House On Mango Street Book Report Essay Example for Free

House On Mango Street Book Report Essay At the beginning of the story, readers learn about a girl named Esperanza whose life has always been unstable and has always been moving from house to house constantly. Benumbed by all the hardships she’s had to deal with Esperanza longs to live in a beautiful house of her own. Children in Esperanza’s neighborhood never play with the opposite sex, and the only friend Esperanza has is her little sister, whom she is ashamed to be seen with. Discouraged and degraded, Esperanza goes through life labeling herself as being uglier than everyone else; the only way she can make a friend is by giving two girls called Rachel and Lucy, five dollars to buy a new bike. Esperanza likes the way her name sounds in Spanish, but dislikes her name in English, she is always ashamed to tell people her name. Frozen in a life of poverty, Esperanza befriends a girl called Marin, who dances under streetlights at night and dreams of a man to marry her and take her away to live in the barrio. Gullible foreigners who get lost and travel to Esperanza’s neighborhood always fear getting assaulted because of its appearance; only the inhabitants of the neighborhood know the truth about everyone who lives there. Hopelessly meek, Esperanza always allows people to run over her mentally and emotionally, she only says yes to all the negative comments said to her by Rachel, Lucy, and the Superior Sister at her school. Inspired by her own life a girl named Alicia whose mother has died, overloads herself studying, going to school, and taking the role of a mother for her siblings and father in order to escape the life of poverty that seems to be destined for all Latino families. Jumping and playing, the neighborhood kids all look at clouds to entertain themselves with, one kid even calls a cloud he sees God, Kinky and grown, the girls receive a pair of high heeled shoes that fit them all perfectly; these shoes cause the girls to be warned about trouble, and cause them to receive sexual comments about themselves. Later on in the story, Esperanza’s mother buys her a new dress but no new shoes, this causes Esperanza to not want anyone to see her, but she dances with her uncle and catches the attention of a young boy. Moved by her family, Esperanza gets a new job while lying about her age, she befriends a coworker and ends up kissing him. Now frightened, Esperanza learns that her grandfather has died and sees her father cry for the first time. Obliged to believe she’s going to hell, Esperanza makes fun of her aunt one day, then find out that she has died the next day. Prior to going home one day, Esperanza gets her fortune read and is told that she is filled with jealousy, sorrow, and cares solely about luxury. Quarreling with the police Marin meets a man at a club who is then hit in a car accident and dies at the hospital because no one was able to treat him. Receiving her first crush, Esperanza admires a neighborhood punk called Sire. Sealed to an unwanted life, a mother who has just moved in speaks no English and is condemned to isolation because she yearns to return to her home country. Tortured by her husband, a woman named Rafaela is locked in her own home and cannot leave because her husband fears she’ll leave him. Unusually beautiful, a girl named Sally is beaten by her father because he doesn’t want her to bring shame to his family by getting pregnant and running off with a boy, just like her sisters did. Violently betrayed, Esperanza is sexually assaulted when she is left alone by Sally at a carnival. Waken up, Esperanza realizes Sally willingly seeks men to escape her father, and never really cared about Esperanza the way Esperanza was faithfully loyal to her. Xenon colored heart, Esperanza blames her trauma on women because they never told her the truth about sexual intercourse. Y oung and still traumatized, Esperanza realizes that whether she likes it or not, Mango street is always going to be her home, and she learns about the true, horrid experience that women have to go through. Zoo like experiences change the narrator forever and she promises to always return to Mango Street and save those who couldn’t save themselves.

The Individual Experience in a World of Categories :: Sociology Sociological Essays

