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Saturday, December 15, 2007
The House on Mango Street Question 1
How does Esperanza use similes, metaphors, and other figurative language techniques to improve the reading experience? (And do you realize that this book is taught in many colleges?)
i love the way she uses her similies and metaphors in chapter six called "hairs." she says, "..when she is holding you, holding you and you feel safe, is the warm smell of bread before you bake it, is the smell when she makes room for you on her side of the bed still warm with her skin, and you sleep near her, the rain outside falling and Papa snoring. the snoring, the rain, and Mama's hair that smells like bread." It sounds so mellow and relaxing. What i can pull out of this paragraph is that she loves the smell of fresh bread. but what i really think is that all these things together don't actually smell like freshly baked bread but that she refers to being safe and warm next to her mother and her father lightly snoring and the pitter patter of rain on the window to freshly baked bread and her love of it. i mean it is possible that her mom actually does smell like this or maybe she just remembers that one time she smelt of freshly baked bread.
Her figurative language is one of reasons this novel is read in many college courses. She says so much with so little on the page. This book examines as much as other books that are four times its length. The House on Mango Street is deep, not long. The novel also forces us to consider issues of sexism, ageism, racism, and classism (all ways of pre-judging people).
Similies and metaphors allow the reader to get a better image in their mind of what is happening in the story. I like the scene where the kids are playing in the monkey's garden and Experanze says that they "jump on the car tops like they were gigantic mushrooms", this really gives a nice visual. The figurative language causes the reader to think and to speculate as to what she really means by what she said. It is read in many colleges due to the "ism's" that it addresses as well as the thougt that is necessary to really understand all of the similies, metaphors, and other figurative language types that are used.
Even though each page or each memorie is short it says a lot in that short space. It really got me thinking about what life is like for her and the people around her in her nieghborhood. She uses good similies, metaphors and other language in order to keep me thinking. She also uses them to describe her surroundings and how bad they are.
Esperanza use of simile's and metaphor's caught my attention. I thought that her description of Meme's pets were humerous; "like a man dressed in a dog suit" and "limbs flopping all over the place like untied shoes." I also liked the metaphor used to describe her house but I'm not quite sure what it exactly means...she describes her house as having "its feet tucked under like a cat"
Esperanzas best writing is in the chapter where she describes her family's hair. The detail she puts into telling us about their hair makes us think back about the small memories we had like that.
The details that Esperanza puts into everything she says helps the reader get a better picture of what is going on and how things are. Metaphors and similes help give us a mental picture of what is going on by comparing it to something else, alike or different.
This novel uses great figurative language. It really makes you think and relate because the similies and metaphors tend to relate to simpler ideas. I realize it is taught in many colleges because the fact that the book is so simply read, it is not so simply comprehended. You can relate to it in so many ways.
I remember from one of the vignette's how she used personification to describe how the house looked. She said how the door looked like it was being choked by the windows because they were so close together. By using these strategies it helps us better visualize the house that she is describing. Visualizing is a big factor in understanding a book.
Esperanza uses these lit. terms to enhance the book. With out these the book would be boring and have nothing to grab your attention. People would see no point in reading or studying the book for the simple reason there are just words on the page and nothing to get your imagination going.
Esperanza uses many similes throughout the book. It makes me able to visualize things easier. Instead of just saying the word, she relates it to something so we can make a picture of it. Adding similes and metaphors also makes the book more interesting to read. Having them, makes it not boring to read. I really liked this book.
Thank goodness you like this novel, Lindsey. You're not alone in liking it, but I get nervous when so many people find it too unorthodox, too fragmented, too random. I think it's worth reading for its literary devices and for its ability to help us consider "-isms". Again, glad you liked it. Cisneros has other works, including a book I have in room 108. I'll lend it to you if you have time in the coming months.
My favorite part is when she descirbes the trees ,in the chapter called Four Skinny Trees, as humans. She talks about how the tree has skinny necks and point elbows like hers. They grab the earth between their hairy toes and bite the sky with their violent teeth. It makes me feel liek I'm her sitting there watching the trees myself.
One of the reasons this book is so enjoyable is because it is so different than most books. Many novels will provide more information or at least a linear sequence of events. But if all books followed the same guidelines - yuck! Reading would be incredibly boring and without worth...those thousands of years of meaningful literature and stories, poems, novels, biographies, would be uninteresting. Kudos to Cisneros for being so honest and spicing up her piece.
