读后感

zwt

Reader:曾维庭
Reading Time:4.18-4.20
Reading Task:chapter3-4
The House on Mango Street continue the poetic and broken storytelling. Through a child’s eyes, Esperanza shows deeper struggles with identity and the pain passed down through generations.

Esperanza’s name has many meanings. In Spanish, it means “hope” – a heavy expectation from her family. But in English, people struggle to say it, making it feel “like muddy sadness.” She also remembers her grandmother, a woman “trapped by marriage,” who spent her life staring out a window. Esperanza refuses to repeat this fate. Her name carries her family’s cultural history, but she wants to “clean it” or even choose a new name, “like a key that opens doors.” This fight against her fate hints that she will rebuild herself through writing.

Cathy’s house, filled with cats, acts as a metaphor. The crowded cats reflect the packed immigrant community (“more cats on chairs than people”). When city workers take the cats away, Cathy calmly says, “They went to heaven” – a fairy-tale way to hide the harsh truth of systemic oppression. Cathy later moves away, claiming she’ll live in “a house like on TV,” mirroring Esperanza’s dream in Chapter 1. But escaping Mango Street might mean losing part of their roots.

Cisneros mixes innocence with heavy truths. Counting cats becomes a symbol of inequality, and a mispronounced name cracks open generations of family history. These chapters show that being “stuck” on Mango Street isn’t just about poverty – it’s about language, culture, and memory. Esperanza’s writing becomes her tool to cut these ropes and create a new identity.