Post 5: Sandra Cisneros

Sandra Cisneros is a poet, short story writer, novelist, and essayist. She was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1954. She is the third out of seven children and the only surviving daughter. During her childhood, her family was constantly moving between Chicago and Mexico City. This was clearly difficult for her but it was only heightened by the fact that she felt increasingly isolated as the only girl in the family. According to her biographer Robin Ganz Cisneros was inspired by her mother Elvira, “who was a voracious reader and more enlightened than her father” and she ensured that her daughter would be able to reach her full potential, regardless of her gender. When Cisneros was years old her family settled in Humboldt Park, a predominantly Puerto Rican neighborhood in Chicago, unbeknownst to Cisneros this neighborhood and its characters would be the inspiration for her novel The House on Mango Street.

The House on Mango Street  is a coming of age novel that  tells the story of Esperanza Cordero as she grows and discovers the importance of her power. The House on Mango Street was the second book Cisneros independently published, after being published in many journals. It has been acclaimed by critics, loved by children, parents, and grandparents alike, and is taught in grade schools as well as universities. One of my favorite parts in the book is when Esperanza compares herself with her great-grandmother (they share the same name and were both born in the Chinese year of the horse). She says that it is bad luck to be born in the year of the horse “if you’re born female - but I think this is a Chinese lie because the Chinese, like the Mexicans, don’t like their women strong” (Cisneros 10). She continues by saying “ I would’ve liked to have known her, a wild horse of a woman, so wild she wouldn’t marry. Until my great-grandfather throw a sack over her head and carried her off. … And the story goes she never forgave him. She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow” (Cisneros 11). The part I find most striking comes at the end: “Esperanza. I have inherited her name, but I don't want to inherit her place by the window” (Cisneros 11). I remember reading it and having to read it again because I just couldn’t believe it. I don’t know how old Esperanza is but it is just wild to read it from the perspective of a young adult. In my mind, it shows how much power she has because she is learning from the mistakes of her ancestors and vows to never make the mistakes, she is forging her own identity and its amazing to see her grow throughout the novel. It also is so sad to hear that her great-grandmother’s strong willed nature was tamed and defeated by the men in her life. This brings to mind what Naomi Wolf stated in Culture “Women are mere “beauties in men’s culture so that culture can be kept male. (Wolf 59)”. This quote shows that the reasoning behind Esperanza’s great-grandfather’s actions, it is because society does not accept a strong willed woman and he could not accept her the way she was as his wife.

Because of Cisneros unique background, her work shows a different experience as compared to more ‘traditional’ American writers. This is because she relies on her lived experiences to drive her writing. When she was in a writers’ workshop group she realized that her identity gave her writing a unique potential. She said “It wasn't as if I didn't know who I was. I knew I was a Mexican woman. But I didn't think it had anything to do with why I felt so much imbalance in my life, whereas it had everything to do with it! My race, my gender, and my class! And it didn't make sense until that moment, sitting in that seminar. That's when I decided I would write about something my classmates couldn't write about." (Doyle 6). Therefore, in her work she tries to negotiate a cross-cultural identity but this is complicated because both Mexican and American cultures have deep rooted patriarchal values. She noted that it is difficult to embrace Anglo views on feminism because it is seen as denying her culture, but she has learned that she had to define her views for herself and not be tied down by her culture. “Chicana feminism has arisen largely from this need to contest the feminine stereotypes that define machismo, while at the same time identifying and working against the shared class and racial oppression that all Chicanos/as—men, women and children—experience” (Madsen).  Chicana feminism is clearly found and present throughout The House on Mango Street from the interactions Esperanza has with her mother and other women in her life as well as through the stories she tells. Cisneros’ passion for hearing personal stories and expressing the voices of marginalized people through her work is what makes The House on Mango Street such a striking and compelling work of art. It embodies what Audre Lorde said in Poetry is Not a Luxury: “poetry is the way we help give name to the nameless so it can be thought” (Lorde 372). By giving the nameless names’, Cisneros is highlighting and validating their struggles and proving that they are not alone.

Works Cited

Doyle, Jacqueline (Winter 1994), "More Room of Her Own: Sandra Cisneros's The House on Mango Street", MELUS, The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States (MELUS)

Cisneros, Sandra. “The House on Mango Street.” The House on Mango Street, Arte Público, 1984, pp. 10–11.

Lorde, Audre. “Poetry is Not a Luxury” “Sister Outsider: essays and speeches” page 36. Published by Crossing Press, 1985.

Madsen, Deborah L. “Sandra Cisneros: General Commentary.” HighBeam Research , Feminism in Literature: A Gale Critical Companion, 2000, www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3441600383.html.

Wolf, Naomi. “Culture.” The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women.