The Individual Experience in a World of Categories Lakoff and Johnson argue for an embodied mind, saying that our categories are based on how we experience the world through our bodies. According to this theory, as a result of their different anatomies, men and women would experience the world differently and their categories would be inherently different. Also, it would be expected that all women would share the same categories. Our class and our discussions have demonstrated a diversity of opinions and methods of categorization that refute this part of Lakoff and Johnson's argument. I think that Lakoff and Johnson were correct in saying that "the categories we form are part of our experience" (Lakoff and Johnson 19). However, what they neglected to factor into their analysis of the way human beings categorize is the differences of each individual experience. Categories and their meanings are based on an individual's personal knowledge of the world, and that is why no category means exactly the same thing for more than one individual. I want to examine the categories of race and sexuality in Moraga and Delany to demonstrate the significance of the individual experience and its direct connection to categories. Also, I want to suggest that race as "other" is more problematic than sexuality to one's personal identity. Delany's "Aversion/Perversion/Diversion" presents us with a series of troubling tales. They all originate within Delany's life, but his reason for choosing these particular tales is "precisely because they are uncharacteristic" (Delany 125). Even within one's own individual experience, there is an uniqueness to events. The category "gay" doesn't mean that the individuals who identify themselves as part of it will share an understanding of all that it has meant for one person to claim this label for himself/herself. Delany acknowledges that the identification with others that categories create is in a way false, "even the similarities are finally, to the extent they are living ones, a play of differences" (Delany 131). He emphasizes that much of the sexual experience remains outside of language. No everything will be shared, not everything can be. An individual's journey to claiming his/her own identity is entrenched in the personal journey, in occurrences both characteristic and unch aracteristic. However, maybe these "uncharacteristic" tales are not as uncharacteristic to his experience as Delany believes. It is fact that they are indeed a part of Delany's experience as a gay man, and he says himself that there is no universal "gay experience.

Huck Finn as a Round Character Essay

In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn several characters are introduced. Some of them are round characters who are talked a lot about and are described in detail. Others are flat characters who don’t change throughout the novel. Huck Finn is an example of a round character because in the beginning we meet him as a young boy who is growing up in Hannibal, Missouri getting â€Å"sivilized† by two sisters. He spends most of his time teaming up with his friend Tom, against Miss Watson’s slave, Jim. After running away and faking his own death we see Huck start to make his own decisions and become friends with Jim when they run into each other on Jackson Island. As a reader you see him mature, become more of a rebel and take risks, and grow friendships. â€Å"To live with fear and not be afraid is the greatest sign of maturity.† If this quote by Edward Weeks is true then Huck Finn is the greatest example of maturity. While traveling down the Mississipp i River Huck shows maturity when he runs into two strangers and he allows them to travel with him and Jim. From the start Huck knew the two men were troublemakers who seemed to be no good, but he still took them in. Not long after the duke and the king lie to Huck and Jim and although Huck realized it he did not say anything. ‘But I never said nothing, never let on; kept it to myself; it’s the best way; then you don’t have no quarrels, and don’t get into no trouble†¦I hadn’t no objections, ‘long as it would keep peace in the family.’ (Twain 116-125) Huck also shows his maturity when the duke and the king steal from the Wilks family. Huck tries to help the family by stealing their money back from them and hiding it in the coffin. Instead of him letting the con men steal and possibly benefiting from it, Huck did what he knew was right. In this novel Tom Sawyer seems to bring out the rebellious side of Huck Finn. He never wants to go without and adventure. To keep Tom satisfied Huck and Tom go along with him and steal a variety of items from Aunt Sally: spoons, candles, sheet, shirt, etc. For a boy Huck’s age to fake his death is a big risk . From that point on Huck continues to take risks with faking who he is with and what he is doing. After escaping and running into Jim, Huck has a huge decision to make of whether to turn him in, or stay by his side. He decided to write a letter to Miss Watson, but never ended up sending it to her. From that point on Huck shows how loyal he is to his friendship. When Tom Sawyer shows back up in the novel Huck winds himself up into unnecessary trouble. That is when Huck’s loyalty to Jim is tested. Tom never sees Jim as a human being so for Huck to start to think of him as more than just a slave and stand up for him and continue to never leave his side is an example of being a great friend. For a young boy who is traveling down the Mississippi River with just himself and a runaway slave Huck shows huge acts of kindness and loyalty while at the same time going against the rules of society. As Mark Twain’s Huck Finn said, â€Å"What’s the use you learning to do rig ht, when it’s troublesome to do right and ain’t no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same (Twain 91)?† Although he never became the â€Å"sivilized† boy Miss Watson would have liked for him to be you notice Huck maturing, having a rebellious side, and making a great friendship.

