Post 7??

Good evening Book Club members :) I am just interested in your thoughts on what we would like to do for post #7. Would you still like to get together to record video shots for the final post? Or would you like to do something that we could do independently? I was thinking that BigHugeLabs and other websites offer some interesting ideas that we could do for the final post. For example, we could choose to create a movie poster, or perhaps we could make a trailer for a film version of the book, or maybe we could write a synopsis for a "sequel"? We could choose one idea of we could all choose different formats for the final response. Any thoughts on this? What would you guys like to do for the final post?

Post #6 Alex

Post 6:

This post was challenging for me and I tried to write it as a vignette.  I found it challenging to write a journal entry for anyone other than Esperenza and I wasn’t sure what to focus on.  I have a good idea of the emerging themes of the novel and tried to incorporate them here. 

The Stars Shine for Sally, Not Me

I don’t know why but it seems as though the stars wink at me as I gaze up at them.  I can’t believe they would even acknowledge my presence.  My father gives me funny looks when I say this to him.  He says good girls don’t wish on stars, that’s for dreamers.  What is so wrong with being a dreamer?  Sometimes I think my whole life is a dream where everyone is stuck on Mango Street.  The only way dreams come true is if you move away from here.  Even Sally has dreams of moving away, but she doesn’t want to do it with me.  All I need is a boy so I can have my dreams come true.  

Post #5 Alex

I can see a clear theme in the novel that has to do with gender roles.  There seems to be in every vignette some sort of voice from a woman or girl who is abused, neglected or ignored.  I find it interesting how Esperenza’s voice is the one that is telling these stories, but she doesn’t acknowledge how they associate with her.  I found many lines in this section that stood out to me. 

“Her father says to be this beautiful is trouble.”

“I am an ugly daughter.  I am the one nobody comes for.”

“And then Rafaela, who is still young but getting old from leaning out the window so much, gets locked indoors because her husband is afraid Rafaela will run away since she is too beautiful to look at.”

These lines all trouble me because there is a message that to be beautiful is trouble and that the only thing women are good for is beauty.  If Esperenza thinks she is ugly, then how does this affect her vision of her future?  In contrast it seems that beauty is bringing trouble to women as well.  They are locked up and imprisoned for being beautiful.  What kind of message is this saying about women and their place in society?  Esperenza is talking about Sally, a girl whose parents don’t let her leave the house with the exception of school when she says “You look at your feet and walk fast to the house you can’t come out from…Do you wish your feet would one day keep walking and take you far away from Mango Street, far away and maybe your feet would stop in front of a house, a nice one with flowers and big windows and steps for you to climb up two by two upstairs to where a room is waiting for you.”  There is this image of girls/women being locked away and only dreaming of a better life far away. 

I also found these lines troubling: “I could have been somebody you know?” and “There’s nothing I can do”.  There is this feeling that since they are women they are helpless and powerless to obtain a better future for themselves.  There is a wish or desire for them to have made something of their lives, but they accept the fact that they didn’t.  Esperenza’s mother says that she was smart in school but dropped out because she didn’t have the right clothing.  She was embarrassed then, but has some sense of regret.  There is also a feeling that she is helpless to change her fortune.  This is a concept that I have great difficulty accepting. 

Using these lines, and some others, I put together this poem and recorded it. 

Mangos are Helpless

 “I could have been somebody you know?”

She is always sad like a house on fire

Always something wrong

Her father says to be this beautiful is trouble

She gets locked indoors because her husband is afraid

she will run away since she is too beautiful to look at

“There is nothing I can do

I could have been somebody you know?”

Shame is a bad thing you know.

It keeps you down.

The stories the boys tell in the coatroom, they’re not true

I don’t tell them I am ashamed

all of us staring out the window like the hungry

She has many troubles, but the big one is her husband who left and keeps leaving

She looks at her feet and walks fast to the house she can’t come out from

“I am an ugly daughter

The one that nobody comes for

I could have been somebody you know?

There is nothing I can do.”

Dream the Dreams

Dream the Dreams

Post #5
Jess Kramer

I chose sentences from pages 42 to 75 to form a found poem which I feel represents Esperanza. I chose some of the quotes that stuck out in my memory that I felt were powerful and important. I think a lot of the things that Esperanza experiences in her life are in large part due to her being a female. In the second stanza, I used quotes that were about all of the boys/men that she had encountered so far in her life. I also wanted to make sure to include quotes that showed Esperanza's strong side and her resilience. I think the gender issue that is present throughout the book is important and would be a great discussion in any classroom. (I recorded the poem and converted it to an mp3 on my computer, however my "trial" with Voicethread was used up and it wanted me to subscribe for $60, therefore I couldn't post my audio.)

They are the only ones who understand me

And I think if my own Papa died what would I do

And then we began to dream the dreams

Sometimes you get used to the sick and sometimes the sickness, if it is there too long, gets to seem normal.

