Coming of age on Mango Street

In the second half of Sandra Cisneros’s House on Mango Street, 12-year-old Esperanza starts to grow up.  In the first half of the book, Esperanza was young, insecure and unaware of others.  In the second half of the book Esperanza grows physically and emotionally more mature and wants to figure out who she is.  She starts to express herself and understand others.

In the middle of the book, Esperanza’s body and feelings start to change.  She realizes she has hips, which makes her a woman, even though she’s not yet sure how to use them (pp. 49-50).  She gets her first job but ends up befriended by a coworker who forces a kiss on her (pp. 53-55).  She starts to get more interested in boys and likes when they’re watching her (p. 48) and starts dreaming about them (p.73).  Esperanza is growing up and changing but not sure how to deal with it.

Esperanza is trying to figure out who she is.  She feels like she doesn’t belong.  Esperanza doesn’t want to be from her community.  She describes all the different women in her neighborhood. There’s Mamacita who was brought to this country by her husband and is stuck because she can’t speak English (pp. 77-78).  There’s Rafaela who is locked in her house by her husband because she’s too beautiful (pp. 79-80).  There’s Minerva whose husband beats her, leaves her, apologizes and is let back home again and again (pp. 84-85).   Then there’s Esperanza’s own mother who was smart but quit school because she didn’t have nice clothes (pp 90-91).  To Esperanza, all these women are sad and misunderstood.  Esperanza wants to be “beautiful and cruel” and powerful (p. 88).

Towards the end of the book, Esperanza starts to express herself.  She knows what’s right and what’s wrong.  She gets mad when the boys are trying to take advantage of Sally and Sally goes along with it (pp. 96-98).   She learns whom she can trust after Sally leaves her and the boys attack her (pp. 99-100).  As hard and unpleasant as her community is for her and other women, Esperanza realizes that Mango Street is part of her and has made her the person that she is.  She learns that through her writing, she can tell her stories and show her feelings and help herself and others understand her community.  By writing about Mango Street, Esperanza releases her anger and hopes to inspire others to understand and help the people in her community.

Esperanza: still a child

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros is about a year in the life of a young Mexican American girl, Esperanza Cordero. The book begins when her family has moved to a house on Mango Street.  Although, it is the first house her family has owned, it isn’t Esperanza’s dream house. It’s in the middle of a crowded, poor, noisy Latino neighborhood.  Esperanza doesn’t like Mango Street or her house and can’t wait to get out.

In the first half of the book Esperanza is a child.  She talks and plays with her friends in the neighborhood. She makes two new friends and they share a bike “3 ways” (p. 15).   She loves going to the junk store with her baby sister Nenny and looking at things she wants but can’t have (pp. 19-20).  She gets in silly fights with her friends Rachel and Lucy over nothing (pp. 37-38).  One day, Esperanza and her friends walk around the neighborhood in high-heeled shoes and attract unwanted attention and end up having to run home.  Esperanza has no idea about boys and thinks “the boys and the girls live in separate worlds” (p. 8).  Esperanza looks up to the older girls in her neighborhood with their “dark nylons and lots of makeup” (pp. 23, 27).  All this shows how young Esperanza acts in the beginning part of the book.

In the beginning of the book, Esperanza is embarrassed of who she is and where she comes from.  She doesn’t like her name that she inherited from her great grandmother.  She doesn’t want to be like her great grandmother who she describes as sad and waiting (pp. 10-11).  She wants to separate herself from her Mexican family and background.  She’s ashamed of her house which is small and crumbling (p.  4).   She hates her neighborhood that others think is bad and dangerous (pp. 13, 28).  She has very little understanding of the less fortunate people that live in her neighborhood like the Vargases with their too many kids and too many problems (pp. 29-30).  Esperanza doesn’t want to belong to this sad, poor, run down community.

At this point of the book, Esperanza is a child who wants to escape her life.  She has no empathy for the disadvantaged people around her.  She doesn’t realize that this is all part of who she is and that she has responsibilities to her community.

Response to " Don't Plagiarize, it's a crime!"

Basically, the student copied from the source word for word. Even though, every once in awhile, the student changed a word, it is pretty clear that the student copied the words and ideas from the original source. The student should have either summarized, paraphrased or quoted the other person’s work and included proper citation to the source.  Something like:

One writer suggests that “Starry Night” is so popular because although it is a wild looking painting it contains familiar and comfortable images of the sky, clouds, stars, moon and a small town with a church and steeple. (“A Brief Understanding of the Starry Night Paintings”).       

