The Writer's Craft: Allusion

In The House On Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros uses a number of themes to conduct her unique writing style. The use of allusions is one of the many. This technique uses slight hints and indirect references to connect the story to an outside idea. A prime example of this in the text is in the vignette The Monkey Garden. In this chapter Esperanza leaves her childhood behind her after being introduced to the maturity that her friends were showing. In the text Sally plays a game with other boys that involves kissing--Esperanza finds it wrong and tells Sally's mother but she responds in a nonchalant way. Becoming frustrated, Esperanza retreats to the Monkey Garden's tallest tree where she wishes she'd die. The only thing that died would be her childish self. Suddenly the garden became "Not so fun anymore."

When reading this story the allusion seen is a reference made to the famous story "The Garden Of Eden." The Monkey Garden passage includes the setting of a large garden with a tree that seems to grant wishes. In the Garden Of Eden, Adam & Eve sin by daring to eat an apple from the tree they were forbidden to take from. After doing so, the pair were banished from the paradise. In likelihood to The Monkey Garden, Esperanza never came back to the garden as if she took an apple from the tree.

-Akim C.-

Who Let the Dogs Out? -A Vignette

My family didn't always have a pet. The idea of one always seemed much too crazy to even consider. To this day, I can't recall how the minds of two clean freak parents were convinced to get a pet or a dog for that matter. The only thing that I can remember is just how weird your first time meeting a real dog can be, especially when it just so happens to be the same size as you. That and the pressure of picking out the one you actually want.

After choosing my dog, Sunny, I'd soon find out that getting him to settle down for the car ride home was going to be the real challenge. For the rest of the drive, his saliva covered my face as his tongue sprang from his mouth like a grandfather clock striking noon. It almost felt as if I were in one of those Beethoven movies. I didn't mind, surprisingly. I had the same bubbly feeling in my stomach when I make a new friend. It felt right, it felt good. 

-Akim C.-

A Decieving Roadtrip- A Vignette

  I recall being twelve years old and my family and I were trudging through a difficult time. We had just moved from Texas all the way to Spring Valley which forced us to face a major change in comparison to our old neighborhood. Since my dad was a truck driver he often took me with him in the summer to venture along the eastern coast of the U.S. Since we already relocated to New York he paid my family and I a visit, then a trip back to Texas--making deliveries along the way for just about a week. I loved spending time with my dad because we seldom spent any real time with each other. I spent maybe a few accumulated days just staring out the old Peterbilt window, driving, day and night alike, allowing my imagination to save me from boredom.

Despite talking, laughing, eating and sleeping I didn't get anything done during the trip. The only  actual fun I had was at a stop in a city we took. The place was to my surprise, enjoyable. They had theaters, arcades and some really good old fashion buffets. I'd soon find out it was all too good to be true. Breaking from my young and naive dream, I had figured why I was even on the trip in the first place. My dad wanted to have a serious talk with me about the problems he was facing with my mother. If that wasn't bad enough, he then asked me which of my parents I wanted to live with. I had to pick my mother, because i knew my father wasn't as reliable as i needed him to be. But on the other hand  knew with or without my father a mothers love is always consistent and she always found a way to make ends meet, and I knew where ever I went he would still support me and visit.

After all this, I noticed I really like reflecting on myself and my troubles and just how I deal with them. I enjoyed looking out the window and staring out to the empty road. It gives me time to think seriously and flex my imagination--break from my shell and really learn about myself. The method hasn't failed yet.

-Josh R.-

Gil's Furniture Bought & Sold

             -Armani B.-

     In this vignette, Esperanza and her sister, Nenny take a visit to a local junk store, owned by an old man named Gil. Both of them are very familiar with the store because they once purchased a used refrigerator and other used junk from there. The building is described to be small with a single dirty window that is used as a primary light source. The only time Gil turns on the actual lights is when someone has money to buy to things. Therefore, the place is often dark. The store is filled with TVs that probably don’t even work, dusty old sofas, stacks of upside down chairs, and other pre-owned products. 

   The owner is an old black man who doesn't talk much. He just sits about and observes all movement that occurs in the store. Nenny, who has faith in her intelligence socializes with the old man and asks him a lot of questions. On the other hand, Esperanza keeps quiet. Gil then, shows Nenny an old music box and Nenny becomes fascinated with it. Esperanza then, starts to visualize the box as a pretty one with flower illustrations on it, and a ballerina in its contents. To her surprise, it was just a wooden box with brass in it, but still manages to play an unrecognizable tune. Esperanza remains quiet as the music box plays, pretending to not like the wooden box because she doesn’t want her sister to notice how foolish she looked. Her little sister wanting to buy the box, but Gil shuts her down. "This one isn't for sale”, he says.

    The music box was seemingly cherished by the owner, clearly proven as he didn't want to give up the item. The box more or likely was accompanied with several important memories he couldn't afford to give up. One thing that caught my attention in this vignette was that the junk store used windows as a source of light, rather than electricity. I believe that here the windows represent the border between reality and imagination. The darkness of the store giving Esperanza the means to call upon her thoughts. Such as "The TVs stacked high create a maze in the store." I think that the window is also recognized as a new life for Esperanza and the darkness or depression that she’s facing now.

My Name

Esperanza's culture calls for a traditional role for woman starting an early age--she was never fond of the idea. Being born in the Chinese year of the horse, she is expected to have a bucking spirit of one. Her grandmother was a prime example. Esperanza was named after her grandmother who was forced into that life by her husband. She'd rest her sadness on her elbow, and gaze out of a window.

The mention of windows in this passage depicts how it acted as a barrier from the outside world and how gazing out of it from the confines of a house provides the hunger for freedom with a bittersweet reality. This is the life Esperanza hopes to avoid and she seeks to do so by changing her name to one that fits her true self. Change it to something that her friends wouldn’t laugh at, something like "Zeze the X."

I can relate to her troubles. As a kid my name would be often be mispronounced or made fun of. For some reason I'd want to rename myself to Christian, my middle name. As time went by I found pride in it--as the story progresses Esperanza does the same as she matures.

-Akim C.-

The House on Mango Street

In the House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, the main character, Esperanza is a poor Latina girl who hates the house that she moved in to. She feels that it's pale in comparison to the commercial homes she's seen. The homes with a big front yard and big beautiful windows you can look out of, without the dirty eyes of people looking back. One of her descriptions of the house on Mango Street was "The windows are so small you'd think that they were holding their breath".  The rest of the story includes just how she endures it all and manages to cope with her chronic desire to wriggle free from the clutches of poverty and to mature as she sees her older peers are.

-Akim C. / Josh R. / Armani B.-