Only I don't get it

Everything is holding its breath inside me

He watched me dance

He had nice eyes and I didn't feel so nervous anymore

I don't remember when I first noticed him looking at me-

Sire

Thank you and goodbye and be careful of the evil eye

Most likely I will go to hell and most likely I deserve to be there

When I am too sad and too skinny to keep keeping

when I am a tiny thing against so many bricks

then it is I look at trees

My home isn't far but it's not close either

We are tired of being beautiful

My mother says I was born on an evil day and prays for me

Keep, Keep, Keep - Post 5

Listen along on my Voice Thread to my found poem:

"Keep, Keep, Keep"

a found poem from The House on Mango Street

by Hannah Welch

This is how they keep.

Their strength is secret.

Push, pull, push pull -  dizzy.

Straight ahead, straight eyes.

Blinds are always closed.

Roses that cry a breath of mold and dampness.

Do you feel it, feel the cold?

Make your blood freeze.

Ain’t it a shame?

Is that it?

What difference does it make?

Wonder, shrug, remember.

I’ll jump out of my skin!

All at once she bloomed,

beautiful like the Emperor’s nightingale.

Wonderful, wonderful

Excited tinkling

Lovely things everywhere-

Leap and somersault like an apostrophe and comma.

She just laughs. 

I’m me!

Alive

This is how they keep-

appreciate these things-

they, who reach and do not forget to reach,

whose only reason is to be and be.

A home in the heart – this is home.

We are home.

 I chose lines from our 3rd portion of the book, pages 58-78.  My most important lines came from the vignette "Four Skinny Trees," in which Esperanza describes 4 trees in her front yard that don't fit the neighborhood, that have to fight against the odds to stay standing.  The title "Keep, Keep, Keep" and the repeated line "This is how they keep" came from that vignette.  I thought this was a powerful idea to relate to not only this section but the entire story, because I see two things at work: the outside, surface existence of these people - it's rough, not easy, and often unpleasant - "roses that cry a breath of mold and dampness."  We know there's struggle, ugliness, and pain in their lives.  But the major message that I've seen is the beauty underneath this - the strength of these people - their abilities to love, celebrate, enjoy life, and make the most of what they've got.  That's where the shift in the poem comes from - the second half is quite happy, my favorite line being "Leap and somersault like an apostrophe and comma," which, along with many other lines, came from the vignette "The Earl of Tennessee." I think the ultimate message of my found poem is that happiness and Esperanza's home are not physical things, or things that one can observe on the surface - they are in the heart, these pieces of happiness and beauty that so many of the characters lift up and celebrate.  This home is about finding yourself, being yourself, and loving the person you are and the life that you live.  Once Esperanza is able to come to this realization, she finds, finally, that she "is home."

SIDENOTE: The House on Mango Street is full of SO MUCH beautiful language, much of it figurative, which really made this assignment fun for me.  I loved going back and picking out these phrases that I smiled at while I read and giving them new life and meaning, so that I could appreciate them in new ways.  This was a really fun response to do, and I LOVE how the Voice Thread felt like a poetry performance or a poetry slam - it feels like within our voice threads, we're creating our own little coffee shop and using our voice to bring our poems to life.

PS:  If you put your name in your label each time you post, we won't have as much confusion about who's posting what and we don't have to put it in the title- just a thought!!!

"No Speak English" - "We Speak No Americano"

Have you guys heard this song?  The title is "We Speak No Americano" and as I reread the "No Speak English" vignette I was reminded of the title.  There really aren't many lyrics, but it's sort of interesting to listen for the English words that pop through, as if the singer is trying to find his "English" - just as Esperanza's Papa did with "hamandeggs" and now the wife of the neighbor is working with her few phrases - "He no home" "No speak English" and "Holy cow!"  Be careful...the beat is catchy!  Just wanted to share!

Esperanza's Father - Post 4

I chose to focus on Esperanza's father.  Check out the Wordle I made from all the things Esperanza says about him - I included any sentence that she mentioned him in up until page 86. 

There are so many characters in this book, so it's sort of difficult to get attached to many of them, because they'll pop up and here and there and not come back into the story again.  But the way Esperanza talks about her dad reminded me a lot of the way I feel about my own dad.  Her feelings for him weren't really clear until the vignette called "Papa Who Wakes up Tired in the Dark," where it clearly shows that she loves him and that they are at least growing closer, if not close already - "I have never seen my Papa cry and don't know what to do" - he feels comfortable showing emotions in front of her about his father dying - and later, she says, "And I think if  my own Papa died what would I do.  I hold my Papa in my arms.  I hold him and hold him."  She realizes how much he means to her and this was a powerful moment.  I also got a sense that Esperanza really appreciated her dad in this passage, when she talks about all of the things he sacrifices to work a job - one with gardens as she later describes (never told what he does) - and provide for his family: "He wakes up tired and in the dark [and is] gone before we wake."  Her mom is mentioned a great deal more in the story, which makes me think that her father is often off working, but when he does have free time - like Sundays - "Papa's day off" (p 86) - he spends them with his family.