A student can avoid plagiarizing by first understanding what plagiarism is: plagiarism is using someone else’s words and ideas without citation and passing it off as his own original work.  Second, if the student does not understand the material/assignment well enough to come up with his own idea and use his own words, the student should look at multiple sources.  Looking at multiple sources will usually make it easier to understand the material, gain different perspectives and spark ideas.  The student will then be able to write about the material in his own words. Third, the student should think about the topic, plan his thesis, use his own words to make his point and then either quote, summarize or paraphrase from anther person’s work correctly citing the source. The citation ensures that readers know which work is the student’s and which work is somebody else’s. This not only eliminates the plagiarism but also makes the student’s writing more persuasive because readers can see that the student’s argument is supported by other writers who have looked at the same issue/material.

Trayvon Martin case shows Florida Law needs to be reviewed

The shooting and death of  17 year old Trayvon Martin relates to the Florida “stand your ground law”.   Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by a neighborhood crime watch volunteer who followed Trayvon after calling 911 to report a suspicious person walking in the neighborhood. The PBS article“ Shooting Death of Teen Raises Questions about Florida law” made me think that the law should be reviewed. This is because the law is based on a self-defense claim, which some people can take advantage of to appear innocent when they were really the initial aggressor.

            The Florida “stand your ground law” has many problems.  First, the law allows for a broad self-defense claim. If an accused person believes they are in “ imminent danger” they are not forced to retreat and can defend themselves.  This is a problem because it is subjective which means that a person may not actually be in danger but feel and act as if they are. In addition, since 2005, after Florida passed the “stand your ground law”, 31 states have passed similar laws.  Claims of self defense in murder cases have gone up drastically.  According to a New York Times Article, “ A Florida Law Gets Scrutiny After a Teenager’s Killing”, which is cited in the PBS article, the problem is especially serious in Florida because Florida law allows almost anybody to own a gun. Therefore, the “stand your ground law” often comes up in murder cases.

Another issue with the “stand your ground law” is that it’s very hard to disprove self defense claims in murder cases. According to the New York Times article, police and prosecutors are often unable to show that a person was actually the aggressor or didn’t act in self defense.  This is because the victim is dead and can’t tell their side of the story.  In fact gang members and drug dealers have used the “ stand your ground law” against murder charges.

The Trayvon Martin case and other cases like it demonstrate the serious problems with the Florida “stand your ground law.” The law has increased the number of self defense claims but also has made it much harder for the police and prosecutors to show where people accused of murder who are not innocent are using the law to avoid being convicted of murder.  It’s really scary to think that gang members and drug dealers can use the “ stand your ground law” to their advantage. Because of these problems the law should be reviewed

In My opinion ...

My two favorite blog posts were Eliza’s and Gabby’s (and not just because they’re my friends)!  Both of these bloggers were really thoughtful and expressed their personal opinions. I’m so impressed with Eliza’s writing style it’s like I’m talking to her! I love how Gabby expressed her opinion as she described the character’s actions. I am working toward being more personal and connecting to the readers in my own blog entries.

Eliza’s blog post about misfortunes in Harry Potter and  the Goblet of Fire is really engaging and thought provoking! Her voice and tone are a real reflection of her interesting personality.  She explained complex issues in simple, understandable ways. For example, she described her thesis this way “ So I decided to analyze the difference between the two of them and see who really had it worse.” I also like how she talked directly to the readers. Towards the end of her response she asked questions and requested comments like “But what do you say readers?”  The second element that I liked about Eliza’s entry was her intriguing lead.  It drew me in and kept me reading. Her first sentence was “ Everybody in the world has baggage to carry.”  I like how she starts off with a strong text to world connection.  It is so relatable because everyone does have problems.

Gabby’s blog post on Glass is personal and detailed. I like how Gabby included her own opinions throughout the response while she explained the main character’s actions.  As Gabby described the plot and conflicts she added “ Which I find is strange,” “ It was weird” and “ The scary thing is.”  These subtle comments put her own spin on the book.  The second element that I liked about Gabby’s entry was the structure and detail.  It was well planned out with a thoughtful introduction, body paragraphs and conclusion. I like that Gabby gave a lot of text evidence in different ways.  She summarized, paraphrased and quoted and always cited the source.

