Reading response of 《The house on Mango Street》(Part one)

Attracted by the cover and the name of it, I bought the book The House on Mango Street. Following the narration of Esperanza, I amble on Mango Street, getting to know about her life, her friends and her dream.  Childhood and memory, dream and growing up, hometown and the true meaning of leave and return, all are became known to me gradually, traveling in this world, whose background is light orange, just like the color of a mango.

The voice of Esperanza

Pure, bright and lucid. the voice of Esperanza is the first thing you will encounter with in this world:

 "But my mother's hair, my mother's hair, like little rosettes, like little candy circles all curly and pretty... sweet to put your nose into when she is holding you, holding you and you feel safe, is the warm smell of bread before you bake it, is the smell when she makes room for you on her side of the bed still warm with her skin..."

However, as I read more and more, I found that this voice of her is not as pure as I had felt at the beginning. It is mixed with sorrow cherishing the past things: 

"You can fall asleep and wake up drunk on sky, and sky can keep you safe when you are sad. Here there is too much sadness and not enough sky..."

Still, you will be impressed by the voice of this sensitive little girl as she is always talking to you as if she is talking to herself or her best friend without any gap or distance.

Life & Friend

The things happen to Esperanza and the characteristics and lifestyles of her friends tell us about the lives of immigrants in America. They are always living in poverty and suffering from discrimination.

Let's see how she describes her house from which we can easily know that the financial condition of Esperanza's family is far from good:

" Windows are so small that you'd think they are holding their breath...the front door is so swollen you have to push hard to get in" 

These metaphors display a world in which everything has its spirit and is alive though, behind the novel and lively metaphors, the feeling of Esperanza is disappointed and even ashamed.

The first friend of Esperanza is Queen of Cats Cathy who claims herself t the great great grand cousin of the queen of the France. She straightforwardly says that, the neighborhood is getting bad because more and more brown people move in. Though Cathy herself only has a vague idea, but her words, to some extend, show the prejudice towards brown people in the adults' world.