My dad and I have a really close bond and I love and appreciate him a great deal.  He works hard - as a foreign accounts manager at Citigroup - at he job he doesn't love, but he gets up every morning to do his work and provide for his family.  Even though I'm sure he's tired, he has always made our time together special - with bike rides at Delaware Park, letting me "do his hair" as a young girl, and lots of weekend trips to see things in the city.  Now that I'm older, we still walk at Delaware Park on the weekends in the summer, and we walk the dogs together every night (unless I'm in class).  He's still my greatest source of advice, always talking me through different things, and he confides a lot in me, just like Esperanza's Papa does in the vignette about him.

My wordle definitely paints her father as a hard working man - with phrases such as "tired" and "wakes" coming up larger and "brave" and "works" coming up smaller.  I love the "Hamandeggs" phrase and how that pops up as a big word, too - this section on learning to speak English (about a neighbor's wife) was comical, but also shows her father as a bit of a risk-taker and trailblazer.  He was willing to struggle through not being able to communicate until he learned the language so that he could live in Chicago and make a better life for his family - again pulling it all back to his willingness to sacrifice for his family.  "Hamandeggs" was the only phrase he knew when he first moved here, so he ate hamandeggs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  The fact that he could laugh about this with Esperanza also reveals a comical side to him as well.  I like how large the name turned up, because until I did this wordle, I did not focus in on her father, and could not have told you what she called him.  Other tiny words that pop up - lottery, snoring,  Sundays - also remind us of little pieces of his character that we might have overlooked otherwise.  I love that Esperanza pointed out that he snores.  For her, this was comforting, but whenever I go somewhere and stay overnight with my mother, I have to bring earplugs - not comforting at all!

Post #4: Jess

Going through the chapters and finding words that I felt were important to Esperanza's character made me realize how much she values certain things. She mentions family, name, and Nenny repeatedly and I noticed that she refers to the house on Mango Street as her "home". Looking at the chapters more closely also helped me realize how strong of a little girl she is. She has been through some pretty traumatic things from seeing someone get arrested, to being sexual assaulted. She knows a lot about a lot when it comes to what is going on around her. I think that the number one thing in her life is her family and her love of her heritage. She is proud of where she came from but at the same time she wants desperately to fit in. She is tough but still a young girl who needs guidance and support. The words in my Wordle that were the biggest (most used) were: name, Mango, kids, street, home, and scared. I think these six words alone represent Esperanza's life in a big way.
Wordle

Post #4 Alex

Here is the wordle I made for this week's post.  I chose to focus on Esperenza by recalling many of the words that repeated throughout the text up to this point.  I have noticed that there is a theme of sense of belonging or "home" and the word "ashamed" has surfaced itself in multiple ways.  I also found the vignette entitled "Four Skinny Trees" to be symbolic of what Esperenza feels about herself.  On the surface she looks weak like the trees, but she has strong roots that bare down into the ground.  The trees seem to have sprung from nothing out of the concrete and don't quite belong where they are.  I think Esperenza feels that she also exists but doesn't feel that she belongs where she is.  Her only reason is "to be just to be".  I think that she feels as though she doesn't have a strong identity yet and struggles to know who exactly she is. 

Post 6: Esperanza's V-log

~Brooke~
Here is my take on Esperanza's video blog, which centers on the main issue is pages 75-90: Esperanza's issue with love and marriage. In these pages, she is grappling with what it means to be a woman and how having a husband and marriage itself can take away a woman's freedom. She is hearing a lot about what it means to be "beautiful" and to be a "woman" in her neighborhood, including wearing make-up, high heeled shoes, finding a man to marry and having kids. It is clear, to me, that Esperanza does not want this kind of life and she doesn't feel like she fits into this role. The V-log I composed represents her viewpoint on this.
Here is the actual diary that I wrote before recording the v-log:

So, what I don’t understand is why everyone is so concerned with being beautiful so that they can catch a husband. There’s Sally, who wears short, black skirts and blue eye makeup and tall black shoes. I wonder what she’s thinking. I wonder how bad those heels hurt and how messy it is to wash that make-up off everyday. I think this kind of thinking sets me apart from the rest of the girls in the neighborhood. Mom says I’m the ugly daughter, that I am the one that nobody comes for. Nenny says she doesn’t want to wait for her husband to come and whisk her away, because we’ve all seen how well that has worked out for Minerva, who is now left alone with her babies and no man in sight. Well you know what? I don’t want that life! I want to be like those women in movies who wear the bright red lipstick and are beautiful, but can hold their own. They don’t need a man to make them happy. That’s who I want to be.

Here is the V-log in which I am pretending to be Esperanza. Feel free to respond in the voice of another character to my diary if you'd like!

Post 5: Dreams

~Brooke~

For post 5, I re-read pages 58-75 and picked out my favorite lines from these sections and compliled them. From there, I re-worked the lines to create a Found poem, titled "Dreams." This Found Poem is supposed to represent the hope and longing that Esperanza embodies for a new location, a new lifestyle, a new home and a new identity (as she grows from girl into woman.) Please let me know what you think!

Dreams

I see a home in the heart,

A new house, a house made of heart.

We began to dream the dreams:

A real house all her own.

Everything is holding its breath inside me,

Everything is waiting to explode like Christmas.