18 comments:
i love the way she uses her similies and metaphors in chapter six called "hairs." she says, "..when she is holding you, holding you and you feel safe, is the warm smell of bread before you bake it, is the smell when she makes room for you on her side of the bed still warm with her skin, and you sleep near her, the rain outside falling and Papa snoring. the snoring, the rain, and Mama's hair that smells like bread." It sounds so mellow and relaxing. What i can pull out of this paragraph is that she loves the smell of fresh bread. but what i really think is that all these things together don't actually smell like freshly baked bread but that she refers to being safe and warm next to her mother and her father lightly snoring and the pitter patter of rain on the window to freshly baked bread and her love of it. i mean it is possible that her mom actually does smell like this or maybe she just remembers that one time she smelt of freshly baked bread.
taylor c.
Her figurative language is one of reasons this novel is read in many college courses. She says so much with so little on the page. This book examines as much as other books that are four times its length. The House on Mango Street is deep, not long. The novel also forces us to consider issues of sexism, ageism, racism, and classism (all ways of pre-judging people).
Similies and metaphors allow the reader to get a better image in their mind of what is happening in the story. I like the scene where the kids are playing in the monkey's garden and Experanze says that they "jump on the car tops like they were gigantic mushrooms", this really gives a nice visual. The figurative language causes the reader to think and to speculate as to what she really means by what she said. It is read in many colleges due to the "ism's" that it addresses as well as the thougt that is necessary to really understand all of the similies, metaphors, and other figurative language types that are used.
This is a phenomenal novel. It gives you the least while making you think of the most.
Even though each page or each memorie is short it says a lot in that short space. It really got me thinking about what life is like for her and the people around her in her nieghborhood. She uses good similies, metaphors and other language in order to keep me thinking. She also uses them to describe her surroundings and how bad they are.
Esperanza use of simile's and metaphor's caught my attention. I thought that her description of Meme's pets were humerous; "like a man dressed in a dog suit" and "limbs flopping all over the place like untied shoes." I also liked the metaphor used to describe her house but I'm not quite sure what it exactly means...she describes her house as having "its feet tucked under like a cat"
Esperanzas best writing is in the chapter where she describes her family's hair. The detail she puts into telling us about their hair makes us think back about the small memories we had like that.
The details that Esperanza puts into everything she says helps the reader get a better picture of what is going on and how things are. Metaphors and similes help give us a mental picture of what is going on by comparing it to something else, alike or different.
This novel uses great figurative language. It really makes you think and relate because the similies and metaphors tend to relate to simpler ideas. I realize it is taught in many colleges because the fact that the book is so simply read, it is not so simply comprehended. You can relate to it in so many ways.
I remember from one of the vignette's how she used personification to describe how the house looked. She said how the door looked like it was being choked by the windows because they were so close together. By using these strategies it helps us better visualize the house that she is describing. Visualizing is a big factor in understanding a book.
Nice points, Bolter. You've helped me remember a great example.
Esperanza uses these lit. terms to enhance the book. With out these the book would be boring and have nothing to grab your attention. People would see no point in reading or studying the book for the simple reason there are just words on the page and nothing to get your imagination going.
Esperanza uses many similes throughout the book. It makes me able to visualize things easier. Instead of just saying the word, she relates it to something so we can make a picture of it. Adding similes and metaphors also makes the book more interesting to read. Having them, makes it not boring to read. I really liked this book.
Thank goodness you like this novel, Lindsey. You're not alone in liking it, but I get nervous when so many people find it too unorthodox, too fragmented, too random. I think it's worth reading for its literary devices and for its ability to help us consider "-isms". Again, glad you liked it. Cisneros has other works, including a book I have in room 108. I'll lend it to you if you have time in the coming months.
My favorite part is when she descirbes the trees ,in the chapter called Four Skinny Trees, as humans. She talks about how the tree has skinny necks and point elbows like hers. They grab the earth between their hairy toes and bite the sky with their violent teeth. It makes me feel liek I'm her sitting there watching the trees myself.
One of the reasons this book is so enjoyable is because it is so different than most books. Many novels will provide more information or at least a linear sequence of events. But if all books followed the same guidelines - yuck! Reading would be incredibly boring and without worth...those thousands of years of meaningful literature and stories, poems, novels, biographies, would be uninteresting. Kudos to Cisneros for being so honest and spicing up her piece.
I completely agree with Liz. Cisnersos stepped out of the box with this book-nothing even tied together.
-The best vignettes in which she uses similies and metaphors in my opinion are trees and hairs.
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