, did foresee that she needed a better home, to make a difference, and had hopes of doing so in the near future.

     As a person whom 'usually' reviews books here: www.DenealesBookBuzz.BlogSpot.com I found this book to be a different type of read than what I am originally used to.