Sandra Cisneros

1
Sandra Cisneros

• A House as Quiet as Snow

2
Growing Up in Chicago

• Born in the Hispanic Quarter of Chicago in 1954
• Mexican-American (Chicana)
• She was the only girl in a family of seven, and
  grew up in poverty
• Her parents emphasized education
• Her family moved often she was shy and
  introverted, but connected with her community
  privately through writing
• http//www.galegroup.com/free_resources/chh/bio/ci
  sneros_s.htm
• http//www.sandracisneros.com/html/about/bio.html

3
Becoming a Writer

• Attended Loyola University in Chicago as an
  English major
• Decided to become a writer
• Attended the Iowa Writers Workshop, a graduate
  school for young writers
• Was afraid her unprivileged background would put
  her at a disadvantage in the literary world
• However, her heritage gave her the unique voice
  that shaped her career
• http//www.galegroup.com/free_resources/chh/bio/ci
  sneros_s.htm
• http//www.sandracisneros.com/html/about/bio.html

4
Books by Sandra Cisneros

• Bad Boys, Mango Press San Jose, California, 1980
• The House on Mango Street , (Arte Publico Press
  Houston, Texas, l984), Vintage New York, 1991.
• Woman Hollering Creek, Random House New York,
  1991
• My Wicked Wicked Ways, (Third Woman Press
  Berkeley, California, l987), Random House New
  York, 1992
• La Casa En Mango Street, translated by Elena
  Poniatowska, Vintage Español, New York, 1994.
• Loose Woman, Alfred A. Knopf New York, 1994.
• Hairs/Pelitos, Alfred A. Knopf New York, 1994.
  Spanish translation by Liliana Valenzuela.
• Caramelo, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2002.
  Spanish edition translated by Liliana Valenzuela.
  
• Vintage Cisneros, Vintage, New York, 2004.
• http//www.sandracisneros.com/html/about/publicati
  ons.html

5
The House on Mango Street Narrator

• The work is narrated by Esperanza Cordero,
  thirteen, a Chicana girl in Chicago.
• Although told in the voice of a young girl, it
  addresses mature subject matter.
• In English, Esperanza means hope, and also,
  waiting.
• This choice of name is significant in the novel
  the character and her independence represent a
  way out of the slums.
• As she watches her neighborhood, she decides that
  she will not become like the women she knows,
  trapped and powerless in a mans world.

6
The House on Mango Street Setting

• Mango Street symbolizes both Esperanzas ball and
  chain and her inspiration.
• In the beginning of the novel, she is
  disappointed with the house on Mango Street.
• She finds that she is not like the other
  residents of Mango, that she can and will find
  the strength to leave her life there.
• She realizes that Mango is a part of her, and
  where she comes from is as important as where
  shes going.
• She knows she must come back, to help the others
  who are trapped there.
• Cisneross writing is very imagistic. She makes
  unexpected comparisons between things to give
  connotations to what she describes.

7
The House on Mango Street Structure

• The novel is told as a series of vignettes, 1-4
  pages each
• There is no real chronological plot, but a series
  of insights into Esperanzas thoughts and
  feelings.
• The vignettes show the trends in behavior in the
  community and provide a contrast between strength
  and weakness, between freedom and bondage.
• The novel is dedicated A Las Mujeres, To the
  Women.

8
The House on Mango Street Characters

• Alicia, the medical student who is still bound to
  her old fears.
• Marin, who waits.
• Beautiful Rafaela, the modern-day Rapunzel.
• Rosa Vargas, with too many children, crying for
  the husband who left.
• Mamacita, who dreams of the pink house she left
  behind and refuses to speak English.
• Sally, the subject of abuse until she marries, to
  escape, before eighth grade, and moves from Mango
  Street into into another sort of trap.
• And then there is Esperanza, who is like the
  skinny trees outside her tiny window, who longs
  for a house all her own, who starts her own quiet
  war.

9
The House on Mango Street Significance

• This is Cisneross first novel.
• It is a way to relate her cultural identity to
  her life and the lives of others.
• Cisneros seeks to break the cycle of defeats that
  women suffered due to social and religious
  stereotypes.
• Esperanza is an outlet for the authors views on
  the perceptions of women in her milieu.
• http//www.galegroup.com/free_resources/chh/bio/ci
  sneros_s.htm

10
Further Research

• For more biographical information
  http//www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/cisnero
  s/bio.htm
• For more analysis of The House on Mango Street
  http//www.bookrags.com/notes/hms/BIO.htm
• To buy books by Sandra Cisneros
  http//www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-fo
  rm/102-7635974-7540935
• Teaching resources for Cisneross works
  http//falcon.jmu.edu/ramseyil/cisneros.htm