I want to be all new and shiny.

What does it matter?

No matter.

It was a dream.

Here is a link to a VoiceThread that I created, in which I provide some images of a "home" and over the first image, I recorded my reading of the poem. I hope you enjoy!


 

Response #3-Jess

Esperanza's story is more popular than we see in the news; national and local. Many students are living in not so great neighborhoods, living with parents who live paycheck to paycheck, and sometimes taking care of their families themselves. Esperanza is lucky in that she has a family who loves and supports her, however some kids are not so lucky. One of the instances of this that comes to mind is the radio documentary we heard last semester in 518 titled "Remorse" about the two boys who were interviewing people about the little boy who had been killed. REMORSE I can't help but think if Esperanza didn't have close siblings she might have been sucked into a life of crime and negativity. The vignette where the girls put on their high heeled shoes and walk down the street and get unwanted attention is proof of the rough neighborhood that they are living in. Also, the vignette entitled "First Job" is disturbing at the end when the Oriental man kisses her and won't let her go. It is scary and unsafe for a girl of her age to be out on her own, especially in the workplace where she knows no one.
I think that many schools and communities today have caught on to the change that is taking place. Students want their voices to be heard and fight for freedoms in their schools and communities. In order to keep the communities like the one Esperanza lives in, many changes have to take place. They can start at the local schools. The United Students is formed by a group of students from different schools who meet to discuss current issues. They unite to form leaders who help other students as well as their community.   InnerCity Struggle
Crime and community are a big part of Esperanza's story. I think a lot of what she is experiencing is due to the location in which she lives. There are many ways these vignettes can relate to current events, however I feel that location is one of the biggest influences on the book.

Post #3 - Currently on Mango Street

So many things are happening on Mango Street, and as a result, so many things are happening in the story that happen in our own world today.

In "Geraldo, No Last Name," Sally dances with a boy who is later involved in a hit and run, and dies shortly after from the injuries he sustained.  Hit and runs happen quite often, and it's almost as if these people have "No Last Name," too, because it seems that the only people who grieve them are their families and those who knew them.  Two hit and run examples that I thought relate to the one Cisneros describes comes from WGRZ - "Hit and Run" and "Walking From Work" because both of the people in these stories who were hit were walking from their jobs to nearby homes.  They were hit after trying to earn a living, which Geraldo was doing in the Mango neighborhood, having moved from Mexico.  It made me really sad that no one would be able to honor Geraldo - because "the ones he left behind are far away, will wonder, shrug, remember" (66).  It makes me really sad to think that those same sentiments - wondering, shrugging, remembering, are what the drivers involved in hit & runs often experience.

One especially relevant issue that just came up in the news today is the mistreatment of girls and women by men, which sadly is often taken to levels of pedophilia, sexual harassment and sexual abuse, which is brought up at the end of "The First Job."  When I first read this section, I was shocked by what had happened in the coatroom.  Esperanza describes what happened quite factually:

    "He said we could be friends and next time to go in the lunchroom and sit with him, and 

     I felt better.  He had nice eyes and I didn't feel so nervous anymore.  Then he asked if I 

     knew what day it was, and when I said I didn't, he said it was his birthday and would I 

     please give him a birthday kiss.  I thought I would because he was so old and just as I 

     was about to put my lips on his cheek, he grabs my face with both hands and kisses me 

     hard on the mouth and doesn't let go" (55).

I can't say for sure is this man was a pedophile, but I can say for sure that he mistreated Esperanza and pushed to make a sexual advance on her, she being a young girl, and he an "older" man, which makes it completely and entirely inappropriate.  In today's workplace this would definitely be considered sexual harassment, and this episode paints a picture of the continued mistreatment of women by means of sexual acts.  

Just today in the news it was reported that Lara Logan, a correspondent for CBS News, was beaten and sexually assaulted by a group of men in Cairo as she covered the protests  there last week.  You can read an article with the actual report from USA Today here.  It sickens me to hear that things like this still happen, it sickens me to read that they ever happened.  For men to sexually assert themselves onto women is an atrocious act, and I wish behaviors and acts like this would be more harshly punished and more closely watched, because I think it's happening much more frequently and harshly than we know.  The news seems to be permeated with episodes of "To Catch a Predator," reports of molestation, horrific testimonies of rape, and every few months a newsletter to my house letting me know where the latest sexual predators have moved in my neighborhood. Who knows what would have happened to Esperanza had she encountered this man elsewhere, or to Rachel, had she walked over to "the bum man" in "The Family of Little Feet."  These sexual predators and male assaulters seem to be everywhere - how and when will we be able to put an end to this treatment of women, because it is saddening and scary, especially for a fellow girl like me.  Even scarier is that Esperanza didn't react enough to share any feelings about this with us, as if this is the norm for her in her experience.  I think I'm starting to see the harshness of her childhood that you have all been writing about so far!
-Hannah

Post #3 Gender

Alex-
After reading our next installment for this week, I think I agree with Brooke in that there is this emerging sense of gender roles and what is expected of women coming of age.  The whole part about the girls wearing shoes that were "grown up" and how men were looking at them, took away their innocence.  Even when they were playing jump rope, they were singing about growing into their own hips and what hips were supposed to be for.  There was an objectification of these girls as there were men trying to kiss them forcibly.  I wasn't sure if this was a commentary on coming of age, or coming of age in poverty.  Are disadvantaged girls objectified more than girls who grow up with money?  I feel as though there is a more traditional view of what roles women and men play in society and that this view is somehow shifting.  I found two videos that I feel show this.  The first one is a cartoon that shows the traditional view CARTOON and a news clip that shows a more modern view NEWS.   This leaves me to wonder if these roles are old fashioned or if there is still a connection between poverty and these gender roles. 

