The other day, I was thinking about Snapshots. Yes, the NCERT recommended material for English that had stories like ‘Ranga’s marriage’ and ‘Tales of the Melon City’. I don’t quite know exactly why I was thinking about it. Perhaps it was that trademark cover with the font that possibly hadn’t been updated since the 90s. Or the fact that it was a fun getaway from the mindless pillage of PCMB on one’s brain. Yes, I was one of those kids.
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros would be a natural fit for something like Snapshots. In fact, it is recommended material for schools and universities in several countries. Having being raised in a Hispanic neighbourhood in Chicago, Cisneros lends her own experiences to that of the protagonist, Esperanza, who lives in the same settings. She encounters a range of characters in and around the neighbourhood, each of whose characteristics is described extensively. It feels like a slice of life manga/novella at the beginning as we walk along with Esperanza as she grows up. As she heads into adolescence and adulthood, the vignettes become far more candid and raw. We’re first-hand viewers to the struggles that the family undergoes and Esperanza’s grapple with the stark inequalities in class, gender, and race. Feels quite like a bildungsroman, but you’re expected to fill in the gaps. Some of the vignettes are extremely heartbreaking and lie in stark contrast to the cheery innocence that the book originally unfolds with. Most notably, I relate to the fact that both the author and protagonist give credit to how the place shaped their identities but realized they had to leave at some point. Esperanza vows to return for the ones she left behind.
The read: I can see why this work has such polarizing reactions. A lot of people adore it, due to the natural charm of something that revolves around coming of age. There’s a fair number of detractors as well, who feel that Cisneros, as a poet, should stick to her original medium and written this as free verse. Perhaps they feel cheated by the fact that it’s called a novel. I was distinctly surprised too but warmed up to the way it exists, as the story cycles through the most significant events. Some of the writing is poetic, pun intended and Cisneros does a lovely job of describing the minutia. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this, but if you do pick this up, I hope it reminds you of your Mango Street. Wherever that may be.
Trivia: This work would be regarded as Chicano Literature, which is by people of Mexican descent in North America. Here’s a write-up about it on the Rudolf Anaya Digital Archive, named after one of the most famous exponents of this space who passed away in 2020.
Documentation:
Book: The House on Mango Street
Author: Sandra Cisneros
Year of release: 1984
Publisher: Arte Publico