Particular Name example essay topic

393 words
The book that I have chosen to read for my book report is a collection of memoir pieces from the viewpoint of a hispanic girl growing up in the Latino ghetto of Chicago. I choose this particular piece for several reasons. Our instructions were to find a book that dealt with the issues that face minority people on an everyday bases. When I found this book, I immediately picked it up and started to explore the world of a young woman by the name of Sandra Cisneros. I had heard of this particular author, but had never taken the chance to read any of her books.

The House on Mango Street sparked my interest, and from the beginning to the end I discovered several things about the the author; as well as myself. On the first few pages of this book, the author introduces herself as a young girl with endless dreams. For the very first piece in this collection the author writes about her name. The young girl in the story is named Esperanza, or Hope in english. She writes about how she hates her name, but she realizes that there must have been a very improtant reason that she was given this particular name. In her thoughts she wonders if there was ever anyone important with this name, or was there a special person in her family that shared her name.

Through her thoughts, Hope introduces herself to the reader. She talks about the different members of her family, and discovers that she should be thankful for the name that she was given, because her sisters name was far worse then her own. Going into the conclusion of her first piece, the reader starts to feel the true ethnic influence that Hope has been introduced to throughout her life. The mention of superstitions, and the importance of being born in a "good" year is a direct reflection of the belief system that is in place when it comes to supernatural powers controlling the lives of individuals. The belief that a person has his or her own destiny, and that we all face that destiny is a very strong belief in the Latino culture. Therefore, young Hope is expressing these beliefs through her own Latina experience.