After reading Eliza’s and Gabby’s great blog posts, I have realized what I can do to improve my own blog entries. Like Eliza, I would like to improve my writing fluency by including my own voice in my entries as a way to connect to the readers. Similarly to Gabby, I’d like to discreetly include my personal opinion of the action as I retell it.  Both these bloggers have inspired and reminded me to express myself and include more of me in my entries because it is my blog!

Much Ado Review

I really enjoyed the Classic Stage Theater’s production of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.  Like many of Shakespeare’s other plays, Much Ado is very confusing with many plots and subplots, lots of characters, tricks, pretend and mistaken identities.  In Much Ado, Benedick and Beatrice are tricked into falling in love.  Don Jon tricks Claudio into thinking that Hero is unfaithful.  Hero pretends to be dead.  Claudio agrees to marry Hero’s cousin who turns out to be Hero.  But since it was a comedy, that all seemed more appropriate. 

I liked how this production made the comical parts of Much Ado even funnier.  This production was set in the 1920s and included jazz music.  The acting was exaggerated, energetic and loud. The dancing and singing made the play fun and entertaining. The costumes were unexpected with the women wearing 1920s flapper dresses.  The happy ending of a double wedding was intensified by “When the Saints Go Marching In!”  The wild and festive 1920s helped set the mood of this play.

Attending a performance of Much Ado where we could see and hear the play made Shakespeare’s words and story much more understandable.  Even though the performance used Shakepeare’s language because it was set in a more recent time period, it seemed more modern.  While I wasn’t always able to understand exactly what the characters were saying, I could tell what they meant.  Like Beatrice and Benedick were definitely insulting each other!  By seeing the action and watching the actors faces, movements and gestures, I could follow the story much better.  The  music, dancing, singing and costumes all helped as well.  Watching the play made it more alive and really the way Shakespeare himself intended it to be.

From my perspective

I finally read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time.  My mother has been talking about this book after she read it for a class in graduate school on special education so I knew that the book was about a boy with Asperger’s.  While I thought a book about someone with a severe disability would be difficult to understand and hard to relate to, it actually was easy to read and I was able to empathize with the main character.

The book is narrated by Christopher Boone, a 15 year old English boy with Asperger’s syndrome.  One night he discovers that the neighbor’s dog has been murdered with a garden fork.  He decides to find out who killed the dog and write a book about it.  While it sounds like a murder mystery, it’s really a book about Christopher and another mystery about his family.

            The book is written from the point of view of Christopher.  We learn a lot about him from what he says and does and from the structure of the book. He introduces himself as “knowing all the countries of the world and their capital cities and every prime number up to 7,057.”  He doesn’t like strange places or people he doesn’t know.  He doesn’t like to be touched.  If his senses get overloaded, he will curl into a ball and groan.  He hates the colors yellow and brown so much so that he can’t eat or touch anything yellow or brown.  He needs order and will do math problems in his head just to calm down.  Time is very important to Christopher.  He times everything that he does.  Over the course of the book, you know Christopher so well that you can anticipate how he will react to the events and people around him.  As unusual as he is, you understand his perspective because you are immersed in it.

Christopher’s point of view is even noticeable in the structure of the book. The chapters are numbered in prime numbers because he likes the order they provide. Because Christopher is a visual learner, he uses visuals to explain things.  The book is filled with different fonts (bold and italics) and charts, graphs, mathematical equations, pictures and diagrams.  Like Christopher, sometimes the book jumps around from subject to subject and contains run-on sentences showing the way Christopher thinks.  The book is very repetitive because Christopher is repetitive and consistent.  The author cleverly uses Christopher’s disability as a writing style to allow you to understand Christopher as well as to think and feel like Christopher.

            While Christopher has an unusual perspective due to his disability, it soon becomes normal to the reader.  By providing detailed explanations of Christopher’s thoughts and feelings about everything from physics to the supernatural, I could really understand and empathize with Christopher.  Underneath all of Christopher’s quirky characteristics, Christopher makes sense.  In contrast, the behaviors of the other “normal” characters in the book, like Christopher’s father and mother seem more odd than Christopher’s behavior.  Christopher’s mother had an affair and then abandoned him.   Christopher’s father makes up a story that his mother has died.   Christopher’s mother’s abandonment and father’s lie seem more crazy than Christopher’s peculiarity.   The book has taught me to look beyond the surface of people’s behavior and try to understand their perspective