"Good Lucky You Studied"

THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET 25TH YEAR EDITION

SANDRA CISNEROS

VINTAGE BOOKS
1984, 2009

VINTAGE ISBN 978-0-679-73477-2

The House on Mango Street is a novel I’ve wanted to read for the longest time, mostly because it is set in my hometown, Chicago, and is about a Latina women growing up। The other day when I went to the library they had a good 15-20 copies so I was like whoa…I think it’s time, I no longer have an excuse! I'll admit...I did go a little overboard on this post, but this book was pretty touching and inspiring to me.

It was a real easy read, the chapters ranged from half a page to three pages long. Each chapter was like another glimpse into her life, it is as if Cisneros was telling many stories in one. At first I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it because it’s not like other books I’ve read, but I feel like I was taught a lesson; reading a book about a Latina growing up years ago in a neighborhood nearby, gives me hope, even more being that it’s the 21st century.

An interesting thing about this novel is that there is no dialogue. It’s all written from her point of view, telling us what her mother or sister said, so we are getting a firsthand look at what she was feeling at each moment – good or bad. However, I think it worked in this novel. I feel like her point wasn’t what happened, or the details, but the emotion and life experiences.

One thing she talked about was the fact that her parents moved a lot, and I can relate on that issue. I can remember living in about 8 different apartments, not houses. I know how she feels when she talks about her parents going to look at nicer houses and she didn’t like going, because she felt ashamed. She disliked staring at what she can’t have and couldn’t wait to have her own house, and well she has her own place today, and I’m glad it worked out for her. I hope to follow in her steps. Like her parents, I’m positive my parents want to own a home, but sometimes life doesn’t just work that way.

“Those who don’t know any better come into our neighborhood scared” (28). Cisneros tackles a lot of issues towards racism, but in a way I appreciate. Yeah, she states how some people drive into her neighborhood scared, may lock the doors, but when the tables are turned her or other people from her neighborhood do the same thing. I don’t know about other places, but in Chicago, every neighborhood is predominately one race, and it changes from time to time. I just wish more people can agree to get along, yeah we may get scared, but hey it’s a commonality, right? I know that doesn’t make anything better but, the families, say Hispanic families, who move into neighborhoods, say an African-American or white one, and realize they are the only Hispanics and try and move out – what is the point in that?

Another way she makes this book relatable to me is when she talks about winter in Chicago and how we have two types of snow, clean and dirty; that was so funny to me because it’s so true! Also, “back in the day” I remember my mom use to sell Avon to help out around the house; which is the same thing people she knows did. A thing that really got to me is the concept of overprotection. Hispanic families are pretty protective, but I didn’t realize how strict they were, and hopefully aren’t still. But there is a girl in the novel who’s dad didn’t really let her do anything, and one day he saw her with boys and had a fit, we are to assume she is abused and that idea is, sadly, clarified. Not only does the main character, Esperanza, witness abuse first hand from one of her friends, she witnesses a great deal of death. As a young lady she has to grow through many things I still can’t imagine, but that makes her the strong woman she is today.

Esperanza did not want to be like the other girls, and what for? Why stop having fun when it is something she likes to do to be happy. She always wrote at a young age, even shared her poems with a neighbor and told stories to her postman – so it is true, they start young. Some girls her age, would marry to “escape” (and we are talking before 8th grade here), like one of her friends did. Her friend, Sally, and her husband had to go to another state where it is legal to marry before the 8th grade, but was it really an escape? She couldn’t talk on the phone, or leave the house. It’s like another woman Esperanza knew, she would give Esperanza and her friends a dollar to even go to the store to buy her juice. Why want a life like that?

The introduction is one of my favorite parts about the whole book. It goes through how her father feels about her once she finally decides she wants her own places; his reaction was that the white people and college ruined her. But, ruin? Some immigrants who come to America just don’t assimilate, especially if they aren’t born here, so I think when there is a borderline between parents and kids like that, times can get difficult. The mother understands here her daughter is coming from, you see, her mom had a dream, to sing, and had to give that up, what mother wants her daughter to give up too? I feel for her mother. My mother had me at 18. Didn’t go to college. Began her life anew. Does she blame me? No. Did Esperanza’s mother blame her? No. Mothers like that just want their kids to be better; I know Sandra is probably now happy. I know I am now happy. I go to a great college and see every day that my mother is proud. My mother is also like Esperanza’s father, he always asks her when she is coming home, and I know my mom would love for me to come home after college, but the world is waiting for me.

In the introduction I feel like Cisneros pushes education and pushes not to be ashamed. Between her words I can feel she was ashamed of her life growing up in Chicago, but constantly found herself back here. But at the end, she shows her mother everything she has earned, and her mother is happy. Content. “Good lucky you studied,” she says. At the end of the day, life to her, and life to me, is making our family proud. Leaving Chicago was her dream, getting her own house was her dream, writing a novel was her dream, all things she accomplished. But she still finds herself coming back. Her heart is here. She may leave but will find herself back sometimes. And when you leave, when and if I leave Chicago, another important lesson, come back for those that were here for you.