Being a Child on Mango Street--Chelsea

            House On Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros is a book that illustrates smoothly the harsh reality of children living in inner cities. She is able to compact critical details that allow readers to experience what a life would be like if they were Hispanic and poor. Although it is rough the situations and the choices that are not even available to these kids, the book also gives us an opportunity to see that they are like any other child living in privilege through ways unexpected.

            Esperanza is a young girl who moves to Mango streets and just like a child would, run into another young girl(s) who she makes friends with. I used to live in Massachusetts and my neighborhood had many kids my age at the time and we would all ride bikes. “Because Lucy has long legs she pedals. I sit on the back seat and Rachel is skinny enough to get up on the handlebars which makes the bike all wobbly as if the wheels are spaghetti.” (15) I love this image because I used to do this with my cousins and even though we had our own bikes, we would ride together because the idea of being on the same adventure and the same speed was so much fun.

            The scene where I appreciated Cisneros description is when they were in Louie’s cousin’s car who also had a criminal record. “The window didn’t roll up like ordinary cars. Instead there was a button that did it for you automatically.” (24) The acknowledgment of simplistic life style that a child of poverty experiences for the first time speaks volume. A reader in school who comes across this in this generation is not estranged to an automatic button to anything. But if they read this and pause, it can open their minds to how many other things they take for granted.

            Every girl has tried on their mama’s high heels and ventured out to playing dress up or just thinking about how one day they will be grown fitting into them. “It’s Rachel who learns to walk the best all strutted in those high heels. She teaches us to cross and uncross our legs.” (40) When I was younger me and my cousins used to “walk the runway” and totally felt like celebrities. Cisneros mixes in a fun moment with the three girls into the darkness of the perverted eyes and mouths that are in inner cities. So, it is relieving when she adds the last sentence to the chapter after the mom threw the shoes away, “But no one complains.” (42)

            We all have been through a stage, some are still in it, where they rebel against authority. Or they make a stand some way or another to show their independence. At least their independence unraveling. “I have begun my own quiet war. I am one who leaves the table like a man, without putting back the chair or picking up the plate.” (89) This is relatable but the reason why she does this can be eye opening to students who have grown up with choices in their life. Esperanza begins to push back on the expected roles a female should play and not only in a household, but also the lowered standards expected from a Hispanic in an inner city. She does not want to be entitled to these regulations. So, she rebels in a way that is subtle.  This begins the path out of what Mango Street is.