Growing up, I faced some similar situations like the ones in “The House on Mango Street.” There was this one time when my family moved to a new neighborhood, and I felt like I didn’t quite fit in. I longed for a sense of belonging and struggled to find my place. It’s tough when you feel disconnected from your surroundings, but it’s also an opportunity to discover your own unique voice and identity. Esperanza’s journey mirrors the experiences of many individuals who have felt marginalized or different in their own communities. It explores the complexities of identity, gender, and cultural heritage. Through her storytelling, Esperanza seeks to find her voice and create a sense of belonging, ultimately empowering herself and others. The book beautifully captures the universal struggle of finding one’s place in the world, and it resonates with readers who have experienced similar feelings of longing, displacement, and the search for identity.
Daily Archives: May 12, 2024
The vignette that stood out to me was, “My Name.” This vignette stood out to me because one of my last names is Alonzo and that comes from my father. I have 2 last names, but this one has such a negative connotation because my father was an alcoholic, he was a drug addict, he physically and verbally abused my mother, and he abused me and my brother and sister. Knowing that my last name is what connects me to my father growing up made me carry such a heavy weight with me and it frustrates me that even now that he is older he is still the same person he was when I was a child growing up. I have been thinking for a while now to change my last name and remove it and leave the last name from my mother’s side which has a way better history and does not have negative weight for me to carry.
One specific personal experience that stuck with me from the house on Mango Street specifically was “Hairs”.I feel this way because while reading with my group we eventually came to an agreement that somehow the hair was tied to their personalities and who they were. Coming to this decision resonated with me a lot because not only is hair a big part of my identity because I’m a girl but also because I come from a certain culture that depends on hair to tell others who you are. Reading this specific vignette held a lot of personal experience for me and also reminded me how big of a deal hair is in my life. This Vignette reminds me of how differently I see myself and others because my hair looks a certain way.
One personal experience of mine that echoed while reading “In the house of mango” was definitely the struggles and living environment that Esperanza has. This is because now that I am an adult, I don’t live nearly as poor as when I was a kid. However growing up, I was very poor due to many personal problems after my parents had split, to the point that up until I was 11 years old I had to sleep on a couch in a living room and put all my school books and personal belongings underneath the couch since there was 7 people living in a one bedroom apartment, in a very small apartment. This made many simple things difficult, whether it be trying to sleep, waiting to use the bathroom, having no sort of privacy whatsoever, and always comparing my living situation to my more fortunate friends, especially when they had nicer things whether it be shoes, clothes, you name it, and living in a better safer neighborhood than I did.
Hello, One specific personal experience that has echoed in “The House on Mango Street” for me is “Hairs”. I believe this resonates with me because I come from a family of Puerto Ricans. One of the many things I love about us is that we come in all different colors and textures. From pin straight to kinky to curly to wavy, you name it… my family has it. A big bonus with this for me is that I get to learn how to do a bunch of different hair types with different designs. doing hair has always been a passion of mine. I was born with curly blonde hair as was my mother and now my daughter has the exact same hair color. My son was born with darker hair that has curls so tight your brush gets lost in it! In our family we embrace all these different types of beautiful hair types.
In the short story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, the author uses simple sentences to convey the narrative. For example, he writes, “This blind man, an old friend of my wife’s, he was on his way to spend the night.” Carver’s writing is direct and doesn’t include detailed words or lengthy descriptions. Instead, he displays the characters’ personalities and emotions through their dialogues. The narrator, for instance, shows the relationship between his wife and the blind man by showing their interactions. In the short story “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, the author uses simple language to describe the exact details of Madame Loisel’s situation. When Madame Loisel receives an invitation to a ball, de Maupassant writes: “She was upset by how poor her home looked, with its plain walls, old chairs, and ugly curtains.” This detailed description of Madame Loisel’s surroundings helps the reader understand how she feels about her societal place. Both Carver and de Maupassant engage in simple writing styles, yet they each emphasize different aspects. Carver places a great deal of emphasis on how individuals interact and express themselves through their speech, while de Maupassant employs detailed descriptions to illustrate societal incidents.
