house on mango street

House on Mango Street

Cisneros p. 747

“The house would be white with trees around it, a great big yard and grass growing without a fence.”

This is the girl’s idea of a perfect house. It is like the dream of a perfect life in suburbia. The white house, nice big yard, and trees and grass, all cliché parts of a perfect suburban house. She thinks that having this house will make her have a happy life.

Cisneros p. 748

“ You live there? The way she said it made me feel like nothing. There. I lived there.”

This quote once again shows the girls wish for that perfect house in suburbia. She wants have a house that she can be proud of, one that she will be proud to be outside of. Although this house is theirs, it is not good enough for her. She wants to live the suburban dream. Its interesting how because she lives this lifestyle, she wants suburbia, yet in Dharma Bums, the are trying to get away from suburbia, to her lifestyle.