Perhaps the most unique novel in the realm of storytelling is The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, which tells the coming of age story of Esperanza, a young Latina girl in Chicago, through the use of vignettes and indirect storytelling. Throughout the novel, Cisneros utilizes vignettes almost as if they were diary entries, showing abbreviated clips from Esperanza’s life, and telling her story and the stories of other characters though specific detailed and emotional moments. This method of storytelling assists in creating the same empathy and sympathy seen in Flight between the reader and the characters, once again displaying the larger message of each story and how that message acts in the creation of the American identity. Moreover,
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One day, Marin tells the story of a boy she met at a club who died later that night to which Esperanza internally replies, “That’s the story. That’s what she said again and again” (Cisneros 65). Marin’s story of growing up and becoming a woman should inspire excitement and wonder in the mind of the young girl; however, the shocking bluntness of the story leads Esperanza to reconsider her desire to grow up so quickly, while also placing a new trust in Marin’s experiences. Similarly, Esperanza’s parents use their ability to tell stories to speak about their dreams and to inspire their children to achieve. At the very beginning of the novel, Esperanza contrasts her house on Mango street with one much larger and much more elegant, which “was the house Papa talked about when he held up a lottery ticket and… was the house Mama dreamed up in the stories she told us before we went to bed” (Cisneros 4). Here, Cisneros uses these stories out of the context of dialogue to symbolize the distance of the dream and to generalize the situation, as if this conversation has happened more than …show more content…
In “Brownies” by Z. Z. Packer, Flight by Sherman Alexie, and The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, the ability for characters to tell stories to one another assists the readers in recognizing the authors’ versions of the American story, creating a diverse meaning for the true American dream and the true American identity. Considering the variety of methods through which all authors share their stories and from where they derive inspiration, one must now contemplate how America will tell its story in future times. America will continue to produce this literature motivated by the great minds of Jefferson, Emerson, and Whitman, but the new generation of the American identity will flourish from the current rallies, marches, political television, and millennial and Generation Z social media outbursts. When one looks forward to the future of American literature, the one certain prediction is the ability for all people to create a movement, a rebellion even, to share their story and the story of their people. This is the new American identity. This is American rebellion. This is American literature. This is the new American
One day, Marin tells the story of a boy she met at a club who died later that night to which Esperanza internally replies, “That’s the story. That’s what she said again and again” (Cisneros 65). Marin’s story of growing up and becoming a woman should inspire excitement and wonder in the mind of the young girl; however, the shocking bluntness of the story leads Esperanza to reconsider her desire to grow up so quickly, while also placing a new trust in Marin’s experiences. Similarly, Esperanza’s parents use their ability to tell stories to speak about their dreams and to inspire their children to achieve. At the very beginning of the novel, Esperanza contrasts her house on Mango street with one much larger and much more elegant, which “was the house Papa talked about when he held up a lottery ticket and… was the house Mama dreamed up in the stories she told us before we went to bed” (Cisneros 4). Here, Cisneros uses these stories out of the context of dialogue to symbolize the distance of the dream and to generalize the situation, as if this conversation has happened more than …show more content…
In “Brownies” by Z. Z. Packer, Flight by Sherman Alexie, and The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, the ability for characters to tell stories to one another assists the readers in recognizing the authors’ versions of the American story, creating a diverse meaning for the true American dream and the true American identity. Considering the variety of methods through which all authors share their stories and from where they derive inspiration, one must now contemplate how America will tell its story in future times. America will continue to produce this literature motivated by the great minds of Jefferson, Emerson, and Whitman, but the new generation of the American identity will flourish from the current rallies, marches, political television, and millennial and Generation Z social media outbursts. When one looks forward to the future of American literature, the one certain prediction is the ability for all people to create a movement, a rebellion even, to share their story and the story of their people. This is the new American identity. This is American rebellion. This is American literature. This is the new American