I’ve read The House on Mango Street in high school (years ago, I am not “fresh out”, lol). Right after the nostalgia and memories of simpler days, reading the stories as an adult gives new insight. The vignette that puzzled me to some degree was “Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut & Papaya Juice on Tuesdays.” I felt sorrow for Rafaela, I felt her longing to be outside. In honor of the live action Little Mermaid being released next week, wanting to be a part of that world, but locked up inside. To the point of the puzzling though, why IS she locked up? I understand the reasoning but what are the circumstances? Was this an arranged marriage and her husband possessive? Is he abusive? Was he suave and genteel to woo her and then changed? I mean, if he’s married to her, he did see her immense beauty from meeting; why is she locked up? There are so many unanswered questions that left me puzzled (and also intrigued but I had to use another vignette for that 🙂 ). I was somewhat surprised by “No Speak English.” Initially, I felt Mamacita wanted to leave home. I also understood her apprehension with interacting with others, the world is cruel and perhaps would mock her inability to speak “perfect” English. And then I thought, after the description of having to shove and pull to get her out of the taxi, that she may have not been too keen to walk up and down 3 flights of stairs at her size. I was surprised at her grief of the baby learning English and her protest to not speak English. She was more than homesick, she did not want to be “white-washed” or lose her culture. There were two vignettes I couldn’t decide between […]
Daily Archives: May 13, 2023
The third vignette, “Boys & Girls,” intrigued me because it was interesting to read the narrator’s point of view. The idea that you don’t pick your family is very true, yet it doesn’t feel too great when you can’t rely on your siblings as your best friends because they’re so different from you or because they act a certain way. I, personally, am very close to my brother and my sister, but I can understand the narrator’s statement, “Carlos and Kiki are each other’s best friend… not ours.” I can understand this because while we are very close, there were times that I’ve felt as though they liked each other more or had a better bond because I came around a long while later. Family relationships can be funny that way. The first vignette, “The House on Mango Street,” surprised me because I can relate to the story in every way. I know how it feels to have to move all of the time because each time, things didn’t go as planned. I related to the narrator when the nun asked where the narrator lives, “You live there? The way she said it made me feel like nothing. There. I lived there. I nodded.” I can hear how the nun is pronouncing the word “there” with a tone of disbelief and I can feel the same level of embarrassment the narrator is feeling in this moment. Especially when the narrator goes on to say, “I knew then I had to have a house. A real house. One I could point to.” The fourth vignette, “My Name,” puzzled me only because I am not sure if the narrator is literally saying that her great-grandmother’s husband really did throw a sack over her head and carry her away. I want to hope […]
The vignette that intrigued me was the first one, The House on Mango Street. It intrigued me because I can relate in a sense where a person can feel as if they have no place to truly call “home”. I can relate to wanting and dreaming of living in a better place and wanting more for yourself and your family, space for everyone individually and especially thinking and assuming that when you hear of a possibility that you are going to get what you wished for, it turns out to be a disappointment. The vignette that surprised me in some way was, Boys and Girls. It surprised me in some way because of how easily I could relate to how to she explained how she hoped to have a best friend, one that can understand her and who she can tell all her jokes too. I’ve said those exact same words at one point in my life and I became grateful when I did find that one good best friend. It surprised at how exact the words I was reading and the way it correlated with how I once felt when I was much younger. The vignette that puzzled me was, Louie, his cousin and his older cousin. The scenery reminds me of the neighborhood I used to live in, in Brooklyn when I was barely a little kid. The way those kids could’ve been in danger or in harms way and the way boys can act idiotic sometimes, can sometimes be triggering and makes me question.
