11 March, 2011

Esperanza's Best Friend: Trees .

The book, The House On Mango Street is written by the author, Sandra Cisneros. The House On Mango Street is written in the style of vignettes. Through out the book has many symbols within the vignettes, also there is a pattern of the symbols occurring. As I was flipping and reading through the book, I realized that the symbol, “trees” popped up a lot. I found that the symbol “trees” were in the following vignettes: “ Sire”, “Four Skinny Trees”, also the vignette “The Monkey Garden”
To start off, in Sire, Esperanza treats the trees as her friend, someone that she can talk to. On page 73, Esperanza said, “Not this way, every evening talking to the trees, leaning out my window, imagining what I can’t see.” Both the windows and the trees are related, because windows are signifying that Esperanza wants freedom. While, the trees are someone she can express herself to. She is telling the trees that she wants freedom, to be out of this neighborhood. Also, the trees are keeping her strong through the hardships in her life. Like when she leans on the window, wanting freedom.
In addition,  in Four Skinny Trees, the narrator, Esperanza compares her self to the trees. In this particular vignette, Esperanza describes how the trees are skinny just like her. She is saying that she is like the trees, the trees that do not belong in this neighborhood, just like her. “Four who do not belong here but are here. Four raggedy excuses planted by the city,” (page 74). This is demonstrating that both of the trees and Esperanza are forced to be in this neighborhood, that they do not wish to belong here. Both of them wish to be free and be some where else other than in this bad neighborhood.
Last but not least, in The Monkey Garden, Esperanza explained what happened when she was trying to save Sally from the guys. On page 97, Esperanza were holding sticks and bricks to save Sally, but what can she do with them? So she felt embarrassed and this is what she did afterwards, “I had to hide myself at the other end of the garden, in the jungle part, under a tree that wouldn’t mind if I lay down and cried a long time.” This portrays that Esperanza trusts the trees, like a best friend. Trees are the one she can go to, when she is down. Also, during the hardships of her life, like in this vignette when she feels embarrassed and ashamed, she can go to the trees. Trees are the one that makes her keep going, to be stronger, also they are the one she can trust.
Esperanza and the trees are so similar that she treats them as a best friend, that she can rely on and trees are the one that make her continue her life.

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