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Kristin Mizell
Teaching Sandra Cisneros
I
read The House on Mango Street by
Sandra Cisneros in middle school. It is the first literary work I can remember
reading that was written from a point of view so different than my own. As a
young student just beginning to learn about different cultures,
The House on Mango Street allowed me
to read and learn from the point of view of a young Mexican American girl around
my age. This work has stuck with me through the years, and as a future teacher I
plan on using it in my classes when applicable and age appropriate. Due to my
love of this novel, I sought to research its author, Sandra Cisneros, and what
about her work makes it interesting and important to teach.
Before diving into her work, I wanted to research and learn more about Sandra
Cisneros herself. Cisneros was born in Chicago, Illinois and is one of seven
children (“Sandra Cisneros Biography”). She is considered a Chicana writer,
meaning of Mexican origin or descent. Her work draws “heavily upon her childhood
experiences and ethnic heritage as the daughter of a Mexican father and Chicana
mother” (“Sandra Cisneros”). This
quote, from Cisneros herself, explains how her background is important to her
writing, she says ‘I am a woman and I am a Latina. Those are the things that
make my writing distinctive. Those are the things that give my writing power.
They are the things that give it sabor [flavor], the things that give it picante
[spice]’ (“Sandra Cisneros”). Cisneros is able to use her background and write
compelling work from the Chicana point of view.
Cisneros’s point of view as a Chicana woman is important to her work. Thomas
writes that “within her Chicana feminist alternative discourse, she privileges
the wondrous and particular lives of those often defined as other, the different,
those perceived as marginalized, as less than. She then illuminates these untold
lives. When asked if she is Esperanza, she replies, ‘Yes, and no, and then
again, perhaps maybe. One thing I know for certain, you, the reader, are
Esperanza’ “ (Thomas). When I think about why I want to teach literature I
always bring it back to empathy and understanding. I truly believe literature is
one of our greatest resources in teaching how to be caring and understanding of
other people. As a middle schooler, I had never even heard a name like
“Esparanza,” but reading about her life I felt like I understood her even though
we were different.
Cisneros’s work draws from a personal place and “addresses poverty, cultural
suppression, self-identity, and gender roles in her fiction and poetry” (“Sandra
Cisneros”). This statement alone can sum up why it is important to teach her
work and work like hers. She tackles important topics from the point of view of
a minority culture. Representation matters, and a coming of age book about a
young, white girl can be great and important, but not all students are young,
white girls. Cisneros “creates characters who are distinctly Latina/o and are
often isolated from mainstream American culture” (“Sandra Cisneros”). She writes
about her own minority culture and readers are able to learn more while also
relating to a worldview outside of their own.
Other
than drawing from a personal place, Cisneros’ work is compelling because her
writing style itself is unique and interesting. She emphasizes “dialogue and
sensory imagery over traditional narrative structures” (“Sandra Cisneros”). This
is what I enjoyed most about The House on
Mango Street, but I had not been able to pinpoint until doing this research.
The vignette style allowed me to peek in on big moments in the main character
Esparanza’s life. It intrigued me because it was a style I had never read
before. In my research I found an essay by Carol Thomas on Cisneros and her
writing style. Thomas writes, “Cisneros's narrative style rejects traditional
short story forms in favor of collage, often a mosaic of interrelated pieces,
blending the sounds of poetry with oral story telling techniques. Her ingenious
use of language includes the rhythm, sound, and syntax of Spanish, its
sensibilities, emotional relationships to the natural world and inanimate
objects, and its use of tender diminutives” (Thomas). Engaging young readers can
be a difficult task, and I realize one of the hardest aspects of my job as a
teacher will be selecting quality, engaging works for my students to read.
Cisneros’s vignette style and use of language are captivating and easy to read
making it ideal for young readers.
Along
with researching Cisneros herself, I wanted to research what teacher resources
were saying about teaching The House on
Mango Street. Ryan Smith wrote on Sandra Cisneros for his research project
in 2009, and in his paper he wrote “The book is read widely in schools of all
levels, from grade school to college courses, and is revered for its honest and
poetic descriptions of growing up as a young woman in complex and sometimes
contradictory cultures.” I agree, and that is one of the reasons I want to teach
this novel. Smith also wrote about Cisneros as a teacher herself, which she
references in the introduction of The
House on Mango Street, Smith writes that in the “introduction, which has
been recently added, Cisneros describes, referring to herself in third person,
her early job of teaching high school drop-outs who have decided to try again
for their diploma; she wonders if art can help her troubled students.“ This is a
question I ask myself because I will be teaching at a school in an underserved
community of Houston in the fall. The children I will be teaching have difficult
home lives, and for some the only meal they receive is at school. How can I get
them to focus on reading when they have intense situations to deal with in their
home life? I believe with books like The
House on Mango Street, they will be able to relate to the course work.
I
was also able to find some information on teaching on a website called Prestwick
House that has detailed lesson plans. On
The House on Mango Street, contributor Derek Spencer writes “the novel's
themes of identity and coming of age make it universally accessible to young
students and, thus, allows for examination in which all students could
contribute.” Spencer also focuses in on specific aspects about this novel that
are important to focus on, such as “Extensive use of metaphor, subtle detail,
and poetic language are important facets of Cisneros's short chapters.” Spencer
also makes the important point that though Cisneros’s chapters and sentences can
be short in length, they are not short on meaning or shallow in depth. Spencer
also writes “it is important to note that its language and brevity are, in some
cases, deceptively simple.” This is an important point about Cisneros’ style
that I had not considered and would be important to mention when teaching this
novel.
In
researching Sandra Cisneros, I was able to learn more about her work and how I
would go about teaching her highly regarded novel
The House on Mango Street. This
research allowed me to come to a better understanding of what made me enjoy this
novel, while also allowing me to learn what would be important about teaching
this novel. Cisneros’ unique writing style is compelling, and Esparanza’s story
is one that some students might find relatable, and some students will find it
an interesting look into a life experience that is different from their own. I
look forward to teaching this novel in the future.
Works
Cited
"Sandra Cisneros". Biography.Com,
2016, https://www.biography.com/people/sandra-cisneros-
185853. Accessed 29 Mar 2018.
"Sandra Cisneros."
In Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2017. Contemporary
Authors Online (accessed
April 1, 2018).
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/H1000018161/CA?u=txshracd2589&sid=CA&xid=78c588a8.
Smith, Ryan. “Research
Report: Sandra Cisneros.” 2009.
Spencer, Derek. "Free
Teaching Guide: The House on Mango Street". Prestwick House, 2018,
https://www.prestwickhouse.com/blog/post/2014/12/how-to-teach-the-house-on-mango-street.
Accessed 6 May 2018
Thomas, Carol.
"Cisneros, Sandra." Poetry for Students, edited by David A. Galens,
vol.19,
Gale, 2004. Literature Resource Center, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/H1420052887/LitRC?u=txshracd2589&sid=LitRC&xid=18e85f9f.
Accessed 4 Apr. 2018. Originally published
in Contemporary Women Poets, edited by Pamela L. Shelton, St.
James Press, 1998, pp. 63-64.