Adolf Hitler, the Child - 3008 Words

RUNNING HEAD: Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler, the Child: A Look at the Childhood Development of Adolf Hitler Eileen Callahan GEN 505. Adult Human Development Adolf Hitler, the Child Adolf Hitler was dictator, murderer, and the Chancellor of the German Reich. Hitler used his position as Chancellor to act upon his own ideologies and biases. He led a nation into the murder of innocent Jewish people, seeing his actions as self-righteous. Hitler’s mental state can not easily be explained; nonetheless, we can examine his development into adulthood to attempt to comprehend his actions. This paper will attempt to understand Adolf Hitler’s violent actions by means of examining his life in relation to different childhood development†¦show more content†¦May’s books continued to influence Hitler’s life and even as Chancellor he read these books and took to calling the Russians, the Redskins (Quigley 1998). As a boy, Hitler describes himself as an â€Å"argumentative little ring leader who liked to stay outside and hang out with the husky boys† (Holocaust). His older half brother described him as quick to anger and spoiled by his mother. Hitler as a young adolescent found a picture book on the War of 1870-1871 between Germans and the French. He, by his own account became obsessed with this book, convinced it was a glorious event. Hitler stated in his book Mein Kampf â€Å"It was not long before the great historic struggle had become my greatest spiritual experiences. From then on, I became more and more enthusiastic about everything that was in any way connected with war or, for that matter, with soldering.† (Meier 2000 p10) Hitler in his childhood exhibited signs of Eric Erickson’s identity versus inferiority Psychosocial Development. At this stage a child wrestles w ith their identity, asking and looking at different possibilities of who and what they wish to become. An example of this for Hitler can be seen in his actions of wanting to model priests. As he grew he discovered other possibilities of war and leader. Hitler led the others school boys into â€Å"pretend† battles, while playing his favorite game of Cowboys and Indians. At this early stage in hisShow MoreRelatedAdolf Hitler As A Leader Of Nazi Germany1677 Words   |  7 PagesAdolf Hitler once said â€Å"It is more difficult to fight against faith than against knowledge† (â€Å"30 Eye Catching Hitler Quotes.). In a dictatorship there is one ruler who is in charge of everything in the nation in which he/she rules. Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889 in Braunau am Inn. Hitler also known as Fà ¼hrer; he was chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and served as dictator from 1934 to 1945. Adolf Hitler was the leader of Nazi Germany, he was one of the initial cau ses which triggeredRead MoreAdolf Hitler Essay935 Words   |  4 PagesAdolf Hitler Adolf Hitler changed the course of history. 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In 1894 Adolf’s familyRead MoreHitler vs. Gandhi1721 Words   |  7 Pages(Mahatma). Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria, on April 20, 1889, son of an Austrian customs official and a young peasant-worker (Wistrich). In October 1097, Hitler left home for Vienna, with dreams of becoming a painter (Wistrich). His plans changed when he was rejected admission from the Vienna Academy of Art and the School of Architecture; he spent the next five years in Vienna living near the poverty line, earning money only through occasional jobs (Wistrich). At one point, Hitler ran outRead MoreAdolf Hitler : Mein Kampf, Nation And Race1108 Words   |  5 PagesJennifer Mills College Writing Dec 11, 2014 Adolf Hitler: Mein Kampf, Nation and Race Adolf Hitler was born in Austria, on April 20, 1889. He was the fourth child of the six children from Alois Hitler and Klara Polzl. When Adolf was three years old, his whole family moved into Germany. In his young age, he had many arguments with his father until he became detached and introverted when his young brother died in 1900. (HistoryLearningSite, 2014) Adolf was interested in fine arts than business, soRead MoreAdolf Hitlers Rise to Power1054 Words   |  4 Pages20 1889, 6:30 pm, in Braunau Austria, Klara Hitler gave birth to her first son Adolf Hitler. Braunau Austria is a small town located approximately 65 miles east of Munich and nearly 30 miles north of Salzburg. When Hitler was a small child, he was baptized as a Catholic. Hitler didn’t do well in school; he wanted to be an artist. His father Alois Hitler, didn’t approve of his life plans, he wanted his son to be an officer and fight for Germany. Hitler had a hatred for his father. He was deeplyRe ad More Adolf Hitler: The Early Years Essay1503 Words   |  7 PagesAdolf Hitler: The Early Years On April 20, 1889, a demon was brought into this world. His name was Adolf Hitler. 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