Memoir Project/House on Mango St Essay
For this project we collect the poems we wrote about yourself and put them in a book for display. There were choice prompts and there were assigned prompts for our writing just to give us a little guidance. I really enjoyed this project because I got to share about myself with my classmates and family.
Henry Teare
October 16th
Humanities Afternoon
Rubble to Rocks
A difficult experience can be weakening, but when it is over, people come out more resilient. Sandra Cisneros’ House on Mango Street captures a little girls coming of age story by showing her past experiences. In the beginning, Esperanza is a young girl who is insecure and childish but by the end, she becomes a strong and empowered woman.
Esperanza is an insecure and childish little girl because of the confidence she has in herself. For example, Esperanza talks about how she wants to change her name because she feels insecure about herself and she thinks it comes from her name. “I would like to baptize myself under a new name, more like the real me, the one nobody sees” (Cisneros 11). This shows that she feels insecure because of her name she thinks it’s not feminine and it doesn’t resemble the “real her”. This also shows that she is being immature because she doesn’t just accept who she is. In addition, Esperanza speaks of her neighborhood with confidence, that could easily be mistaken for aggression. “Those who don’t know any better come into our neighborhood scared. They think we are dangerous. They think we will attack them with shiny knives. They are stupid people who got here by mistake” ( Cisneros 28). This shows that Esperanza is very confident because of the way she speaks about people outside of her neighborhood. This also shows the readers her pent up aggression for people who are new.
As the book goes on, Esperanza becomes strong and empowered from her experiences soon to come. For example, Esperanza is in the monkey garden and she sees a different girl from before, she sees a strong woman. “I look at my feet in their white socks and ugly round shoes. They seemed far away they didn’t seem to be my feet anymore and the garden that had been such a good place to play didn’t seem mine anymore” (Cisneros 98). She talks about the monkey garden to be this place where her and her friends would play and they could truly be kids. Then Sally comes with the boys and she changes. She thinks Sally needs saving when she didn’t know any better. After her little epiphany, she doesn’t feel herself anymore. This is where she becomes strong and her childhood turns to womanhood. In addition, Esperanza’s mother talks about how she used to be smart. Esperanza calls her Madame Butterfly, an opera where a mother gives up her life for her child. This empowers Esperanza, it shows her that she can break the chain of women that are stuck in a traditional marriage. “‘Got to take care all your own’ she says shaking her head. Then out of nowhere, She says ‘Shame is a bad thing you know. It keeps you down. You wanna know why I quit school? because I didn't have nice clothes. But I had brains.’” (Cisneros 91). She is now the woman she has talks about becoming the whole story.
Even though Esperanza was weakened by the people and places that surrounded her, she broke the chain of miserable women on Mango Street. Esperanza as an insecure and childish little girl because of the way she view the world around her. Then someone new came from that girl. A woman. Someone who understands that things happen for a reason. When weakened by an experience, the strength that one can take away can be greater than the weakening itself.
Some points of this essay that I think are particularly strong are the Thesis Statement and The last paragraph. I believe these were my strong points because of my understanding of the structure within the story, the moral of it, the big idea. I received a 3 out of 5 on this essay because of my formatting. My goal for my next essay is to get it perfect or at least better than this one. To do this I will need to study the paragraphing structure better.
For this project we collect the poems we wrote about yourself and put them in a book for display. There were choice prompts and there were assigned prompts for our writing just to give us a little guidance. I really enjoyed this project because I got to share about myself with my classmates and family.
Henry Teare
October 16th
Humanities Afternoon
Rubble to Rocks
A difficult experience can be weakening, but when it is over, people come out more resilient. Sandra Cisneros’ House on Mango Street captures a little girls coming of age story by showing her past experiences. In the beginning, Esperanza is a young girl who is insecure and childish but by the end, she becomes a strong and empowered woman.
