I have lived through poverty all my life,

No hope for  a better future or plan to be a wife.

I have seen bad things a occur out side,

I also knew a guy that took a stolen Cadillac for a ride.

The houses on the hills are what I dream of,

So I may one day look upon the city from above.

I was to young to realize that I was poor,

Always looking out the window for more.

To know I will one day comeback,

It makes me think why I would run back.

I can’t escaped what I have been through,

All I can do is hope for a better life.

 

“In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting. It is like the number nine. A muddy color. It is the Mexican records my father plays on Sunday mornings when he is shaving, songs like sobbing” (10).

This quote sticks out to me, because it symbolizes and foreshadows the sadness that have happened and will happen. Esperanza might be the main character, but the quote says the dad is listening to sad music. Why is the dad listening to sad music? Is it because he is sad that his life has not turned out how he wanted, or because he is sad he can’t provide nice things for his family. The author most likely wrote that Esperanza means sadness to help foreshadow the events to come.  Her name means hope in English, and sadness in Spanish. The reader can conclude that this was added into the book on purpose in order to show that there is hope in America for a better life, and in Mexico, where they previously lived, there is only sadness. There are many different themes in this section, which makes it a very good quote to analyze. The major theme in this is sadness. Many people say that we are defined by our name. Our name is our identity. Even though her name means hope, she has no hope in America. She is a Mexican girl, with no money, and no body knows who she is. There is not much chance for her to have a good life. Maybe her name actually does mean sadness.

 

I chose the word, because this is what I think of when I imagine what the area looks like around where Esperanza would live. Poverty is a big theme of the story, because they don’t really have any money at all, and their yards and such are probably very unkempt with trash everywhere. This is what defines the people that live in areas like this. They tend to be classified as poor, like Esperanza’s family. The boards over windows, crumbling house, and overgrown foliage everywhere is how Esperanza’s house is described in the book. It is not a perfect representation of what Esperanza’s house looked like, but this is how impoverished areas tend to appear. These people don’t really have anything. I don’t think that her condition was as bad as people that live in like Rio or Africa, but she is still very poor. This is why she has to eat rice sandwiches for lunch, and not the usual sandwich. There  is nothing they can really do about their poverty either, especially if they are minorities, any where they go there will be racism. Almost in every chapter of the book, there are traces of poverty. Whether it is talking about the house they live in, or the area in which they live, poverty is everywhere. Esperanza wants to try to escape this life when she becomes older, but there is no outrunning your previous life, you will always be followed. The only thing she can do is hope for a better life.

Photographer: Feifiei Sun

Source: http://lightbox.time.com/2011/11/17/below-the-line-portraits-of-american-poverty/#3

Dear Esperanza,

My soul was filled sadness when hearing your life story. I don’t know what I would do if I actually lived like that. I don’t think I could live with almost literally nothing. I have everything I need, and I have never really experienced poverty. The closest I have been to poverty is when my mother, my brother, and I lived in duplex. It was a bad area for a young family to live in, because we got robbed a couple of times, and there were many reported crimes recorded on that street. At that time we did literally nothing. Now as my life has moved on a couple years, because of my parents hard work and dedication, I now live in a nice house and nice things. I feel your need to want to get away, but I have come to the point where I realize how hard it will be in the adult world. Even though you don’t really have anything, you are still being supported by your parents, so you should be grateful for that. There is not much that we have I common, because I have not been through all of the physically tough times that you have been through. I must say that I have never ridden in a stolen car, so I don’t have that memory. I wouldn’t want to change anything in my life, because I wouldn’t be who without the life I have lived. It was good hearing about your life, because it helps me understand how it would be to live in deep poverty.

In the story The House on Mango Street, the section known as “Hips” could use symbolism to illustrate the theme of Maturity. In this section of the story, Esperanza and her friends are growing up, shown by the conversation the girls had. Mean while Nenny, who is to young to know, doesn’t really understand what they are talking about. In the story starts to show maturity when she states,” They bloom like roses, I continue because it’s obvious I”m the only who can speak with any authority;I have science on my side. The bones just one day open . Just like that. One day you might decide to have kids, and then where are you going to put them? Got to have room. Bones got to give” (Cisneros 50). At this moment, hips are the best symbolism to show maturity, because they know that their bodies are forming but they don’t know why they have them. The girls are at the age where they are starting to understand some stuff, but they are not mature enough to understand it all. At this point they are just a bunch of girls that are jump roping and talking about hips. They won’t truly understand until later what they were actually talking about. They don’t have the mental maturity to know what they are talking about. It is funny that Esperanza thinks she knows what she is talking about, but in reality she has no idea. The girls will eventually know what they are talking about, but right now they haven’t experienced anything about what they are talking about, they most likely herd older women talking about it.

