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House On Mango ST

The document discusses racism as an important theme in Sandra Cisneros's book "The House on Mango Street". It analyzes how racism negatively impacts the characters and is presented through examples of prejudice against Hispanic residents. Specifically, it notes two vignettes where outsiders fear the neighborhood due to racist stereotypes, and where Esperanza is sexually abused by a man who emphasizes her race. Racism shapes the identities of Esperanza and others in the community and shows how judgments based on appearance can define and affect people.

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Mauricio Barcelo
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315 views1 page

House On Mango ST

The document discusses racism as an important theme in Sandra Cisneros's book "The House on Mango Street". It analyzes how racism negatively impacts the characters and is presented through examples of prejudice against Hispanic residents. Specifically, it notes two vignettes where outsiders fear the neighborhood due to racist stereotypes, and where Esperanza is sexually abused by a man who emphasizes her race. Racism shapes the identities of Esperanza and others in the community and shows how judgments based on appearance can define and affect people.

Uploaded by

Mauricio Barcelo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Racism in “The House on Mango Street”

“The House on Mango Street”, has one very important theme in the story which is racism.
This theme is presented in Esperanza and the people on Mango Street and in her
neighborhood. Through this theme, people’s identity is formed by providing examples of
racism and the various aspects that have importance in it.

In this story, racism is shown in various experiences that negatively affect people in the
story, “The House on Mango Street” is divided in short chapters called vignettes, and the
vignette that show racism and its effects the clearest, is “Those Who Don’t,” in which the
author writes about racism in Esperanza’s neighborhood by describing how the outsiders
see the Hispanic residents. in this vignette, the author says that the outsiders “come to the
neighborhood scared,” because “they think we are dangerous” and “will attack them with
shiny knives,” this shows that people outside the neighborhood have a racist prejudice about
the Hispanic, they assume the residents are bad people trying to hurt them because that’s
what they have heard from others.

In the book, people in other neighborhoods are judged by their ethnicity, and other people’s
beliefs, outsiders don’t even meet and talk to the people of other neighborhoods face-to-
face. Rather, the they judge others without even getting to know the people they’re judging.
In the story, the people’s identity comes from the judgment of others. They are judged by
their appearance, clothing, physical or race and because of that, the Hispanics are defined
as “dangerous criminals.”

The other vignette that shows racism clearly, is “Red Clowns,” this part is important, because
in this vignette, Esperanza is sexually abused by a random man at the carnival, and the man
says to her “I love you, I love you little Spanish girl.” In this vignette, the author shows that
the man thinks that just because Esperanza is from a different race than him, she is of lesser
value. While this event was happening the man refers to Esperanza as a “Spanish Girl”
rather than just calling her a young girl, he takes advantage of Esperanza’s young age and
race in order to sexually abuse her.

In “The House on Mango Street,” the negative effects of racism in Esperanza and her
neighbor’s lives when they experience racism by themselves, this develops each character’s
identity, and shows the way that people react to this racism. In the book, the author uses
racism as a theme that helps the reader learn about the neighborhood, and the identity of
Esperanza and the Hispanic race and how it is formed and affected by it. Racism is a very
important theme in “The House on Mango Street,” and it also helps people to understand
why racism is bad, and how it affects communities.

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