S.'s review
The House on Mango Street
by Sandra Cisneros
S.'s review
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
S.'s review
rating:
True working-class literature is still too rare. To be a working-class writer writing about working-class characters seems anathema to publishers. Some suggest this is due to editors and publishers being unlikely to be themselves working-class, and so little appreciate characters who earn wages without ever reaping the financial profits from their labor. Another reason may be that Americans hold a vision of middle or upper class life as our stereotypical "American Dream." Who dreams of working at McDonald's? Some do, no doubt, but no one's holding their dreams up to the light.
Regardless, Sandra Cisnero's "House on Mango Street" stands out. Its immediacy stems from its perspective: the story is written as the memoir of a child of first-generation immigrant Latino workers. Esperanza doesn't have the vocabulary to directly describe how class and race affect her, so she relies on simple imagery of everyday events to relate such things. The tale is told in straigh...more
Regardless, Sandra Cisnero's "House on Mango Street" stands out. Its immediacy stems from its perspective: the story is written as the memoir of a child of first-generation immigrant Latino workers. Esperanza doesn't have the vocabulary to directly describe how class and race affect her, so she relies on simple imagery of everyday events to relate such things. The tale is told in straigh...more
