The House on Mango Street- Erika Kozub
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros was not my favorite piece of adolescent literature this semester, but I did like the authors writing style. It's very different from the other the other stories we've studied thus far, which makes the authors work very unique. There wasn't much of an exciting storyline, which is why I feel like I didn't enjoy this story as much per say.
Branching off the 'Name' chapter in the book, and our assignment in class (which I REALLY liked), I'd like to use this chapter to really dig deep into the style of writing Cisneros uses, since it is pretty consistent throughout her book.
"In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting. It is like the number nine. A muddy color. It is the Mexican records my father plays on Sunday mornings when he is shaving, songs like sobbing."
I really like Cisneros' style when she introduces the character of Esperanza. Her language is very similar to an every-day conversation, but she also added so much depth to it! Like how do authors just do that?! Its incredible! Her language is almost poetic when she talks about her name meaning sadness and waiting. comparing it to mud and Mexican records. Rewriting a personal version of this paragraph for my self looked something like this.
"My name means eternal ruler. It means leadership. It means making the rules and setting the standards. It means responsibility. It means that I will be counted on and trusted to do the right thing, kind of like a grown adult in the body of a college student."Being able to express myself in the unique style of Sandra Cisneros allowed me to transcend two genres; poetry and short story. Her poetic vignettes make it easy to read and create the backbone to her very unique style. It's not like she has some incredible type of word choice or sentence structure like many authors, instead she is just being herself and expressing that in her writing the way she knows best. The narrator later continues to talk about how she dislikes her name.
"At school they say my name funny as if the syllables were made out of tin and hurt the roof of your mouth. But in Spanish my name is made out of a softer something, like silver, not quite as thick as sister's name Magdalena--which is uglier than mine. Magdalena who at least- -can come home and become Nenny. But I am always Esperanza. would like to baptize myself under a new name, a name more like the real me, the one nobody sees. Esperanza as Lisandra or Maritza or Zeze the X. Yes. Something like Zeze the X will do."
This part of the chapter I can really relate to. Being Ukrainian by birth, people have never been able to pronounce my last name. Erika is a pretty basic first name, so there was never any trouble there. But my brother and sister have Ukrainian names that are hard to pronounce, and they always complain about it (Evelina and Valdemar). Most people connect with their names, but instead Esperanza chooses to dislike it and wouldn't mind even changing it. This gives us plenty of insight in understanding our character and the type of self confidence she has. I believe Cisneros did an excellent job in allowing readers to relate with Esperanza. This can either be with ethnicity, personality, minority, or a low income family. This is an excellent book to teach in the classroom, and even more, an excellent chapter to focus on and do a writing workshop.
Branching off the 'Name' chapter in the book, and our assignment in class (which I REALLY liked), I'd like to use this chapter to really dig deep into the style of writing Cisneros uses, since it is pretty consistent throughout her book.
"In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting. It is like the number nine. A muddy color. It is the Mexican records my father plays on Sunday mornings when he is shaving, songs like sobbing."
I really like Cisneros' style when she introduces the character of Esperanza. Her language is very similar to an every-day conversation, but she also added so much depth to it! Like how do authors just do that?! Its incredible! Her language is almost poetic when she talks about her name meaning sadness and waiting. comparing it to mud and Mexican records. Rewriting a personal version of this paragraph for my self looked something like this.
"My name means eternal ruler. It means leadership. It means making the rules and setting the standards. It means responsibility. It means that I will be counted on and trusted to do the right thing, kind of like a grown adult in the body of a college student."Being able to express myself in the unique style of Sandra Cisneros allowed me to transcend two genres; poetry and short story. Her poetic vignettes make it easy to read and create the backbone to her very unique style. It's not like she has some incredible type of word choice or sentence structure like many authors, instead she is just being herself and expressing that in her writing the way she knows best. The narrator later continues to talk about how she dislikes her name.
"At school they say my name funny as if the syllables were made out of tin and hurt the roof of your mouth. But in Spanish my name is made out of a softer something, like silver, not quite as thick as sister's name Magdalena--which is uglier than mine. Magdalena who at least- -can come home and become Nenny. But I am always Esperanza. would like to baptize myself under a new name, a name more like the real me, the one nobody sees. Esperanza as Lisandra or Maritza or Zeze the X. Yes. Something like Zeze the X will do."
This part of the chapter I can really relate to. Being Ukrainian by birth, people have never been able to pronounce my last name. Erika is a pretty basic first name, so there was never any trouble there. But my brother and sister have Ukrainian names that are hard to pronounce, and they always complain about it (Evelina and Valdemar). Most people connect with their names, but instead Esperanza chooses to dislike it and wouldn't mind even changing it. This gives us plenty of insight in understanding our character and the type of self confidence she has. I believe Cisneros did an excellent job in allowing readers to relate with Esperanza. This can either be with ethnicity, personality, minority, or a low income family. This is an excellent book to teach in the classroom, and even more, an excellent chapter to focus on and do a writing workshop.
Erika, I think her casual style creates a sort of personal bond with Esperanza. It feels like we as the readers are close to her and share some sort of special bond with her. However, I can see how you would feel that it is forced, thus creating friction with the narrative. I love that you integrate this story in with your personal life. You made the book relate to you personally, and that is always important!
ReplyDelete