Leeza Vernon
English 1109 at 10:30, T-Th
08-31-2020
Journal Two
Hello, my name is Elizaveta Vernon, but I go by Leeza. I am a freshman this year and my major is business management. I'm from Delaware, Ohio, it's about 25 minutes south of Marion. I graduated from Rutherford B. Hayes High School. I am studying
business management because, in the long run, I would like to own my own business
or become a CEO of a big corporation. A fun fact about myself is that I am a mom to a little boy named Kian. He has taught me many things at a young age that I never thought I would know. I believe all things happen for a reason and I am beyond grateful he has come into my life.
While reading the book The
House on Mango Street I was able to get an idea of how the main character
was feeling and how she was dealing with her living situation. Something that stood
out to me while reading this book is how she portrays her mom. In the section “Hairs”,
she says "when she is holding you, holding you and you feel safe, is the warm smell of bread before you bake it" (Sandra Cisneros 6). This
stood out to me because while she isn’t fond of her living situation she tells
us how her mom makes her feel safe, warm, and comforting. I can relate to Esperanza because I see my mom in a similar way. A theme that stood out to me the most is perspective. In the book, Esperanza describes to the readers what her family's idea of a dream house is. She then proceeds to tell us an event that occurred when she lived at one of her old apartments and how it made her feel like nothing inside. She tells us that at that moment is when she realized her family needed to get a real house, but that the house on Mango Street was not a real house. While some of her previous living situations weren't the best, her perspective of this house isn't the best. Everyone has there own perspective on different situations and while she isn't fond of the house, her parents tell her it's temporary. I feel as this is important because while the house isn't her family's dream house, they have the mindset of it's only for the time being and that it won't be a forever home. I have personally seen a situation like this with one of my friends. When she was young she moved back and forth between her moms and dads, while somedays her perspective of her living situation wasn't the best, she now is pushing to work hard and make a good future for herself. We all choose how we look at situations in our lives.
Leeza, I'm amazed that you are a Mom and congratulations on birth of your son Kian and the joy/responsibility that parenthood brings. I bet you have lots of good stories about him already and I encourage you to write or record them, as the early years go by so fast.
ReplyDeleteI think you hit on a really important theme in Cisneros: that often people judge themselves by their social status, economic status, living situation. Esperanza does it to herself and others do it to her. If we are honest, we do it to others all the time, even without thinking. If we see a nice house or car or expensive clothes, we get easily impressed, and if we see poverty or dilapidation we easily confer judgements. Yet we know that life and identity is so much deeper. Sometimes what stories do is let us see in others what we can't see in ourselves. Thanks for posting and reflecting so thoughtfully.