When we first meet her, Esperanza was a very unhappy adolescent living on Mango Street in a poor part of town, among her Hispanic family and neighbors. Why was she so unhappy? What did she find out about herself by the end of the book, The House on Mango Street?
A lot of Esperanza's sadness is about how the other females in her community are living their lives. Do you remember any of them?
I have not read Mango Street, but Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird, relates to the quote in the picture. Scout is living in a society where girls are expected to wear dresses. She is a tomboy, and for this reason many people, in her town of Maycomb, look down on her. Scout knows that if she were to wear a dress instead of her overalls, she wouldn't be Scout anymore; she'd lose her personality as a tough, courageous girl that isn't afraid to fight a boy when its necessary. Scout prefers to play pretend, spy on Boo Radley, and roll down the street in a tire with her brother and Dill, rather than play dolls with other neighborhood girls. She is not willing to give up what she loves, and what makes her Scout, to please others.
ReplyDeleteOther students in a different high school wrote in their blogs that Scout should act more like a girl should act because she might get in trouble with the boys. What do you think?
DeleteI dont think it matters that girls act like tom-boys. Only because a girl can be just as athletic as a boy or like loser clothes like boys. I dont think its a problem because i only had boy cousins my age and thats who i played and got along with. Playing sports and active untill one day i grew out of that stage I still rather wear a boys sweater and jeans with sneakers because thats always what ive like. i dont think its much different for a little girls because there still learning who they are going to become.
DeleteI disagree with what the girls said about Scout having to act more like a lady, or she'd get in trouble with the boys. I believe that there is no specific way a girl should behave, except for what makes her, her own person. If everyone acted the way society expects them to act, then there would be no individuality. As for the part about Scout getting into trouble with the boys, I believe that a girl who feels comfortable dressing and acting like a boy, is tough enough to handle a situation thats getting out of hand with the boys she's hanging out with.
DeleteI could understand why the girls might have thought that, because my mother also thinks that way. She always tried to make me think that way and warned me about hanging out with boys, and that there shouldn't be any horseplay between me and my guy friends because guys take things the wrong way if a girl plays around like that. But I disagree because my friends and I understand each other and know to stop when we're taking things too far. I believe that not just between boys and girls, but with boy-boy or girl-girl friendships as well, there should always be level of respect and understanding where no one takes things too far.
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ReplyDeleteI think in the book Glass by Ellen Hopkins, the character Kristina comes from a culture where shes surrounded by drugs, and no family to help her through her addiction. She lives a life of loneliness and depression with her newborn. She isnt treated fairly by her mom and stepfather, and her baby father raped her. She doesnt turn to anyone and never lets anyone one what she struggles with because she greatly believes that she can do everything on her own. As she does throughout the whole novel.
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How is not getting help or telling anyone about your struggles heroic? She did show courage at the end, right?
ReplyDeleteDo you think it's ever better to keep things secret?
She was brave by and heroic by keeping stuff to herself because she felt like she can help herself better then anyone else, the only person she can trust is her son and herself. She doesnt feel comfortable going to her problem with her mom about her father and babies father because she feels like she cant trust them or they wont believe her. For her, keeping everything inside was better because it would have been worst in her house for her to be open. She would have been see as a liar by her own mother.
ReplyDeleteJoeamy