House On Mango Street

house on mango street essay

In the novel The House on Mango Street By Sandra Cisneros violence plays a large role in the characters lives. Violence is shown throughout the story through the eyes of Esperanza who is the main character. She has friends and neighbors all who are affected by violence.

To begin with, in the vignette "Minerva who writes poems" Esperanza talks about her neighbor Minerva. She says that Minerva's boyfriend comes to visit and beats her and then she goes to her house "black and blue asking what can she do."Pg85 this displays how violence plays a role in Esperanza's experience on Mango Street because some one close to her gets constantly beaten which definitely makes Esperanza aware of the violence that surrounds her. That is one example of how violence plays a role in the story.

Another good example of violence on Mango Street is the vignette "What sally said." In this vignette Esperanza says "But sally doesn't talk about the time he hit her with his hands like she was a dog she said, as if I were an animal, he thinks im goin to run away like my sisters who made the family ashamed." Pg92. This shows how violence plays a role in Esperanza's story because her best friend gets beaten by her dad because of what her sisters did and that makes Esperanza want to leave even more. That is another example of how violence plays a role in the story.

Finally violence plays a role in the story for many reasons. One is that she sees some one close to her get constantly beaten because of a sex decision which affects her view on sex. Another reason is that she sees her best friend get beaten for things she didn't even do which makes her want to get out to a place where that can't happen. That is the role that violence plays in the novel The House on Mango Street.