Siman 1

Brandon Siman
Ms. Shaffer
English 1 GATE
September 20, 2016

The House on Mango Street Essay

When you know yourself you are empowered. When you accept yourself you are
invincible.-Tina Lifford What I take away from this quote is that accepting yourself can lead to
extraordinary things, but as for the main character of The House on Mango Street, it was proven
that accepting yourself may sometimes prove to be difficult. This book was written the by author,
Sandra Cisneros whose work was likely influenced by her childhood and neighborhood which
took place in Chicago. Furthermore, The House on Mango Street also took place in Chicago and
the characters in this story were mostly poor. In The House on Mango Street we start to get to
know the protagonist, Esperanza, and we get to learn more about her struggles in life and also the
harsh life of the people around her. The thesis would be Esperanza dealing with the troubles of
acceptance. Whether it would be where you are from or who you are and also explaining it
through figurative languages.
Cisneros uses a metaphor as figurative language to describe what Esperanza thinks about
Mango Street. According to the author, Sandra Cisneros, she states that, Until then I am a red
balloon, a balloon tied to an anchor (Pg.9). The meaning of this quote is Esperanza wants to just
escape from Mango Street and to leave it all behind, but cannot do it as she stuck where she is.
The importance of this evidence is it shows how Esperanza feels about Mango Street which is
now part of her life and that she cant accept this as something that is part of her. Also, a
metaphor was used to state how Esperanza feels about Mango Street.

Siman 2

There is another metaphor included which compares Esperanza to Mango Street. In The
House on Mango Street, Esperanzas friend states that, Like it or not you are Mango Street, and
one day youll come back too. (Pg.107) Then she replies by stating, Not me. Not until
somebody makes it better (Pg.107). These quotes are saying that Esperanza was told Mango
Street will always be in her life and someday she will come back, but she denies ever doing it
and hopes it changes. This evidence shows that she wants to change something that is part of her
life and the author used figurative language, which is a metaphor, by represent Esperanza as a
place.
Imagery detail may have been included by Cisneros to further describe Esperanza
acceptance. In The House on Mango Street, it explains that, You will always be Esperanza. You
will always Mango Street. You cant erase what you know (Pg.105). The quote is explaining
that the sisters told Esperanza she will always be what she is now and everything in her life will
always be part of her. This is important because she must not deny what happened in her life and
she must accept who she is and where she lived and this would give us an imagery detail. Also,
the imagery detail we would see is Esperanza not existing and what life would be like if she
wasnt herself.
Esperanzas life had always been a struggle and Cisneross use of figurative language like
imagery detail, metaphor and other types of figurative language did well in explaining
Esperanzas troubles with identity and life. In the 2nd paragraph I have explained how she used a
metaphor to compare an anchored balloon to Esperanza which was they would both float or
escape from what they would leave behind. In 3rd, she would use what may be a reverse
personification to describe Esperanza with Mango street. And for the 4th, she had used imagery
detail to let us think and see in our minds what may all happen without Esperanza. The reason for

Siman 3

reading all of this is to know what it feels like deny who you are and to use figurative language
to creatively explain situations or something similar. Also to always remember who you are or
once were for that will always a be piece of you.

Siman 4

Works Cited
Website Title: SparkNotes
Publisher: SparkNotes
Date Accessed: September 26, 2016

Website Title: Shmoop.com

Article Title: The House on Mango Street
Publisher: Shmoop University, Inc.
Electronically Published: November 11, 2008
Date Accessed: September 26, 2016
Author: Shmoop Editorial Team

Rubric rating submitted on: 10/1/2016, 9:59:03 AM by ashley.shaffer@salinasuhsd.org

Hook
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Siman 5
Background Evidence
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Thesis
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Topic Sentence 1
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Review Evidence
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Universal Connection
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Siman 6
Formatted/Cited
Correctly
Your score: 1
Evidence Clearly
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Your score: 1

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Comments:
M.U.G.: 8/10
Rubric rating submitted on: 10/14/2016, 8:55:43 AM by ashley.shaffer@salinasuhsd.org
2

Hook
Your score: 2

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Background Evidence
Your score: 2

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Thesis
Your score: 1.75

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Topic Sentence 1
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Topic sentence 2
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Topic Sentence 3
Your score: 2

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Siman 7
Your score: 2
Means 3
Your score: 1.5

Present

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Matters 3
Your score: 1

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Restate Thesis
Your score: 2

Present

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Absent

Review Evidence
Your score: 2

Present

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Absent

Universal Connection
Your score: 2

Present

Partially Present

Absent

Evidence
Formatted/Cited
Correctly
Your score: 1

Present

Partially Present

Absent

Evidence Clearly
Connects to Thesis
Your score: 1.5

Present

Partially Present

Absent

Comments:
M.U.G.: 9/10