She doesn't speak English like the rest of the neighborhood, and she wants to go back to the place where she belongs.Ĭonnections: In an earlier vignette, "My Name," the window is mentioned yet again. If anything, she is the one who wants to be speaking English first, and she is afraid that he will learn faster and adapt better. Also, the theme of fitting in reoccurs when Mamacita saw heard her son speaking English. The window is the window of opportunity that everyone wants to go through. Cisneros uses symbolism and theme in this passage. No, no, no, as if she can't believe her ears." Her son is surpassing her in their new home, and she doesn't want that to happen. Plus, when her son started talking, she mumbled "No speak English, no speak English, and bubbles into tears. There she can have the opportunity to learn English and be closer to her home. The inside of the room confines her from the world and learning, but all she wants is to be on the other side of that window. Mamacita "sits all day by the window and plays the Spanish radio show and sings all the homesick songs about her country in a voice that sounds like a seagull" because she it's as close as she'll ever get to freedom. Significance: A window is a symbol for opportunity and freedom. She can't do much because she sits in her apartment, next to the window, all day. All she really wants is to go back to her country. This upsets Mamacita because her son, only a baby, is learning English better than her. This son is only a baby, and he starts to repeat the lines of an American commercial.
She is a very large woman, and she has a son. She is called Mamacita, and she speaks no English, with the exception of a few, simply words. It is a woman from a different country and her husband. Situation: Esperanza is talking about a new resident of the apartment building above her.
Speaker: Esperanza is narrating this vignette. No, no, no, as if she can't believe her ears." (page 77-78) No speak English, no speak English, and bubbles into tears. No speak English, she says to the child who is singing the language that sounds like tin. And then to break her heart forever, the baby boy, who has begun to talk, starts to sing the Pepsi commercial he heard on the T.V. She sits all day by the window and plays the Spanish radio show and sings all the homesick songs about her country in a voice that sounds like a seagull. Quote: "Whatever her reasons, whether she is fat, or can't climb the stairs, or is afraid of English, she won't come down. Both Minerva and Rafaela are women who are put away by their husbands, weighed down by their sadness and troubles. For instance, in "Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut and Papaya Juice," Rafaela is a girl trapped in her home by her husband and leans out the window, dreaming for freedom.
#House on mango street quotes about growing up windows#
Stylistic Devices: Esperanza uses figurative language to describe Minerva, comparing her to "a house on fire- always something wrong." It shows that her troubles and sadness would continue to burn, destroying the house that is her soul.Ĭonnections: As mentioned before, the reoccurring theme of doors and windows is used constantly throughout the story. The rock thrown through the window by Minerva's husband represents him crashing back into her life, destroying it as he pleases. When her husband leaves, her life is finally secure, hence the locked door. Symbolically, the window and door describe Minerva's dignity, liberty, and life. Esperanza uses the phrase "out the window and the door locked" to refer to Minerva's husband's departure. Significance: Throughout the book, the motif of doors and windows is used to resemble freedom and character. However, on the same night, he comes back to "send a big rock through the window." Thus, he apologizes and returns to his status as a husband who continues to come back then leave again. Finally, she sends her husband away for good, making him pack up his things and leave her be. Situation: Minerva, a girl two years older than Esperanza but "already has two kids and a husband who left," is distraught and has many troubles. Then he is sorry and she opens the door again. But that night he comes back and sends a big rock through the window. One day she is through and lets him know enough is enough. She has many troubles, but the big one is her husband who left and keeps leaving. She is always sad like a house on fire- always something wrong.
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