Post 4:Brooke

Please view the  wordle that I created. The assignment was to create a wordle using all of the words that the character either spoke, or words used in descriptions of this character, but since Esperanza is the narrator of the entire book, I thought that I would narrow it down a bit. Instead, I used all of the chapter titles because they seemed to represent the major ideas of the book. It is interesting to see that "cousin" is the largest word in the wordle, which means it was used the most often. To me, this signifies that family ties and relationships are the most important to Espzeranza. Furthermore, the majority of the other words in this wordle are either names from friends or people in the neighborhood, or they are important places, like "The House on Mango Street." All of these names and references allude to Esperanza's neighborhood, which is a huge part of what defines her. Her experiences, knowledge, friendships, and family are all rooted in her neighborhood, so these names nad references are all important in understanding what makes her who she is.The other words in the wordle relate to her culture: like "rice sandwich" or "hips." These words tell us more about Esperanza's culture and the traditions she has grown up with.  It is hard to "define" a character in so few words, but I think that this wordle does a good job in showing us what is most important to Esperanz: her family, her neighborhood and her culture.

Post 3: Brooke

This portion of the book reminded me of the ongoing issue of "gender roles" and the ways that gender roles affect children, adolescents and teens. In the vigniette "The Family of the Little Feet", Esperanza and her friends get to wear shoes "like Cinderella", so they feel like princesses. As they walk around in them, they feel more and more feminine and soak up the attention that they receive from the men in the neighborhood, until it becomes too much for them ("we are tired of being beautiful") . The girls in this vigniette are really too young to understand sexuality and to be walking around in shoes that make them feel "sexy", yet they do because this is ingrained in them form birth. To be a "woman", which all of these girls are starting to become, they feel like they must do what women do: including wearing high heeled shoes. Although I do not have a newsclip to show this phenomenon, I have chosen a couple of videos that highlight the issues that arise with gender roles. In the first video, titled Gender Roles- Interviews with Kids- it is apparent that these gender roles are formed at a very young age. The second is a commentary on gender roles in Disney films, which suggests that popular culture works at reinforcing these gender roles at a very young age. Esperanza would have been subject to these gender roles and as a blossoming woman, would feel pressure to fulfill this role that is predetermined for her by society. I think it would be interesting to have a discussion around these vigniettes (especially "The Family of Little Feet" and "Hips") in relation to these videos and the students' own experience or knowledge of what it means to be a "girl" or "boy" in America.

Post 4

Post 4: (7, pages 65-80) After reading one additional chapter: Pick a character you are interested in and spend some time writing about them. Who do they remind you of in your own life? Why? Try and use specific references to events in the book and your own life. What do you think of the decisions they have made up to this point?  Do you like this person? What advice would you give them? Who else do they remind you of from other literature you have read or other characters in movies, television shows and other texts from popular media? Share some links to these things on the blog.

OR – Use all the dialogue this character has spoken or any narrative passage describing or related to the character and create a word cloud using wordle (http://www.wordle.net/). Post your cloud to the blog and describe what you think the cloud reveals about the character, the story and the larger ideas, themes and issues it is dealing with.

Post 3

Post 3: (Chapters 5-6, pages 40-65) After reading two more chapters respond using these questions: What connections are you seeing between the book and current events? Be specific – include quotes from the book to help you convey your ideas. Find some news articles, video shots on youtube and other video hosting websites and post them to the blog. Explain the connections you see. Ask your group members to comment.

Post 2-Jess

Esperanza to me comes off as a tough little girl. Sure she has a ton of learning to do, however I think that given her situation, where she lives and what shes been through, she has a pretty good head on her shoulders. I love that the story is told from her perspective. She is so real and it's interesting to see the world through her eyes. She is in a situation unlike any other, which I, along with us I'm sure can not relate to. This is one of the reasons I like to so much. The love that Esperanza has for her family is unconditional. The way she speaks about them and describes them down to what they smell like is remarkable. When talking about her mother's hair she states: "...sweet to put your nose into when she is holding you and you feel safe, is the warm smell of bread before you bake it, is the smell when she makes room for you on her side of the bed..." (pp.6,7). I think that although she is in this house that she is ashamed of, she still feels safe and at home when she is with her family.
I like being part of Esperanza's journey through her discovery of who she is and what her culture represents. The vignette entitled "My Name" was one that stood out to me. "At school they say my name funny as if the syllables were made out of tin and hurt the roof of your mouth. But in Spanish my name is made out of a softer something, like silver..." (p.11). I think that Esperanza is completely aware of her heritage and although it makes her proud, it also embarrasses her and she feels like she wants to just fit in. The Vignette that I think I enjoyed the most was "Those Who don't". Esperanza, regardless of how ignorant she may be, knows a lot about a lot. "But watch us drive into a neighborhood of another color and our knees go shakity-shake and our car windows get rolled up tight and our eyes look straight. Yeah. That is how it goes and goes" (p.28).
One aspect I especially love about this book is how some of the vignettes you read and think to yourself "what does this have to do with anything" and then in the end you find that every vignette has a meaning and a place. Esperanza, although a young naive girl, picks up on the everyday life of her neighborhood.

