... stock market and mortgage lender meltdowns, two-paycheck families are busting the budget on necessities. Even conservative spenders are growing weary. During a recent small group discussion, a mother of three held back tears as she described the effects of the dollar's weakening buying power. She and her husband both work and have been steadily employed for the last twenty years. Three years ago, they felt financially secure ... gasoline costs has created a "green" attitude Americans should have adopted years ago. Gas-guzzlers sit on dealers" lots as higher gasoline efficiency models ta...

• Word Count: 398
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... was The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. The House on Mango Street is a book about culture of Chicanos, also known as Mexican Americans. It is about a girl named Esperanza who moves into a new house on Mango Street. Before she moved to Mango Street she lived on Loomis on the third floor and before that house she lived on Keeler. The difference about the house on Mango Street and the ones before are that they don't have to pay rent, there is no land lord bugging them for ... being loud. They also don't have to share a the yard with the people downstairs because no one lives down...

• Word Count: 483
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... Cisneros' novella, "The House on Mango Street," a thirteen year old girl named Esperanza takes the audience through a series of events as if they are living Esperanza's life with her. Cisneros vividly describes the many troubles Esperanza faces in 1970's Chicago. All the families that live on Mango Street are poverty stricken and Esperanza hopes to one day leave Mango Street to become successful. Women in the 1970's were not treated ... in society. The men of Mango street beat the women and control every aspect of their lives. The women in the book are tied to the men, as they directly ...

• Word Count: 1139
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

The book The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros takes place on a run down street in Chicago called Mango Street. The main character of this book is a 13 or 14-year-old girl named Esperanza. Throughout this book she is faced with many different feelings and learns a lot of lessons in life. The main thing she learns about is men and her feelings toward them. Esperanza realized that so many of the ... own house. Esperanza tells herself that she will get out of Mango Street and own her own house that she can be proud to go home to. Rosa Vargas is even worse off. Not only did she not have th...

• Word Count: 1279
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... getting molested because she was all alone. Then Sally ended up leaving the neighborhood for good when she got married to a man before she was even in the eighth grade. By the end of the story, Esperanza finally accepts Mango Street as a part of her. She still desired to have a new house so that she can be on her own, and pursue her dream of writing. This book represents ... the struggle that minorities faced while living in ghetto communities. Esperanza had to sacrifice ... her childhood to get a job at the age of twelve to bring home some money for her ... ...

• Word Count: 322
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... Esparanza has a positive, but sometimes naive outlook on her future. As she becomes an adult she has certain hopes and aspirations that come along with her expectations and as she gets older she is slowly realizing what expectations are realistic and what are not. Sexuality and gender are major themes in The House on Mango Street. As Esparanza is discovering her sexual identity she is ... realizing all the dangers that come along with that discovery. Cisneros also comment's on "sexual roles" played by the men and women on Mango Street and how they effect Esparanza's perception of sexual...

• Word Count: 1121
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... from readers and critics alike. This is shown by some of the great honors and awards she has received. For example, Cisneros won the Before Columbus American Book Award for The House on Mango Street in 1985. She also "since 1981 has won three National Endowment for The Arts grants". The MacArthur "Genius Grant" fellowship was awarded to her in 1995 and the Lannan Literary Award in 1991. In addition to awards Cisneros ... has been established as a role model for Hispanics, females, writers or all of ... ...

• Word Count: 1213
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... future. They have moved from Paulina, to Keeler, to Loomis, and to Mango Street in the first six years of Esperanza's life (3). The homes she has lived in were all run down apartments with very little amenities. Now her family lives in a run down house on Mango Street, but most likely the best place they have ever lived. Esperanza had to get a job in order to go to a private ... that people could go through in a lifetime. This terrifying experience will play a significant role in the future of Esperanza's mental and physical life. The rape puts her in the deepest depression possible. Es...

• Word Count: 905
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... of money for further education or a house in a decent neighborhood. Women are unsuccessful at this probably even more so because they are in a social and ethnic cycle that is hard to break out of once you get into the network Class is constructed in a sense that one would wonder whether having money or not would make any difference for the people who live on Mango Street. If Mango Street was ... in an upscale neighborhood would it really make a difference in relation to the characters" lives, or would the forceful dominance still be present in day-to-day life? Esperanza believes that if...

