Beta Reading

   1)  The Dialogue in this book does contribute to the story. It has a very teenager-ish (sorry couldn't find the word for it) sound to it, which is good. I think that there should  be more emotion between the characters in the dialogue, because there is so much of it and it would make the story seem more real.
     2) Adrian's explanation of Filipino folklore is very good. It helps the reader understand the importance of it and it adds a more magical mood to the book. But, I am a little confused on what the folklore is suppose to signify in the story. It would be helpful if it was made more clear.
    3)Dorthy's reaction is not all that realistic. She seems to like the gut and the first reactions are realistic. But, when the folklore is talked about it gets confusing and unrealistic. I think she would be confused or think its a little weird that Adrian knows so much about the folklore. That would make the reaction more realistic.
    4) The cultural elements are fine, but I don't find many i the book. More should be added to make differences between the characters. This would help create a better relationship in the characters because the girl would like the guy because of his culture and how he is different.
   5) Dorthy is fine being Filipino but I think it would be better if she had a different name. Dorthy does seem like the main character in the story. But, I think she should have a closer relationship to Adrian. I cant really tell she is Filipino, Adrian seems more Filipino. I think she should be another ethnicity so that there is a difference between her and Adrian. That would make her more interested in Adrian and help both charactes learn more from each other.
    6) Adrian is somewhat compelling. I like how he is strong about his ethnicity and the description of how he describes it i the folklore. He is a strong character in the book, but lacks emotion. He is present a lot, but there should be more of what he thinks of things and  how he feels about them, like Dorthy.
Overall, the story looks really good and I can't wait to read all of it!

Esperanzas Future

Esperanza has described pictures of her life throughout this book. In the last four vignettes however, she writes about her future. In the first vignette her future is told by old ladies.

"Look at her hands, cat eyes said. And they turn them over and over as if they were looking for something. She's special. Yes, She'll go very far. Yes, yes, hmmm....When you leave you must remember to come back for the others." (104)

Esperanza was going to go far. That meant that she will become something great and succeed in life. But, the old women said that she had to come back. Esperanza could not let go of her past and she must come back to mango street because that  is where she lived.
      In the second Vignette, Alicia and I Talking on Edna's Steps,  Esperanza and Alicia talk about their  "real" and how they will go to them. Esperanza does not believe that the house on mango street is her's.

"No, this isn't my house I say and shake my head as if shaking could undo the year I've lived here. I don't belong. I don't ever want to come here... Like it or not you are Mango street, and one day you'll come back."(107)

 This vignette is very important to understand Esperanza's thought of her home.I think she does not like her house, but she does love Mango Street. That is where she grew up and what influenced her to become the Esperanza that she is.Esperanza is MANGO STREET. It also talks about how Alicia said that Esperanza will come back. i also read this in the first vignette. Esperanza needs to come back i the future. She can't leave mango street.
       In the third vignette, A house of my own, Esperanza describes a house. It seems to be a house that she would want to live in. Esperanza always wanted a nice house, not like the one she lived in.This is Esperanza's future house. 
   In the last vignette,  Mango says goodbye sometimes,  Esperanza writes on why she wrote the book and what her future will be like.  She wrote that she likes to tell stories and says how she will say good bye to mango.
      Overall, these four vignettes symbolize the importance of Esperanza's future. She does not like her house that she live in, but loves Mango street. She loves Mango Street because that is what influenced her life and goals, that is why she can't leave Mango street. She is confused about not liking mango street but really, she just doesn't like her house. That is why she wants to go far from it. But, she will come back to it because it is what made Esperanza, Esperanza. 

Girls Treated Different? (this is the real post, not the other one)

            Sandra Cisneros would think that girls need to be treated differently. The same way that boys are treated should not be the same way that others (girls) are treated. She talks a lot about the way boys and girls are treated in her book.

In the vignette Alicia Who Sees Mice

"Close your  eyes and they'll go away, her father says, or You're just imagining.. And anyway, a woman's place is sleeping so she can wake up early with the tortilla star, the one that appears early just in time to rise and catch the hind legs hide behind behind the sink, beneath the four-clawed tub, under the swollen floorboards nobody fixes, in the corner of your eyes."(31)

In the vignette, Alicia is the daughter in the story and her father is telling her what she is suppose to be. The woman is suppose to leave early so she can wake up early and care for her family.He (the man) doesn't take in consideration of what the girl has to say about his opinion. Women in this book do not have much say to what men say for them to do. This applies to teenage girls as well. Cisneros knows that teenage girls are treated differently and raised differently than teenage boys. She does believe that they should be treated differently because girls share different feelings than girls. She writes about girls throughout the story and their experiences that occur in life. The difference in girls and boys is the reason why they should be raised differently.
In another vignette Cisneros describes how a man looks at her daughter.