I chose "This is Home" by Switchfoot because I think that it represents Esperanza and the feeling she has maybe not physically about her home, but emotionally.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgA_bsl84qo

Esperanza/Hope - Post #2

Hannah

While I started off reading through the first few vignettes thinking this story was going to be sad throughout, I came away from page 42 feeling happy and enjoying Esperanza's experiences.  The book starts out with her lamenting her house, all of the moving she's had to do, her lack of a best friend, her little sister, and even her name.  Because she was named after her, Esperanza suggests that all her name requires her to live up to is a life of wanting more, stuck looking out the window just like her great-grandmother did; she even tells us that her name means "sadness, it means waiting" (10).  What made me feel the most sorry for Esperanza is the fact that she was longing for "a best friend all [her] own" (9) to tell her secrets to and laugh with, because when your upbringing isn't the most luxurious or easy, a good friend is always a glimmer of light, but she didn't even have this.

But after reading our section for this week, I don't get the sense that she is sad anymore.  The vignettes quickly turn (after she "baptizes" herself with a new name-almost like she is willing that she won't be tied down to what her name stands for) to her finding first one friend - Cathy, Queen of Cats, and then two more - Lucy and Rachel, with whom she shares her very own bike!   As the vignettes move on and on, she makes more friends - Meme, Louie, Marin, Alicia who sees mice.  Once friendless, it seems that Esperanza now has plenty of people to share her time with.

The thing I love most about Esperanza is how much she celebrates the beautiful things.  They may be small things, but they are beautiful, and they are details and treasures that many of us take for granted.  I LOVE the vignette about the junk shop.  Esperanza seems to describe the beaten down objects with such celebration - I've never seen a dusty couch so beautiful as when she says, "and couches that spin dust in the air when you punch them" (19).  I could see that dirt float up and dance in the light from the dirty window.  And then the description of the sound of the music box- "It's like all of a sudden he let go a million moths all over the dusty furniture and swan-neck shadows and in our bones.  It's like drops of water.  Or like marimbas only with a funny little plucked sound to it...And then I don't know why, but I have to turn around and pretend I don't care about the box" (20).  The sound of that music just ran right through me, and the beauty Esperanza felt in it grabbed on to my heart.  Her having to detach herself from something that touched her was sad, but I could tell she had found something she treasured.  In the last two vignettes I read, Esperanza describes for us two experiences with clouds.  Darius pointed up to the clouds, saying to his classmates, "That's God" (34).  Esperanza describes his comment as "something wise" (33), and you can just tell how much she appreciated this one utterance.  She truly sees that value in the smallest of things, made clear in the next vignette when she begins to celebrate words - 30 for snow, 10 for clouds.  Another great moment came when Esperanza, Nenny, Rachel and Lucy put on the high-heeled shoes and they celebrate their legs: "yes, it's true.  We have legs.  Skinny and spotted with satin scars were scabs were picked, but legs, all our own, good to look at, and long" (40).  I just find her perspective so refreshing and pure - in a place where so many things could bring you down or break your spirit, Esperanza takes nothing for granted and sees that true value, beauty and treasure in all the small things around her.

Just as cherished is Esperanza's family.  Besides Nenny, we haven't gotten to know her family too much, but the impressions she gives of them stick with you - again it's her celebratory nature, and the author's extremely vivid descriptive style.  Esperanza explains her admiration and love for her mother in "Hair": "But my mother's hair, my mother's hair, like little rosettes, like little candy circles all curly and pretty because she pinned it in pincurls all day, sweet to put your nose into when she is holding you, holding you and you feel safe, is the warm smell of bread before you bake it, is the smell when she makes room for you on her side of the bed still warm with her skin, and you sleep near her" (7).  Who doesn't love snuggling in bed with their mother, especially during a rainstorm?  And we know Esperanza's mother is a generous, loving parent, too, because she willing makes room on the bed that she just warmed up.  And Esperanza describes her as telling her and her sister stories before bed.  She also describes her father, speaking of his snoring almost longingly, and noting how he put up bars so she and her siblings wouldn't fall out of the window on Loomis St.  While she doesn't tell as much about him, we know there is a loving relationship there, too.  I think the most beautiful family moment so far comes from "Laughter."  Here, Esperanza says that she & Nenny don't look alike, but when you hear their laugh, you know they're sisters.  And the connection between them is deepened when she shares with her sister that a house they passed by looked like Mexico.  Her sister replies without a chuckle or any questioning of her sister, who admits she had no real reasoning behind feeling this, "Yes, that's Mexico all right.  That's what I was thinking exactly" (18).  Clearly, the sisters, and the family, are connected in ways that we haven't learned yet, and I love the positive depiction of the family unit.