Esperanza is an insecure and childish little girl because of the confidence she has in herself. For example, Esperanza talks about how she wants to change her name because she feels insecure about herself and she thinks it comes from her name. “I would like to baptize myself under a new name, more like the real me, the one nobody sees” (Cisneros 11). This shows that she feels insecure because of her name she thinks it’s not feminine and it doesn’t resemble the “real her”. This also shows that she is being immature because she doesn’t just accept who she is. In addition, Esperanza speaks of her neighborhood with confidence, that could easily be mistaken for aggression. “Those who don’t know any better come into our neighborhood scared. They think we are dangerous. They think we will attack them with shiny knives. They are stupid people who got here by mistake” ( Cisneros 28). This shows that Esperanza is very confident because of the way she speaks about people outside of her neighborhood. This also shows the readers her pent up aggression for people who are new.
As the book goes on, Esperanza becomes strong and empowered from her experiences soon to come. For example, Esperanza is in the monkey garden and she sees a different girl from before, she sees a strong woman. “I look at my feet in their white socks and ugly round shoes. They seemed far away they didn’t seem to be my feet anymore and the garden that had been such a good place to play didn’t seem mine anymore” (Cisneros 98). She talks about the monkey garden to be this place where her and her friends would play and they could truly be kids. Then Sally comes with the boys and she changes. She thinks Sally needs saving when she didn’t know any better. After her little epiphany, she doesn’t feel herself anymore. This is where she becomes strong and her childhood turns to womanhood. In addition, Esperanza’s mother talks about how she used to be smart. Esperanza calls her Madame Butterfly, an opera where a mother gives up her life for her child. This empowers Esperanza, it shows her that she can break the chain of women that are stuck in a traditional marriage. “‘Got to take care all your own’ she says shaking her head. Then out of nowhere, She says ‘Shame is a bad thing you know. It keeps you down. You wanna know why I quit school? because I didn't have nice clothes. But I had brains.’” (Cisneros 91). She is now the woman she has talks about becoming the whole story.
Even though Esperanza was weakened by the people and places that surrounded her, she broke the chain of miserable women on Mango Street. Esperanza as an insecure and childish little girl because of the way she view the world around her. Then someone new came from that girl. A woman. Someone who understands that things happen for a reason. When weakened by an experience, the strength that one can take away can be greater than the weakening itself.
Some points of this essay that I think are particularly strong are the Thesis Statement and The last paragraph. I believe these were my strong points because of my understanding of the structure within the story, the moral of it, the big idea. I received a 3 out of 5 on this essay because of my formatting. My goal for my next essay is to get it perfect or at least better than this one. To do this I will need to study the paragraphing structure better.
Into The Wild Essay
This was our last timed writing of the year. I didn't get to accomplish my goal from the beginning of the year that was to get a 5 on my essay. I ended up doing worse on my last essay than my first one. Essays are not my strong point. I took a lot of time to revise everything I was told to do, but it wasn't good enough. I am still proud of my work even though its not my best. My thesis was about Chris not liking the people of our society and disagrees with a lot of rules. The second part is about him going to Alaska to escape. My strength in this essay is my thesis because it has the best phrasing. My goals for next year are definitely take the time and talk with my teacher about my writing.
Dreams
This was the first essay of the year. We had been in school for about a month. My writing now has improved drastically from then as well as my handwriting. Back then I didn't even give parenthetical citations. My formatting is all over the place. Even though now my writing isn't 100% there is still a huge difference. I have learned the MLA format, essay structure, and citations. I am most proud of my handwriting because in this essay it looks very sloppy and somethings you can't even read. My handwriting isn't perfect but it has improved a lot.
Odyssey Timed Writing
The prompt for this essay was "How does Odysseus change throughout the course of his journey? Think about who he is at the beginning of the film and who he has become at the end". On this essay I received full credit because I did it. It was a do it or don't grade. My strengths in this essay are the thesis and grabber. This is because I feel I am very good at seeing the whole picture on ideas and stories. I still need to improve on the writing format. The goals I have for next year are taking the extra time to read through the entire essay before I turn it in.