''Her father says, to be this beautiful is trouble. They are strict in his religion. They are not suppose to dance. He remembers his sisters and is sad. Then she can't go out. Sally I mean ." (81)

Sally was a pretty girl. Her father was very protective. The reason he is protective is because of the experience his sisters had. They must of been pretty to, but guys took advantage because he says, "he remembers his sisters and is sad." Her sisters might not have been raised like sally so they got into trouble. Her father does not want sally to be like his sisters. Cisneros thinks that girls should be raised differently because they can't do many things or have many privileges. They can't go out, like sally. She thinks that girls should be bale to have some privileges. That is why Cisneros thinks that girls should be raised differently then boys.

Esperanza has described pictures of her life throughout this book. In the last four vignettes however, she writes about her future. In the first vignette her future is told by old ladies.

"Look at her hands, cat eyes said. And they turn them over and over as if they were looking for something. She's special. Yes, She'll go very far. Yes, yes, hmmm....When you leave you must remember to come back for the others." (104)

Esperanza was going to go far. That meant that she will become something great and succeed in life. But, the old women said that she had to come back. Esperanza could not let go of her past and she must come back to mango street because that  is where she lived.
      In the second Vignette, Alicia and I Talking on Edna's Steps,  Esperanza and Alicia talk about their  "real" and how they will go to them. Esperanza does not believe that the house on mango street is her's.

"No, this isn't my house I say and shake my head as if shaking could undo the year I've lived here. I don't belong. I don't ever want to come here... Like it or not you are Mango street, and one day you'll come back."(107)

 This vignette is very important to understand Esperanza's thought of her home.I think she does not like her house, but she does love Mango Street. That is where she grew up and what influenced her to become the Esperanza that she is.Esperanza is MANGO STREET. It also talks about how Alicia said that Esperanza will come back. i also read this in the first vignette. Esperanza needs to come back i the future. She can't leave mango street.
       In the third vignette, A house of my own, Esperanza describes a house. It seems to be a house that she would want to live in. Esperanza always wanted a nice house, not like the one she lived in.This is Esperanza's future house. 
   In the last vignette,  Mango says goodbye sometimes,  Esperanza writes on why she wrote the book and what her future will be like.  She wrote that she likes to tell stories and says how she will say good bye to mango.
      Overall, these four vignettes symbolize the importance of Esperanza's future. She does not like her house that she live in, but loves Mango street. She loves Mango Street because that is what influenced her life and goals, that is why she can't leave Mango street. She is confused about not liking mango street but really, she just doesn't like her house. That is why she wants to go far from it. But, she will come back to it because it is what made Esperanza, Esperanza. 

Vignettes

Parties

We have many parties. Not the ones that most people go to with dining tables, music that you can't dance to and makes you sleepy.

No, we have fiestias.

I love going to them. Wearing my fancy clothes. My pink dress with the little black shoes my mom brought me for my birthday. " Te ves muy bonita" says my papa.

We arrive at our Tio Luis's house.

"Bienvenidos, entren"

The little house that is small like one of my barbie doll houses is packed with people.

Family, friends, and other strangers I do not know.

Children are running around crazy with their paletas in their hand dripping to the side.

Men turn on the TV to watch the end of the soccer game, all I hear is "gooooaaaaaalllllllll!"

Old mujeres are telling chismes about the neighborhood drama.

The vatos or cholos as I call are fixing their car, trying to please the cholas who are talking and laughing waiting for a nino to ask them to baillare.

There are colors everywhere that make up the Mexican themed scenery.

Yellow, Orange, Red, and my favorite hot pink.

Plates of comida fill the room with scents of agua de horchata and  tacos de carnitas on the grill.

Mariachi music makes the dance floor on the backyard. Couples dance to

I sit on a bench and  see the starry night.

Yes, this is the parties I go to.

Not the ones that most people go to with dining tables, music that you can't dance to and makes you sleepy.

No, we have fiestias.

Nombres

People mistake me for many things. They think I am a different person. I am mot.

They call me names, but I am a true person.

They don't know my life, I do.

I think of the things they tell me at night

I am in my bed and I can still here their voices.

My bed is filled with the tears I hold inside me.

Living in the hood, I know what it feels like.

Having beatings, hearing gunshots.

Its no that bad of a life, though.

You get used to it.

You learn to protect yourself.

I know my way around the streets.

Where to take my place and where to not.

But, people look at me as if I am strong.

I am not all that strong.

When I am alone I am different.

I am the real me.

A ll the beatings, names, and fights I had,

they take place in my heart.

I feel alone, without anything to depend on.

This is the real me.

Brothers

I have a brother.

Hair that bounces with every step he takes and the curls wave around his head.

His big brown eyes and long lashes, when he blinks it makes a new day.

The little clothes that fill his room, such tiny little shoes.

But, now he is big.

Growing faster as the days go on

He reminds me of myself, well almost.

funny and clumsy.

I know what it feels like to have a brother.

