Growing Up in Chicago
What is a Vignette?
A short, well written sketch or descriptive
scene.
It does not have a plot which would make it a
short story, but it does reveal something about
the elements in it.
It may reveal character, mood, or tone.
It may have a theme or idea of its own that it wants to
convey.
It is the description of the scene or character that is
important.
By linking these vignettes, Cisneros attempts to reveal
the life of a young girl, a daughter of Mexican
immigrants, growing up in the inner city of the United
States.
Structure of
Vignettes
1-39Introduces narrator
and establishes setting
43-70Esperanza
describes the world beyond
Mango St. Despites
disappointments, she
enjoys life.
72-84Focus on Esperanza
and the people around her;
portraits of other women
emerge.
86-90Esperanza
describes her family & her
interactions with them.
92-101Esperanza
continues to dream and
mature& the progression
with Sally (note
juxtaposition)
103-109Return to Mango
Street & home as the subject
of Esperanzas thoughts.
Based on these
abstractions, what might
be the thread (thesis)
that holds these beads
(vignettes) together?
Mango Street symbolizes both Esperanzas ball and chain and her
inspiration.
She finds that she is not like the other residents of Mango, that she
can and will find the strength to leave her life there.
She realizes that Mango is a part of her, and where she comes from is
as important as where shes going.
She knows she must come back, to help the others who are trapped
there.
Otherness
Mango suggests
from where that
otherness comes
and shows how it
can become a
cause for
celebration rather
than shame.
Alicia, the medical student who is still bound to her old fears.
Rosa Vargas, with too many children, crying for the husband who
left.
Mamacita, who dreams of the pink house she left behind and refuses
to speak English.
Sally, the subject of abuse until she marries, to escape, before eighth
grade, and moves from Mango Street into into another sort of trap.
And then there is Esperanza, who is like the skinny trees outside her
tiny window, who longs for a house all her own, who starts her own
quiet war.