Sandra St. Victor

Age is Just a Number Lorraine Hansberry, author of A Raisin in the Sun, tactfully portrays the development of a childish man into a fully developed adult through his trials and errors during a racist era. Walter Lee, son of Lena (Mama) Younger, has been given the opportunity to teach his son, Travis, what it is to be a man. Given the moment, Walter finally discovers his own “manhood” and tells the white community where he and the family stand (pg. 151). Lena Younger had just inherited her late husband’s insurance money of ten-thousand dollars. While she would like to save the money for her daughters schooling and a house for the family, Walter Lee had different plans in mind. Walter’s biggest battle started with his own childish fantasy. He wanted to use all of the money to invest in a liquor store that could possibly make money if it worked (pg. 33). Just like a child enveloped in a dream to be a millionaire, Walter speaks to his mother exclaiming that money “is life”, and not freedom (pg. 74). He does not even consider thinking of other’s ideas and opinions of the money, but instead only cares about making as much of it as he possibly can. Lena had referred to years of slavery for blacks when she mentioned to Walter that freedom used to be life, and not money. Walter did not even recognized the importance of being grateful to the freedom that he possesses, unlike those before him who never saw freedom. Eventually, Walter used the money in an investment behind the…

Women writers have become successful with their works by going beyond social norm standards. They have been critiqued because of their gender roles and are expected to not disobey a man, yet they have proven to not let that be a barrier towards their goals and success. Both Sandra Cisneros and Helena Maria Viramontes use various narrative strategies like the Control and Exercise of Chicana Sexuality, Bildungsroman Novel, and the Reinterpretation of Myths to break with traditional stereotypes of…

In Marge Piercy’s narrative poem, “Barbie Doll”, the story of a young girl is told from the viewpoint of an outside speaker watching her grow up around the norms of society and ultimately ends her life because of it. Throughout each stanza, a new important piece of information is expressed to the readers to contribute to both the theme and tone of the poem. Piercy is able to cultivate the idea that inward beauty is not valued in today’s society, and that artificial perfection can only be…

In her novel The House on Mango Street (1984), Sandra Cisneros expresses the story of a young, indigent girl, Esperanza, who had recently moved onto Mango Street and is ashamed of the family’s shabby new community. Cisneros develops the story through a series of vignettes that express Esperanza’s experiences in her new home like the people she meets, their lives, hardships they face, obstacles that she has encountered, how they’ve affected her, and how her mind was changed. Through these…

“The House on Mango Street,” written by Sandra Cisneros, illustrates the life of a young girl whose family moves several times. People judge the girl’s house because of the condition of the house. The judgements make her want to one day have a better life for herself which ties in with the theme that people can be harsh in the way they perceive others and their belongings. One must not let those people deter oneself but rather take the negative perception and use it to drive one’s own goals. The…

In The House on Mango Street, written by Sandra Cisneros, there are many themes. Some of these themes are universal as well as specific to the era/setting of the book, the 1990s in a Mexican American low income neighborhood. One of the major themes would be words have power. The protagonist, Esperanza, learns the power of controlling languages starting by names. On page 11 it states, “In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting.” She…

Sandra Cisneros wrote the House on Mango Street. Sandra was born in Chicago on December 20, 1954. She is the third child in a family of seven children and is the only daughter. Her fathers name is Alfredo Cisneros de Moral, and her mothers name is Elvira Cardero Anguiano. Esperanza’s father was originally from Mexico, who was less dominant than the other father figures in the neighborhood. He worked the majority of the time and was rarely home. Esperanza’s mother grew up in the United States.…

This short novel is The house on Mango Street. By Sandra Cisneros.This book is about a girl named Esperanza. She’s a young girl who isn’t confident about where she lives. Later she is getting confident about where she lives and she notices changes about her body. Last of all, she starts making her own choices in her life. In the beginning of the novel, Esperanza is a young insecure child who is insecure about her new life on Mango Street. The first time we see Esperanza’s insecurity is when…

A Book Review of Where is the Mango Princess and the Effects of Traumatic Brain Injury Where is the Mango Princess is a tragic, heart wrenching, and deeply personal account of how traumatic brain injury affected the life of, author, Cathy Crimmins (2000) and the lives of her entire family. Crimmins wrote this account in order to share her experience of living and caring for a person with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and to help those in the same position as her to cope with the myriad of…

Sandra Cisneros Sandra Cisneros one of the most famous Hispanic authors. She was born in December 20, 1954 in Chicago (Sandra Cisneros Biography). She has six sibling and she is the only female of the family (Gloria A. Duarte-Valverde). Her father was Mexican and her mother was Mexican American; which names were Elvira Cordero Cisneros and Alfredo Cisneros Del Moral (Gloria A. Duarte-Valverde). In her childhood her family would travel mostly all the time, and because of that she felt like if…