• Word Count: 1127
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... to Myth, listed out certain characteristics he found in heroes. For example, heros way is beset with danger, loneliness, and temptation; hero suffers a wound; hero descends into darkness and that they are not the same after emerging from the darkness of his descent. "The hero's way is beset with dangers, loneliness, and temptation." In the House on Mango Street, it is perhaps Esperanza's imaginative intelligence that makes her question ... eventually takes a life. There the victim becomes the dog, sacrificing for the woman and the girl until his struggle ceased and the bubbles rose silv...

• Word Count: 917
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan The novel, The Kitchen God's Wife is a true-life story told in flashbacks, by a mother (Winnie) to her daughter (Pearl). She relates the incidents that had occurred in her life when she was in China. The story begins with the memories of a six-year old, about her mother who she loves intensely. At such a tender age she experiences the pangs of separation when her mother suddenly disappears from her life. Till her marriage to Wen Fu, Winnie lives in Tsungming Island where her treatment is no better than that of an orphan. Despite all the sufferings that Winnie ...

• Word Count: 136
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... they try to understand a world where they have been told to forget their families, their home and their language. Two of the main characters, Jimmy and Ruby, have suffered throughout the years living a life of pain, sorrow and trauma. In their helpless search to find their family and home, they experience ... sexual abuse which drives them to insanity and death. Jimmy spends most of his life in the children's home and in prison, and desperately wants to be reunited with his mother. During his periods of institutionalisation, he experiences sexual abuse but ... was unaware of what was ha...

• Word Count: 432
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... parents; a sense of their strong belonging to their 10 Mary Street residence. Their home is the site of numerous, "heated discussions and embracing gestures," a testament to the liveliness and friendliness present in the house. Conversely, relationships that do not fit the conventional model of this kind of connection, and thus result in negative outcomes for individuals, can ultimately lead to a true sense of not belonging ... rye bread raw vodka and cherry brandy," conveys a sense of cultural heritage present within the house. The address becomes an extrapolation of the lives since hi...

• Word Count: 642
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Challenges and obstacles are things that everyone has to face. But, in the book Chinese Cinderella Adeline, faces different kinds of challenges help her be a better person. Adeline"s challenges benefit her. Some of those challenges ... of her. But she never pays attention to them. That way she never gets hurt when her classmates tease her. Since she doesn't get affected by the teasing her confident is built, making her stronger. Second, Adeline is left alone almost everywhere she goes. She's left without companionship or guidance. Even ... mature to take care of herself. Learning this is goo...

• Word Count: 293
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... from their marriage's leaving children behind, and still feel that it is important to do more then get married and have children. One of the reasons that I feel that "A Doll's House" could be updated is that many women of today still feel trapped by their marriages. Some women, I"m sure this might be more common ... time, there are still many cases of a wife leaving her family. I sure that everyone knows somebody that this has happened to, where the mother has not only ran out on her husband but also her children. Nora ran out because she felt by her lying that she wasn't able to teach he...

• Word Count: 616
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... significant, since almost one-fifth of all men in their 30s now have annual earnings of less than that amount. ** On the other hand, among women in their 30s there is no relationship between their income and marital status. Low earnings for men not only are correlated with reduced marriage rates, but also appear to contribute to divorce. Married couples where men are ... 20s fell by a third. A number of prominent researchers have documented the link between the growth in young female-headed families and the diminished earnings of young men. University of Chicago sociologist William J. W...

• Word Count: 1150
• Approx Pages: 5

... . Sappleton's family Vera wouldn't have been able to tell that story. Therefore, we can also assume that Vera possesses articulateness. This is shown by seeing the change of self-possessed voice to a falteringly human voice when Vera says, "Poor aunt always thinks that they will come back some day ," ( ). ... Vera says, " I expect it was the spaniel," said the niece calmly; "he told me he had a horror of dogs. He was once hunted into a cemetery somewhere on the banks of the Ganges by a pack of pariah dogs- ( ). We can see that both the story she told her guest and the story she told abou...