An idea I have for my research paper is children’s development in fairytales. The fairytale I will be using is Hercules, now this story is very special to me because I relate to it a lot and I picked up a few behaviors and thought processes because of this fairy tale. In Hercules you would learn to always be true to yourself, which is something I understood from watching this at a young age, and to me, it just seems so fascinating, and I wanted to be just like that. I also learned how much Hercules kept pushing and pushing to become what he wanted, a hero and to be recognized by the gods and find his place and he never gave up he truly put in the work to become what he wanted and that is who I wanted to be as a kid, be my own Hercules. At the moment I have not found an article on the BMCC library database, but I am on the lookout!
One personal experience that is echoed in “The House on Mango Street” was that my dad keeps talking about moving and getting a better house if we some day win the lottery. The parents in the story are telling their kids that some day they will move into a good home like the ones they see on the T.V. The name of the first vignette was “The House on Mango Street”, when they keep wanting a better house in which they can live for the rest of their lives instead of keep moving. The same personal experience I have but in a different type of way since we have never moved from this apartment but we did apply for other ones to see if they will reach out to us but it hasn’t happened. My dad was planning on getting a better house if we somehow win the lottery, but still no luck in that.
One specific personal experience that is echoed in The House on Mango Street is my living situation with my family is very similar to her past homes everyone shared rooms and shares one bathroom which just sucks when you’re already late for work/school. There is never any space in the apartment to do anything like run around throw a ball or anything. Ive always longed for a home in which I can have the space to do what I want when I want to. Since there was no space in the apartment me and my brothers would get on the walls and climb the walls since the walls were very narrow in the hallway. While reading the first vignette The House on Mango Street nearly at the end when Experanza was speaking to the nun and the nun asked you live there? That question had me rethink my living situation because I don’t live in a good place just like Experanza.
The vignette that surprised me was “Geraldo, No Last Name”. It stood out to me since this man was clearly murdered in an accident, and this was very jarring in comparison to the previous vignettes. The vignette that intrigued me the most was the one my group read for class “Cathy Queen of Cats”. There was so much going on in this vignette. Cathy, Esperanza’s new friend was introduced. It was clear that Cathy was detailing the cast of characters in the neighborhood, but the explanations came across as gossip instead of a quick rundown. It also turned the story back around on Cathy, and we were able to decipher that she lived in a home with many cats and a family that fills her head with delusions of wealthy family members in France. The vignette that puzzled me the most was “Four Skinny Trees”. Reading it over again, I was unsure if she was speaking about actual trees or real people. She personified the trees, detailing them with humanistic features such as elbows, or being too skinny, or her being able to hear them.
What work do you feel was most successful and why? My most successful work this semester was Essay 2. Having to develop a thesis centering around a literary quote forced me to discuss one of my favourite literary stories from an entirely different angle. I usually defaulted to discussing the literary device of irony in “The Necklace,” but the instructions galvanized me to develop ideas and theories surrounding the protagonist and analyze her from a physiological standpoint. It was probably the hardest essay for me to develop, but exploring new ideas while making a concise piece was surprisingly fun! On what work do you feel you could have done better? I definitely could have done more on Essay 1. I had a lot of difficulty writing this essay because it was the first essay I’ve done focusing on a secondary source to write a thesis. To get a better handle on it, I asked a friend to go over the Overview with me and confirm if I identified the correct ideas to build upon for the essay. In the end, I realized I simply overthought the requirements of the essay and as a result, I felt rushed completing it. What specific skills developed in this class might be relevant to real-world experience? Conversational skills! Despite not fully participating in the discussion boards, the times I did required me to read the descriptions of other participants and develop genuine response points to receive full points. While it does seem daunting, being able to think of responses can easily translate to real-world interactions of small talk- making networking easier!
