1. Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street, and The Quest for Order

2. The Quest for Order
Overview: The Quest for Order is a literary model that modern authors use to develop their characters. It shows how characters (especially teenagers) react to their world as they grow and discover more and more about life. It consists of four distinct stages: Innocence, loss of innocence, seeking, and resolution. Since this model was adapted from psychology, the stages may be applied to real life as well.

3. Innocence: character is in a protected world and unaware of life outside his/her “bubble;” has a false sense of order: beliefs, ideas, and values are imposed on him/her.
Adjectives: naïve, happy, cared for, carefree, dependent, no responsibilities, sheltered, guarded, ignorant, young, fragile, shielded
Symbols: church, home, parents, toys, sandbox, bottle, crib, diapers
Stage One

4. Loss of Innocence: Character experiences an event that challenges or shatters his/her “world” and doesn’t know exactly how to deal with it.
Adjectives: aware, confused, shocked, chaotic, awakened, unsatisfied, scared (sometimes traumatic, but doesn’t have to be).
Symbols: divorce, school, injury, funeral
Stage Two

5. Seeking: Character questions his/her world and begins to look for freedom and independence.
Adjectives: aggressive, experimental, questioning, learning, self-destructive, isolated, progressive, rebellious, disappointed, disapproving
Symbols: drugs, sex, peer pressure, bedroom, fights
Stage 3

6. Resolution: Character has learned how to deal with life based on his/her experiences.
Adjectives: self- knowledgeable, satisfied, confident, understanding, relaxed, experienced 
Symbols: career, security, home, family, safety net
Stage 4

7. The House on Mango Street is, like A Raisin in the Sun, somewhat autobiographical – art and life intersect. And, like Raisin, it explores how an identity is formed.
Esperanza’s Quest for Order parallels many of the life experiences of Sandra Cisneros
Sandra Cisneros

8. Early Years Born 1954 in Chicago only daughter in a family of 6 boys
Father was son of wealthy Mexican land owner
Mother grew up in poverty in Arizona and Chicago
Cisneros spoke English to her mother, Spanish to her father; so, she grew up in a bilingual, bicultural community

9. Extended Trips to Grandfather’s Large Home
Between Two Worlds
Childhood in Chicago
Extended Trips to Grandfather’s Large Home
Lived in a small, crowded apartment
Enrolled in Catholic school
Felt at times like an outsider here: even though it was home, she did not look like the images on TV and she spoke a foreign language at home
When she was 11, they made their first down payment on a home in Humboldt Park – in a Puerto Rican neighborhood
Created instability in her life – trips would be for weeks or months at a time (they would leave school and their current apartment)
Felt like she was an outsider here: she looked like a native in Mexico, but she knew she was just a visitor

10. The Only Girl in a Family of Boys
Cisneros’ father was a traditional Mexican father, believing that “daughters were meant for husbands” (Rodriguez Aranda 68).
Her brothers formed alliances and left her alone
Cisneros credits her mother for giving her the courage to break outside the gender expectations thrust upon her

11. Education Attended school in Chicago
In high school, a teacher encouraged her to continue writing poetry and to edit the literary magazine
In 1972 she enrolled at Loyola University in Chicago as an English major
She completed her Masters of Fine Arts at the prestigious University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop

12. Her Writing
Of her writing: “It wasn't as if I didn't know who I was. I knew I was a Mexican woman. But, I didn't think it had anything to do with why I felt so much imbalance in my life, whereas it had everything to do with it! My race, my gender, and my class! And it didn't make sense until that moment, sitting in that seminar. That's when I decided I would write about something my classmates couldn't write about.”
She adopted a writing style purposely opposite that of her classmates, realizing that instead of being something to be ashamed of, her own cultural environment was a source of inspiration. From then on, she would write of her "neighbors, the people [she] saw, the poverty that the women had gone through.”
Drawing on Mexican and Southwestern myths, popular culture and conversations in the city streets, Cisneros wrote to convey the lives of people with whom she identified.

13. Style of Writing
Vignette - originally meant "something that may be written on a vine-leaf.” In literature, it means short, impressionistic scenes that focus on one moment or give a particular insight into a character, idea, or setting
Writing seems simple in word choice and sentence structure – but the vignettes allow for an in-depth insight – each one is a microcosm (a world in miniature) of life
Figurative language, imagery, and repetition are used to evoke emotional responses as well as to convey her points
The text will use a blend of narration – first, third, stream of consciousness (giving the written equivalent of the character's thought processes)

14. Themes Kernels in Mango
Home
Freedom
Dreams
Assimilation
Innocence/Loss of Innocence
Friendship
Gender Roles
Power of Language
Sexuality vs. Autonomy
Family
Racism
Self-definition
Escape vs. entrapment
Social Class
PICK ONE TO TRACE THROUGHOUT THE NOVEL