Esperanza feels close to the four trees the city planted outside her
window. Like her, she says, they are skinny and don't belong there, but
also like her, they are strong and willful. They grow through concrete.
Their strength is secret.
Esperanza's self-knowledge is clearly increasing. She identifies herself,
in a completely abstract way, with the four trees. Interestingly, she
says they stay strong because they never quit their anger, a facet of
Esperanza herself which has become more evident in recent chapters, including
Geraldo No Last Name. When she was younger, she felt mostly fearful
of the outside world. She contrasts herself with the less mature Nenny
as well. Nenny sleeps through the planting, not seeing the meaning in
the trees that Esperanza sees.
Mamacita is a very large woman whose husband has brought her and their
child from Mexico to Mango Street. She never leaves her apartment, and
refuses to learn English, pining every day for Mexico, to the disgust
of her husband. Then her baby boy sings a Pepsi commercial he heard on
TV, and Mamacita becomes hysterical, crying, No speak English!
This chapter, like Geraldo No Last Name is about the Mexican immigrant
experience. It is notable that neither Geraldo nor Mamacita have a good
experience in America. Mamacita's size and brightly colored clothing make
her seem too exotic for Mango Street, imprisoned in her American life,
though she remains distinctly un-American. Her voice reinforces this when
she sings Spanish songs, sounding like a seagull, or when she cries out
hysterically: she is like a beautiful caged animal.
Rafaela is a young woman married to a man who keeps her locked up when
he goes out, because he is afraid she is so beautiful she'll run away
from him. She dreams of dancing, and asks Esperanza and her friends to
buy her a coconut or papaya juice, which she retrieves with a rope she
throws down from her window.
Rafaela, like many of the women in Mango Street, is forced to forget
her own dreams because of her husband. Like Alicia, the girl who sees
mice, she has many good characteristics--she seems intelligent, ambitious,
and spirited--but each of these is countered by her dependence on her
bullying husband. Thus, she becomes like a fairy tale, like Rapunzel,
when she lowers a paper bag for the children to put sweet, flavorful drinks
in. These drinks are clear symbols for the life Rafaela would like to
have, and surely could have, if not for her husband. We are never told
exactly why these women stay with their husbands or fathers, which seems
to implicate them in their own misery, because we are left to assume that
the reason they stay is simply that they cannot imagine living in any
other way, despite their dreams. Their loyalty--or, sometimes, their fear--prevents
them from realizing their independence.
Sally is a beautiful girl who wears perfect, Egyptian-looking makeup
and has no girl friends, since she got into a fight with her best friend
Cheryl. Now she has no one to giggle over boys with. Esperanza does not
want to believe what the boys say about her, or that, like her mother
says, for Sally to act so grown up is dangerous. Esperanza empathizes
with Sally, who has to remove her makeup and change her clothes before
she gets home, and can never go out. She wonders whether Sally would like
to leave home forever. She says she understands that all Sally wants is
to love and to love and to love, to dream and dream, and she doesn't
blame her.
Sally, like Marin, is a dreamy, overly mature girl who seems destined
for trouble. Like Marin, her main problem seems to be the gap between
what she wants to be and what her culture and family want for her. Esperanza
admires her exotic appearance, and wants Sally to teach her how to dress
and wear makeup. The entire chapter is written in a pleading, childlike
tone, as Esperanza tries to understand and emulate Sally. Esperanza wants
Sally's maturity, but she doesn't understand how complicated that maturity
can be.
Clapsaddle, Diane. "TheBestNotes on A Long Way Gone".
TheBestNotes.com.
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