What is the importance of family in this novel (The House on Mango Street)?
The House On Mango Street SSI 2020 The House on Mango Street is a Bildungsroman (bil·dings·row’·mun) or also called a coming of age story. The conflict in these types of stories usually relates to the typical situations young people find themselves in as they mature from childhood to young adulthood (11/12 to early teens). Please keep this in mind as you frame your discussion in the following questions. 1. What are three important settings Cisneros uses in the story? How do they develop the situations that are important Esperanza’s growth?Remember there are three parts to discussing literary settings: the time, the place, and the cultural conventions of that particular time and place. Please discuss all three.2. In what ways are the sexual experiences important as part of Esperanza’s maturation? Why does Esperanza both seek and try to avoid sexual experiences?3. Discuss the structure of this novel. How are Cisneros’ short vignettes more powerful than a traditional linear plot? How does this plot structure facilitate the advancement of the story?4. Why is there so much violence against women in this book? How does the challenge of living in a patriarchal society both hinder and help Esperanza in her growth?5. How do race and gender come into conflict in this book? Does one triumph as the more important concern, or do both issues receive equal deliberation?6. What experiences are important to Esperanza’s writing? Why does she want to write?7. What is the importance of family in this novel? How do these relationships both hinder and enable Esperanza’s development as a person?8. Why do you think Cisneros chooses not to try to represent dialect, slang, or accents? Are there ways in which her language is particularly “Chicana” or “Latino”?9. What is the significance of the supernatural in this book? Consider the fortuneteller, the old ladies who read Esperanza’s palm, and Darius, who sees God in a cloud.10. Why is the idea of a home so important to Esperanza, both as a place of security and as an actual physical space?