• Word Count: 515
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... makes men to be either evil, oppressing dirt bags, or nice men who can't fulfill their duties as providers. The oppression of women is the main theme in the Bean Trees. Throughout the book men oppress women. Jolene's father repeatedly called her a slut. Because of her father Jolene decided that she would just become a ... slut. "Why not my daddy"d been calling me a slut practically since I was thirteen, so why the hell not?" The book either shows men to be evil or to be nice men that can not provide for their families. Throughout, men are mean and evil towards women and are shown as dir...

• Word Count: 326
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... congregation, politics rears its ugly head. Some want Margaret to remain. Others want her to give up the pulpit. When "sinner" Ida Jackson comes to Sister Margaret after Ida's infant dies, the advice once more, is to trust in the Lord. The action comes to a head when the preacher's alcoholic jazz musician husband, Luke, shows up. He is sick and dying, yet their son, David ... his long-absent father's footsteps. David wants to delagate his piano playing occupation in the storefront church to someone else in order to pursue his dreams with his father. Of course this is entirely antagonist...

• Word Count: 402
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... was a very difficult assignment for me because I didn't know exactly what I could leave behind to offer to others and future generations. I was contemplating talking about my terrific experiences with the handicapped or meeting so many different types of people in my life, I finally decided that I want to be remembered as a loving, genuinely kind, and honest person. All of the traits that I hope that ... today. My family has gone through many rough spots but we always get through are struggles because we are very supportive of each other. I have become a supportive person because of the...

• Word Count: 310
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... surprisingly, Jake comes. He kidnaps Sigrid and forces her to go back to their old house. After staying there for a day or so, the police come and search the house. Unable to find Jake and Sigrid, they leave. With Jake now knowing there is a warrant out for them, he goes on the run with Sigrid. After many close encounters of Sigrid escaping him, and also of being discovered ... her mother did. He then tells her he has no more to live for, because of everything he has ever done to her, and throws himself off the cliff. In the end Sigrid ends up dieing of a brain tumor at a young age. It ...

• Word Count: 1175
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... needs money to become a doctor. Beneatha and Walter have external conflicts throughout the novel over the money. Lena Younger wishes to stop the fighting between Beneatha and Walter so once she receives the check, she goes out and buys a house for Walter's son, Travis. Walter gets really upset when she spreads the news about the house that she buys. Lena has money left and she gives it all to ... Walter to share with Beneatha. Walter gives all the money to a friend for the liquor shop and his friend runs away with the money. Walter loses all the money and did ... not give Beneatha anyt...

• Word Count: 443
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... of English parents, former wife of Chacko, then of Joe, mother of Sophie Mol. Mammachi (Shoshamma Ipe): blind grandmother of the twins and Sophie Mol, founder of the family pickle factory. She wore dark glasses when she went out of the house. She looked small and ill. Pappachi (Benaan John Ipe): late abusive husband of Mammachi. Chacko: son of Mammachi, divorced first husband of ... , marries an American, whom she later leaves and returns home to Estha. E. Plot: The first important event is when the twin's cousin, Sophie Mol, comes from England to stay. While there she dies and the twins...

• Word Count: 532
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... broke into the families house and stole some food, then proceeded to steel the sons bike in his retreat. This showed the darker side of humans, the side which resorts to brute force and abandons restraint during a crisis. Granted we are talking about a child, the lesson is displayed none the less. Overall, although the premise of the movie is based on the ultimate act of violence, I think the response of the townspeople show ... extreme restraint considering the ... ...

• Word Count: 445
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... , more infamously known as the nightstalker, was a serial killer who haunted the city and suburbs surrounding Los Angeles, CAlifornia, in the 1980's. Ramirez grew up in El Paso, Texas. He was the product of a hard working Mexican family. His father was a police officer, and his mother a home maker, who would knit scarves and sweaters to sell on the street for some extra income. He was the youngest child. He ... had one sister and one brother. Ramirez's teachers described him as a quiet young man who kept to himself and turned his homework in on time. Classmates described Ramirez as a lon...

• Word Count: 373
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School