David Huang

Period 1
Mr. Slage
The Repetition in Language

Sandra Cisneros has a bang for language in “The House on Mango Street”. Language takes on a

key role in this book and Cisneros chooses to uses metaphors and imagery to relate her thoughts

about life on the poor side. The bang Sandra creates comes from the use of allusions and symbolism

shows the great misplacement she feels on Mango Street which the four trees in her yard represent.

Other uses of figurative language and language in general are used describe the freedom that the author

wants. Language in “The House on Mango Street” provides an outlet for the feelings of Sandra

Cisneros and repetition is key to Cisneros' power in language.

The poverty that Esperanza faces in Mango is evident all along in the book. The dreams that the

characters have involve becoming rich and moving away. Imagery has an important role in the book

because the painted pictures about the expensive homes and the other luxuries show that the characters

in the book do not what to live out reality and understand that the possibility of becoming rich is

microscopic. Esperanza's mother and father only kept on leaning on the lottery to provide a chance to

get out of Mango Street and into the lap of luxury. Metaphors also have a role in stating the poverty

that Esperanza and her family live in. The quote “...and windows so small you'd think they were

holding their breath.” is an example one of many metaphors and similes that Sandra Cisneros uses as

language to continue that point about poverty and the impacts it has on life. Language has the power in

this story and the use of this power shows the feeling of Cisneros.

Esperanza has great feelings of misplacement in Mango. The four elm trees in Esperanza's yard

symbolize the challenge that the poor have. The “four who reach and do not forget to reach” and “the

“four whose only reason is to be and be” use language to prove Esperanza's point and the author,

Cisneros extends the means of those sentences with the use of symbolism. Both symbolism and

allusions are connected because they are key to diction and the helped Cisneros show the misplacement
that Esperanza feels. The names that Esperanza and her friends talk about in the chapters regarding

clouds represent the freedom that Esperanza wants for herself. Instead of following her grandma's lead,

the main character wants to live a life with the open sky and like Marin one day some where singing

under a streetlight where life might change. The red balloon on tied to an anchor is what Esperanza

feels like deep within and the freedom she wants is just a string away.

The power of language is in “The House on Mango Street”. Cisneros uses her writing style to

make that point evident and examples of repetition are used to reach this conclusion. From the

questions about makeup that Esperanza has to the questions that Esperanza has about her upcoming

bodily changes, repetition has a great stake in the book because the use of repetition is a great resource

for addressing a topic to the readers. Unlike other forms of figurative language, repetition helps to

impress a point on readers with a great impact as in the questions “Sally, who taught you to paint your

eyes like Cleopatra? And if I roll the little brush with my tongue and chew it to a point and dip it in the

muddy cake,the one in the red box, will you teach me?”. Repetition has its uses and the power of

language is certainly achieved with its use.

Language in “The House on Mango Street” provides a great bang for Sandra Cisneros. The use

of language has importance and repetition is certainly an example of its power. The use of metaphors

and imagery also help relate Cisneros' thoughts on life for impoverished people. Another great bang

Sandra has in this book comes from the great misplacement Esperanza feels on Mango Street and the

lines about the yearning for freedom. The use of Language in “The House on Mango Street” is

important to show the feelings of Sandra Cisneros.