The House on the Mango Street

人生不过三万天

Content:1.Esperanza observes that boys and girls live in “different worlds” on Mango Street. Boys are free to play outdoors, while girls are confined to the domestic space and take on more household chores. At home, she can communicate with her brothers, but outside, they're “strangers who don't know each other.” Esperanza longs for a true friend who she could share secrets.
2.Esperanza's name comes from the Spanish word for “hope,” but she doesn't like it. The name was inherited from her great-grandmother, a woman who was forced to marry and lived a life of depression. She felt that her name carried too much history and symbolized the repressed fate of women , like her great-grandmother who was “trapped in front of the window”. She longs for a more self-identifying name, such as “Zeze the X”.
3.Esperanza meets her neighbor, Cathy, a girl who claims to be of noble blood and has many cats at home. Cathy is arrogant and discriminates against the poor people of Mango Street, claiming that she is “moving out next week”. Cathy eventually does move away, leaving Esperanza feeling used and alone.
4.Esperanza meets Lucy and Rachel, two sisters from Texas. Despite their poverty, they are outgoing and willing to share. The four of them pool their money to buy a second-hand bicycle and take turns riding it, experiencing a brief moment of freedom and joy.

Evaluation:These four chapters tell the story of Esperanza as she moves to Mango Street and meets new friends one after another. In Chapter 3, Boys and Girls, Esperanza thinks about how “in the house they talk, but outside they don't talk to us” between boys and girls. This reflects the solidification of gender roles in traditional families. It also reveals the gender segregation of Mango Street, where the worlds of boys and girls are diametrically divided, hinting at the idea of gender roles that are deeply ingrained in Latin American culture. Chapter 4 Esperanza's reflection on names is not only about personal identity, but also a metaphor for women's repression and resistance to patriarchal traditions. Through the character of Cathy in Chapter 5, class prejudice is shown to manifest itself in children's relationships, and Cathy's false sense of superiority and eventual move away maps the avoidance of her situation by some in the immigrant community. By contrast, Lucy and Rachael in Chapter 6 represent another possibility: their ability to create pure joy despite their poverty. The three ride second-hand bicycles embodying their desire for freedom.

Reflection: Reading these chapters struck a deep chord with me. On the topic of boys and girls, in middle school, we are always asked not to make friends with boys, as if two people of the opposite sex together are in a relationship, making it difficult to have normal interpersonal interactions after college. Esperanza's struggle with her name resonated with me the most. Her defiance of being a “replica of her great-grandmother” reminded me of how many people find themselves in the midst of tugging at family expectations. Names are not just symbols, but carry cultural memories and gender destinies, and Esperanza's struggle is a first attempt at defining freedom. The contrast between the sisters Cathy and Lucy is also thought-provoking. Cathy uses classism to hide insecurity, while the Lucy sisters' honesty about poverty makes the friendship more real. So what is a friend really like, and it makes me reflect on real relationships, are we willing to be like Esperanza, choosing to be sincere but “less than honorable” in our associations?