Comparison Of Fences And House On Mango Street

From the abolition of slavery by President Lincoln to the civil rights victories of Martin Luther King, Jr., discrimination against and among minorities is still very real even today. Minority issues are popular themes with writers who would be considered “minorities” themselves. Two stories in particular, Fences by August Wilson and House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, reveal common and familiar minority issues such as race and gender injustices through their writing styles. In the play Fences , the main character Troy, had a big dream of becoming a professional baseball player, but his dream was soon crushed when he couldn't play Major League Baseball because of his race. Troy ultimately winds up becoming a garbage collector just …show more content…
Cisneros writes her book in a series of chronological stories called vignettes. The vignettes combine both poetry and short story that are a short one to four pages long. Her masterful writing style allows you read the vignettes in any order even though it is a chronological coming of age story because each vignette makes its own specific point. For example, if you were to starting reading the book on page 86 and you see the first sentence of the vignette , “I want a house on a hill like the ones with the gardens where papa works,” we can tell that she doesn't like the house she is living in and wants to move into a better one. It also shows us that her family is poor because if someone wants a house, it is usually nicer than the one they live in. It continues on saying, “One day I'll own my own house, but I won't forget who I am or where I came from.” As we read on this vignette tells us more and shows us that she will own her own house and it will be better than the one she is living it. It also shows that she will not be a minority and will learn from her parents’ mistakes. Secondly, the author’s style emphasizes minority issues through her use of figurative language. In the text it says,“I don't tell them I am ashamed-all of us staring out the window like the hungry.” This simile reveals that she is poor and ashamed of her lifestyle. When the author compares staring out the window like someone hungry staring at food, we get a sense of the desperation minorities feel when they are deprived of anything. As shown through the structure of the story and the figurative language, the author's style does in fact convey minority issues well to the

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Comparison Of Fences And House On Mango Street

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