Vignettes of 'The House on Mango Street'

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Anonymous Mrs.Anonymous English 101 Essay #1 1 Oct. 2012 Vignette Essay As a young girl there are many assumptions and unanswered questions about growing up and what it means to be a woman. In “The House On Mango Street”, the author Sandra Cisneros teaches many lessons throughout her novel including one in particular. In her vignette “Hips”, Esperanza, Nenny, Rachel, and Lucy explain to each other what it means to have hips. In “Hips”, Cisneros shows the innocence of young girls and establishes the relationship between Esperanza and Nenny which demonstrates her view of where a woman’s place is in society. The setting of this vignette describes Esperanza, Nenny, Rachel, and Lucy playing double-dutch together. They each explain in their different ways what it means to have hips. Rachel states that having hips are good for holding a baby. Lucy explains that hips are needed to dance. Nenny believes if you do not get hips you turn into a man. Esperanza fears her sister being made fun of so she comes to her defense saying that hips are scientific and that bones tell you the difference between man and woman. As they continue to play double-dutch, they decide as a group to make up their own individual rhymes. Everyone is able to complete this task except for Nenny. The innocence of young girls is shown in this vignette. “One day you wake up and they are there. Ready and waiting like a new Buick with the keys in the ignition” (Cisneros 49). When the human body develops it does not grow over night as Esperanza is saying here. Esperanza is really using her imagination as a young girl would because cars are nothing like humans. Lucy states, “You need them to dance” (Cisneros 49). This quote does not make sense because anyone can dance regardless of whether or not you have hips. Hips are absolutely not required to be able to dance. There are many people in the world,

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