Annoying you every minute of the day.

Spying on you on, and

Eating your french fries when you turn around

But, I still like my brother.

I love him,

With is bouncy hair and his annoying self.

Yes, he's all right.

 A Little Chit Chat

A uncle doesn't talk that much.

"Hello" and "What are you doing?" is all his lines for the day.

With some occasional "thanks, how was your day, and where do you want to go or where are you going?"
I guess that is where a man takes place.

He comes home for dinner

Then goes back to doing his thing.

I guess that’s what it is.

Cars

There are many cars in my neighborhood.

Red cars, blue cars, and even lime green cars that you would think glow in the dark.

A Little Chit Chat

As I faced the window I heard the sound of a familiar car engine.

Oh no, my cousins.

They were visiting from LA

I never really liked them.

They always had new clothes, nice cars to drive in and they said they had their own rooms!

I sat waiting patiently for the time they would arrive.

" Hi, how are you?" They said entering.

My bother elbowed me to respond.

" Great, thanks, " I responded.

" Well now, I made some food lets go into the kitchen., oh take your cousins to your room while I prepare the food," my mother commanded.

"So, is this your room?" The one with the purple shirt asked.

" No I share with my brother", I responded, not wanting to.

"Oh, I see," she said looking around the room.

"Girls, dinner is ready," My mom called.

I felt relived, but still we did not finish the chit chat we had.

Maybe later, I hope not.

Red Pink In The House on Mango Street

        There are many examples in this book that the colors red and pink symbolize. Red and and pink are very important because they help see these examples through Esperanza's perspective. I want to focus on three vignettes that really stand out to the true meanings of these colors.In the vignette chanclas, Esperanza is getting ready for a party. She is excited for the new clothes she got for a special occasion, because she knows she barley gets new clothes.

" I open up and she's there with bags and big boxes, the new clothes and, yes, she's got the socks and new slip with a little rose on it and a pink-and-white stripped dress."(p46)

The colors seem to pop at Esperanza and she was expecting these colors on her dress. The colors symbolize what she wants in life, something new. The dress was new and she never gets much new clothes. Her excitement for these colors shows what she wants.
   On the second vignette Boys and Girls, Esperanza talks about these two types of genders. More specifically, she talks about what is the separation between them. In the end she states,

" Until then, I am a red balloon, a balloon ties to an anchor."(p9)

The red in this example is what she is. She is a red balloon. What I think she means is the future. Red to her is the future because of the vibrant color. The balloon is here and one day when she is unties she will float away to where she belongs. That is what the color and balloon signify here.
    The last vignette I looked at was The Earl of Tennessee. Esperanza describes Earl who works on her apartments. What she starts to focus on the end is his mystery wife. Esperanza was told by a boy who saw her how she looked like.

" And the boy across the street say she is tall red-headed lady who wears tight pink pants and green glasses."(p71)

The color pink and red are descriptions here. I don't think they really are that important in this vignette, but again they stands out to Esperanza. It seems that every  single time there is something red or pink Esperanza describes and mentions it.The colors r4ed and pink are vibrant and catch Esperanza's description. In the book, they are just descriptions and don't seem to be any more then that.

Windows

In the series of vignettes that are listed: My name, No Speak English, Rafaela, and Sally, there are many explanations of windows. Esperanza  is the girl who describes the windows in the story's. The significance goes to what it means to her.
     In the vignette My Name, there is a sad description of windows. Esperanza describes the life of her grandmother and how it was made into sadness when her "husband" made her his wife.

"She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow." (p.11)

Her grandmother was kidnapped and her whole life was spent with a man she did not love. This also shows how women were treated. They really had no choice in who they could marry and because they are women people(men) think they cant do anything. That is what windows represents in this vignette. The longing and redemption of what could have been a better life for people.
    In the vignette No Speak English,Esperanza talks about a lady who misses her hometown and never comes out of her apartment.

."She sits all day  by the window and plays the Spanish radio and and sings all the homesick songs about her country in a voice that songs like a seagull."

The lady is sad about not being in her country and comforts herself by singing. The window in this situation is significant because it shows the loss of someone or something. The woman in the story has lost her country  and longs to go back. The window is a way of people to see what they are missing in their life.
     In Sally, Esperanza describes a girl named Sally who has a very hard life. She was pretty at first and all the guys like her. But, to others and her parents it was dangerous for her to be that beautiful. She seemed to have a problem that made her life change. She was not the same person after a while. It is described here, what sally wanted,

"And if you opened the little window latch and gave it  it a shove , the windows would swing open, all the sky would come in." (p.82)

Here, the window is the significance of what is the future. The girl, sally is having a really hard time in her life, but Esperanza imagines what she wants. The window is like a different path or life that someone can take and make it their own . It gives people a chance from their old life to have a better one, like the one in their dreams.
These are the vignettes that had significance in windows.