"The House on Mango Street"

Menelvagor · 05-01-2004, 11:14 AM

Anyone want to redeem this book/short story for me? I've read "The House on Mango Street" (the individual story, not the whole collection) and I know it's popular and used a lot in high schools, but I can't really see what's so special about it. Cisneros has said that she writes "primarily to fill a gap" (that is, to provide a Chicano literature to represent Chicano immigrants and tell their story) but I can't find much value in her work outside of that. I want to find an interesting style (maybe a type of style representative of the gap she's filling?) or an interesting perspective, or something like that that's more descriptive than saying "she's an immigrant writer", but I havn't found it. Can someone help me and tell me why so many people read her? Is it just that I havn't read enough of her stuff? She also says that she tries to makes her stories short, precise, and almost poetic in their economy, and that they can stand alone or all together, but I don't see that executed particularly interestingly either, at least in "The House on Mango Street." Can anyone defend her to me? Show me what I'm missing?

eowyngirl14 · 05-20-2004, 10:03 PM

we had to read it in 8th grade and i remember hating it, but then we wrote vinetts of our own and i loved it. so, umm.. no i cant defend it for her. i guess it means a lot to her and a lot of people can relate to it so thats what makes it special.
i did like her writing style, but i generally hate all books we read for school...

Menelvagor · 05-22-2004, 04:23 PM

I've heard her speak at the Key West Literary Seminar, and it seemed to me that everything in her writing had an agenda. It may just have been that the seminar was themed to immigrant writers, but she seemed particularly adamant?, militant? about it. I can see what you mean about people relating to her, though. I suppose that is the appeal. hmm, I'll have to ponder it some more...

05-01-2004, 11:14 AM	#1
Menelvagor Elf Lord Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: lurking on the edge of conversations Posts: 924	"The House on Mango Street" Anyone want to redeem this book/short story for me? I've read "The House on Mango Street" (the individual story, not the whole collection) and I know it's popular and used a lot in high schools, but I can't really see what's so special about it. Cisneros has said that she writes "primarily to fill a gap" (that is, to provide a Chicano literature to represent Chicano immigrants and tell their story) but I can't find much value in her work outside of that. I want to find an interesting style (maybe a type of style representative of the gap she's filling?) or an interesting perspective, or something like that that's more descriptive than saying "she's an immigrant writer", but I havn't found it. Can someone help me and tell me why so many people read her? Is it just that I havn't read enough of her stuff? She also says that she tries to makes her stories short, precise, and almost poetic in their economy, and that they can stand alone or all together, but I don't see that executed particularly interestingly either, at least in "The House on Mango Street." Can anyone defend her to me? Show me what I'm missing?

05-20-2004, 10:03 PM	#2
eowyngirl14 i don't know what i am talking about either, so don't ask Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 1,353	we had to read it in 8th grade and i remember hating it, but then we wrote vinetts of our own and i loved it. so, umm.. no i cant defend it for her. i guess it means a lot to her and a lot of people can relate to it so thats what makes it special. i did like her writing style, but i generally hate all books we read for school... __________________ 'The coming of dawn is ever the hope to the heart of men' -Aragorn 'Then I will die as one of them' -Aragorn TTT movie “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little safety deserve neither liberty nor safety” - Benjamin Franklin arms are made for hugging avatar from the avatar shop! made by Eowyn, Lady of Rohan

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05-22-2004, 04:23 PM	#3
Menelvagor Elf Lord Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: lurking on the edge of conversations Posts: 924	I've heard her speak at the Key West Literary Seminar, and it seemed to me that everything in her writing had an agenda. It may just have been that the seminar was themed to immigrant writers, but she seemed particularly adamant?, militant? about it. I can see what you mean about people relating to her, though. I suppose that is the appeal. hmm, I'll have to ponder it some more...