Especially because of Esperanza's carefree attitude that leads her to have fun and find the beauty in the world, and because of the important role her family plays in her story, and this family extending to the community on Mango St as well, I chose to include a song by The Cranberries called "Ode to My Family."  I think all of the images of the large groups of kids together -playing, running around, playing ball, having fun, laughing- matches up nicely with the images I have in my mind of Mango St.  In my mind, I see girls running up and down the street in their mother's clothing, lots of kids on bikes, kids outside Louie's house with the radio, laughter, lots of children outside, and all of them doing many different things.  So the video connects well to the neighborhood I'm picturing.  The lyrics of the chorus fit Esperanza and her story very well, too - "My mother, she hold me" - just like her mother did during the rain storms, "We were raised to see life as fun and take it if we can" - the children learning to have fun and find to good in everything, despite their circumstances.  Two lines that I think ring true to House on Mango Street are "Do you see me standing there?" and "Does anyone care?" Esperanza illustrates in "Those Who Don't" that people who don't know the members of Mango St. are scared of them and think they're dangerous, but as she says, they just don't know them.  These outsiders see them for nothing other than "All brown all around" (28).  This to Esperanza means safety, but those other people don't see her and her family & friends for who they really are, and don't care about them either, except that they are Hispanic.

Here's the video - The Cranberries "Ode to My Family"

Hannah & Jess's Cover

I wanted to share with the group what Jess and I are looking at when we see our cover.  My first post is based on what I see on my cover, so I wanted you guys to know what I'm looking at.  It would be interesting to compare our cover to Brooke and Alex's.  Do they send different messages, feelings or impressions?

Post #2 Thoughts and Video

Baker-
So far, I am loving this book.  I'm flying through it.  I love the way the book is set up with short vignettes as well.  I really like Esperenza and feel that she either doesn't let her situation bother her or she is looking at the world through the eyes of innocence.  She recognizes what other people think about her, but she keeps brushing it off.  It seems as though she is faced with poverty and discrimination and yet doesn't recognize it.  I really saw this when she met Cathy, Queen of Cats and she was told that she would be Esperenza's friend...but only until Tuesday.  She went on to say that the neighborhood is getting bad because "people like us" (hispanic, Esperenza) keep moving in and they would have to move further North of Mango street. This made me angry, in a way.  I don't think Esperenza realized that her family was being discriminated against.  I did feel better, though when Esperenza left Cathy to become friends with the other two girls who shared a bike.

I think this story is telling a tale of struggle and coming of age in less than ideal circumstances.  Esperenza, however, makes it seem okay and as though it is not entirely horrible.  I don't have high hopes for her, but I hope that she has a good handle on where she is and what she wants in life.  She recognizes that she lives in a small house and that it doesn't meet other people's high standards, but the frequency of vignettes, takes my attention away from this and this leads me to feel that Esperenza isn't dwelling on it either.

I was looking for a video that had to deal with being someone's temporary friend, but I couldn't find anything that I liked that fit.  Instead, I chose a song by Carrie Underwood (NOT my first choice of artist) because the song fit some of the feelings I am having for Esperenza.  The song is called "Temporary Home" about a boy in foster care, but I was looking at it from Esperenza's eyes where her parents keep saying that the home is temporary "but you know how that goes".  I picked this because I feel that Esperenza doesn't feel at home yet and is waiting for something better. 

Brooke's Take- Post 1

The title "The House on Mango Street" makes me believe that many of the trials and tribulations of the main character would be in relation to where she lives and also, who she lives with- her family, her neighborhood and the neighbors within it, the school district and perhaps the actual house itself.

This might be a bit of a leap, but since the author is Hispanic, the word "mango" seemed significant to me as well. According to Wikipedia, the mango is a fruit native to subtropical places, including many South American countries. Also, the English word "mango" is taken from the Portuguese word "manga" and the Portuguese language and culture highly affected South America after Columbus and his Portuguese fleet landed there in "India" and tried to dominate the area. Because of the mango's ties to South America and many hispanic countries, I always think of the Mango as a hispanic fruit (although this is not necessarily true.) Thus, this reference to the "mango" reminds me of the author's hispanic heritage and makes me think that this will be a large part of the book.

The dedication of this book was interesting to me. It reads simply "A las mujeres", meaning "To the women" in English. Again, this spanish reference reaffirms the importance of the author's hispanic heritage. Furthermore, this tells me that this story will be about a women, and probably the struggles that a hispanic woman has to go through.