A familiar voice ran through our mind, as we would hear our band director say after every practice, “We actually have a chance at State this year.”

It is contest day and we are all prepared, month after month of training has not trained us for the moments to come. We have been through rain and shine, and intense heat that could cause metal to melt. Our hearts went to the seniors and the juniors who will probably never march again for White Oak High School.

“What if we don’t place?” Everybody was thinking this but nobody wanted to be the one who said it out loud.

“Let’s get going.” We here Mr. Steele say as we finish loading our horns onto the band trailer.

“We are about to experience something that many people won’t ever get to experience.” Mr. Steele stated as we were hours away from marching in the Alamo Dome.

After a bus ride of pure silence, like the world had complete stopped, we arrived at a beautiful building that we would soon be marching in. The building had obviously seen some years, but it was a marvelous sight to see. Looking at the towering stadium in front of me, I was reminded of the ocean, because the pillars on top rose and fell like the waves on open sea.

As the hours went by my heart started beating harder and harder, the nervousness was setting in. We would soon be marching in front of all of our fans, and in one of the biggest marching competition in Texas for our region.

The moment finally arrived, we were now standing in the tunnel entrance for the moment we had been working towards for around 4 months. Every day in whatever whether.

“Next for the 2a state, White Oak High School.” We heard the announcer boom into the microphone. Our fans stood up and screamed for us, then there was a drum cadence, then we were off.

“You know what you are doing,” I herd Mr. Whatley state.” Y’all have performed this drill many times.”

We could only focus on the people around us, they were the only ones who the true excitement of what we were doing. We performed our drill with all the crossing and the cool military songs that were singed into our minds, and at the end the crowd clapped whether they liked us or not.

When it came time for the announcer to announce the bands that placed, we weren’t one of them. Sadness fell upon us, like the dark of night. No one wanted to say what could have been, because for a lot of people this was the last time. The ones who would have the opportunity to experience this again were thinking what we could do to win next time.

It was a sad moment for some, and some were just glad that we made it that far. It is an experience that we will never forget. After all very few bands in the state of Texas get to experience.

 

When someone asks, what is my most prized possession? People ask me this question all the time, but I usually don’t know what to say to this. I think I finally know now, my answer now would probably be my post card collection. It sounds pretty lame to have a post cards, but when I am old and my memories are scarce, I will be able look upon these long lost memories and remember a good life. Ever since I went to the Grand Canyon, I have been collecting postcards everywhere I go. Even when my parents go out of time without me, I ask them to get me postcards. If I ever saw my collection being sold or in the trash, I would probably cry. I currently have around 300. I wish to collect them where ever I go even if I have been there multiple times. My dream is to explore the world when I am older. I want to be able to cover a wall of my house with them. Even today when I have only had then for a couple of years, I look back upon them and remember the places I have been. My favorite one is from Disney World, where all the different parks are combined into one card. I smile every time I look through the cards

I have lived in the house I live in for about 7 years now, and once I think of all the rooms in the house a story comes to mind. Whether they are good stories with joy and laughter, or bad stories with pain and yelling. These stories are my house’s history, just like every human on earth. When I think of the of my room, I imagine the sleepovers that occurred. These usually involved someone getting really mad, because pranks were pulled on them. Once when my brother was asleep in the room with my friend Tyler and I we put hot sauce on his lips, and he woke up with his lips burning all mad at us cause he didn’t know what was going on. That was a good night. When I think of my living room, I remember  having a bunch of friends over at like 12:00 at night, and we were all having a baseball tournament on the x box. We were constantly being to loud and my parent kept coming in the living room to tell us to be quiet. Those were the good old days when we didn’t really have to worry about high school or    jobs. My favorite tradition we have is on Christmas eve when we go to our older brothers room and sleep in there. This is because at our old house when we were moving away from my old house, we had no beds so we had to sleep on my sister’s floor. Like humans a house has memories.

Everybody has that one person that will always be by them no matter what. This person is traditionally known as someone’s best friend. My best friend is probably a boy by the name of Tyler, not my brother. We have been through a lot with each other, and I know he has my back no matter what. We have been best friends for about 5 years. I remember times when we were at his house, and we would sneak out his house at like 12 at night and go to the field next to his house. There have also been times when of course being teenage boys, we have done stuff that could actually get us hurt. I don’t know what I would do without him. When he moved to a different school, I felt like I would never get to see him again. As it turns out, he still attends church with my family some times. He has shaped who I am today, although we are basically nothing alike we still enjoy messing around and getting in trouble, and having fun times that we will remember forever. I know who my best friend it is, but many people don’t. Do you know yours?