Esperanza idolizes a house because of what her parents have told it would be like to live in one. A house is a home free of landlords, has its own stairs and 3 bathrooms. At the beginning of the book Esperanza expresses how she covets for a house of her own. Esperanza talks about how life would be with a house she could brag about because of her experiences with a nun asking where she lives and she is too embarrassed when she tells him. She doesn't want that feeling and that's why she so desperately wants to move into a nicer house.She is an immature girl at first but later on throughout the novel she realizes the importance of family and heritage and completely changes her views on life.
The things that we dream of having one day are not always what the reality will be. The family’s first home was located on Loomis Street. They lived in an apartment on the third floor where the “water pipes broke and the landlord wouldn’t fix them because the house was too old” (147). It seems as though the landlord has no consideration for the basic needs the family, so they had to leave the home. They lived uncomfortably and “would have to use the washroom next door and [carry] water over in empty milk gallons” (147).
The reader can tell that Esperanza wants to become a writer when the book says ‘One day I will pack my books and paper. One day I will say goodbye to Mango.’ Another goal the two have in common is to fit in. Cisneros didn’t fit in to her family because she was the only girl and had six brothers. She said that her dad always said ‘I have seven sons’ wishing he actually did. Esperanza doesn’t fit in because the only friend she has is her little sister Nenny who she doesn’t even consider her friend because she is too young.
The pressure to succeed as a pianist outraged Jing-Mei and brought her to her breaking point and led her to shout at her mother, “Why don't you like me the way I am? I'm not a genius! I can't play the piano. And even if I could, I wouldn't go on TV if you paid me a million dollars! "” (Tan 518).
No family is the same, we run our houses differently, and parents have different ways on how to treat their children. However in Chinese Cinderella told/written by Adeline Yen Mah. Niang (Adeline’s stepmother) treats her stepchildren like they do not exist. A typical American family compared to Adeline’s family has different family structures and different roles of the family matron. First of all, the American family structure compared to Adeline’s family structure have some similarities.
Da-Duh considers her culture to be the only way to live, the right way to live. When her granddaughter shed light on a new lifestyle, Da-Duh became stubborn as a result of an internal conflict with change. Her defense mechanism automatically triggered anger because she is in a position where she has the option of going along with her granddaughter or retreating back to the comfort of her old life and customs. When Da-Duh asked her granddaughter if she had anything quite as tall as the palm trees in New York, she responds that there are much taller skyscrapers. Da-Duh is extremely vexed because her previous conceptions of her culture’s superiority were just proven wrong.
When she was asked that that question it caught her off guard. The woman corrected her and said, “Oh Fxuang,” with a little bit of laughter the lady told her, “You don’t know how to speak your name.” (13). Later on that day when Hwang arrived at home she asked her parents why they never bothered to correct her. Her mother said, “Big deal, you are American.” (13). She felt that her sense of identity was already collapsing and it left her unhappy knowing her cultural character is barely precise.
She was raised in a strict household. “Ah cant be always guidin’ yo feet from harm and danger”(Hurston, p.13) meaning that she cant always be there for her. Nanny is helping her out because when she gets older she will have to learn when she gets older how to take care of herself. When you don’t know who you are you think differently about yourself. Janie found out that she was colored at the age of six.
Another instance is when she asks her mother for the quilts her grandmother had made, her mother said they were for Maggie; Dee's reply was, “Maggie wouldn't appreciate the quilts” and Maggie says, “Dee can have them” (Walker 2441). Furthermore, all of the things Dee ask for she wants to use them for decoration and not for everyday use. Dee also was not educated about her heritage. For instance, her mother called her “Dee” and in return she replied saying her new name was Wangero, followed by the statement, “Dee is dead and I can no longer bear the name of the people that oppress me” (Walker 2440). I believe there was no time during the story that she was oppressed or even mentioned
Two Kinds Every day somewhere in the world, a mother’s expectations for their daughter to succeed in life may come from what she has lost prior to her daughter being born. Amy Tan, the author of the short story “Two Kinds”, teaches a valuable lesson in a mother- daughter relationship. The mother a Chinese immigrant was determined her daughter; Jeing-Mei a first generation Chinese American was to become a prodigy. The theme of “Two Kinds” expresses how a mother’s dream for her daughter to be successful in America can turn a daughter away from her own identity. Jeing-Mei believes that America will give her the identity she wants without having to work for it.