The first line of the book also intruiged me. It reads "We didn't always live on Mango Street." To me, this signifies that living on Mango Street represents a particular time in this young girl's life. It also sounds metaphorical to me- like "Mango Street" does not just mean the actual street on which she lived, but a phase of her life. This phrase also evokes an odd emotional response in me: it sounds dark and ominous, like an excuse or something. The "We didn't always" reminds me of someone saying, "Well, I wasn't always an addict"or "I didn't always feel that way." It gives me the sense that this time on Mango Street was not the happiest part of the author's life.

Brooke's Take: Post 2

So far, I can't seem to put this book down. I think that the vigniettes and the characters in this book are portrayed in a very realistic light-  they are given from the perspective of Esperanza, a teenage Hispanic girl living in a run-down mainly-hispanic community - and many of them are either heart-warming or depressing. I feel badly for Esperanza, and although I can't imagine what her life must truly be like since I am lucky enough to never have had to walk in her shoes, I feel very sympathetic towards her and I wish that there was something that I can do to help her.

 I think the saddest part of her story is the fact that she is so un-phased by all of the crime, poverty and prejudice that she witnesses in her neighborhood on a day to day basis. This is evident in the vigniette titled "Louie, His Cousin & His Other Cousin." In this story, Esperanza tells a story about how a friend of hers, Louie, has a cousin who shows up with a fancy Cadillac one day, which has apparently come from no where. They drive around in it until Louie's cousin hears sirens, kicking everyone out of the car and speeding off, "flooring the car into a yellow blur" (24.) Sadly, the cousin crashes and is then arrested for stealing the car. Although this is a sad scene, I think the saddest part is Esperanza's reaction at the end. When describing the arrest, Esperanza says, "They put handcuffs on him and put him in the backseat of the cop car, and we all waved as they drove away" (25.) To me, the waving indicates that these teens did not see anything out of the ordinary with this scenario, like they are saying "Okay bye, see you later!" It depresses me that a girl this young could be so used to witnessing crime that this arrest of her friend's cousin doesn't even seem to bother her in the least. It is just another story told in a matter-of-fact fashion; it is just another day in her world.

Another vigniette that I found extremely depressing was "Those Who Don't." This is only a short, three paragraph vigniette but it is very telling of her life in this neighborhood. In the beginning, Esperanza says, "Those who don't know any better come into our neighborhood scared. They think we're dangerous. They think we will attack them with shiny knives. They are stupid people who are lost and got here by mistake" (28.) To me, this is so sad. I have been in those neighborhoods, where "outsiders" automatically lock their car doors and roll up the windows because they think they will be attacked because they are driving down the street. I love that Esperanza refers to these people as "stupid" because to me, this shows the ignorance of this type of person. Esperanza is no more likely to attack someone than you or me, but because she lives in a run-down neighborhood and is a Latina, she is constantly being judged, which I find unfair. I think the most profound part of this vigniette, though is when at the end she writes, "All brown all around, we are safe. But watch us drive into a neighborhood of another color and our knees go up shakity-shake and our car windows get rolled up tight and our eyes look straight. Yeah. That is how it goes and goes" (28.)  This part seems so wise, and troubling to me. I think this is the very root of the problem- the basis of racism and prejudice. In our own neighborhoods and with our own "people" we feel safe, but as soon as we enter into a realm unfamiliar to us, we immediately judge and label others, even those that are constantly being judged themselves.

The music video that I chose to go along with this section of the book was "Ghetto" by Akon. This might sound stereotypical, but the video itself has some really compelling images and the lyrics are powerful: describing life in a run-down ghetto, like in the section of town that Esperanza lives in. What I especially like about this particular video is that it shows a variety of different ghettos, including ghettos with different races and ethnic groups living in them. I think this would be a good choice to pair with this book because when watching it, students can visually see the type of place that Esperanza lives. I also think that seeing these images could really help to spark discussion among other students about that type of life-style and can help students to put themselves in Esperanza's shoes, especially if their own life experience does not include living in this type of area. I think it is important for students to empathize with Esperana about her living situation because so much of her life is dependent around the fact that she lives in this area (I mean, the book is called The House on Mango Street for goodness sake!!)

In addition to learning about Esperanza's neighborhood and her home-life, I am starting to see some other themes emerge as well. Family seems to be a large part of this book so far, and I think that this theme will be one we will see more of. Also, the idea of female maturity, or becoming a woman also seems to be a theme. I think we will also see more of this as the book progresses and Esperanza continues to live and grow. I am honestly enjoying this book and am excited to see what will come next!

Getting To Know You: Post #2

Post 2: (Chapters 1-3, roughly pages 1-40) After reading the first two or three chapters respond to the text on the group or class blog: What do you think of the narrative up to this point? What intrigues you? What characters are interesting to you? What are you not sure about yet? What tensions are you noticing? Where do you think the story is headed? What specific quotes, lines or passages do you like? Why? Find a music video online that you feel connects to your writing and include it at the end of your post.

* NOTE: You will need to create a whole new post, not a comment, if you want to include a link to a movie video in your post!!*

Under Cover: Post #1

Look at the front cover of The House on Mango Street, read the first line of the book, think about the title. What do you think this book will be about? Take some guesses and see where they lead you…