Annie John

I think the most dynamic relationship within this book is that between Annie and her mother. When Annie was younger she adored her mother. Her mother included her in everything and she wanted to be just like her mother. This is seen when Annie says "I spent the day following my mother around and observing the way she did everything." "How important I felt to be with my mother." (15) As she began to get older I think Annie still wanted to be trapped in that time period but her mother knew that she could no longer baby her. I think Annie mistook her growing up as disapproval form her mother and it really dampened their relationship. "What a new thing this was fro me : my mother's back turned on me in disgust." (28) this rift in the relationship between Annie and her mother played a role in how Annie related to the girls she was "in love with" I think that Annie might have really adored Gwen and The Red Girl but a lot of thier time spent together was because she knew it was what her mother did not want her to be doing. "I had to do exactly the oppposite of whatever she desired of me" (61). Although Annie disliked her mother she still wanted to be in her good graces and she made sure that she did things that were pleasing to her mother. " Whenever I felt I was falling out of my mother's good graces I would let hersee me absorbed in these books;" Annie resented her mother for her perfection and her wanting Annie to be the same, and this was the ultimate reason for her leaving to England

The House on Mango Street

I thought it was very interesting that pretty much everyone on Mango Street really did not have that much and the things that they did have were not grandiose. The amount of physical things that they lacked they made up for in the size of the family. Everyone was pretty family oriented, even Sally whose father abused her. I think that this concept is very big in the Mexican culture. I felt very sorry for Esperanza because she was always jealous of the beauty that she never had, unlike that of Marin and Sally. She wished she could get the attention that they did. In the book I do not think Esperanza had any one thing that she was extremely proud to call her own. She did not have a boyfriend or nice jewelry or shoes that she actually liked. I think this is why she was always dreaming of having her own home, one that she could be proud of and had nice draperies and things of that sort. Although Esperanza lived a menial life, her parents never guarded her like some of the other people. She got to go out with her friends and she was not bound to look out from the window. In this sense her life was very full. It is unclear to me whether or not she got the house she wanted but from the story one can deduce that she would be more appreciative of those material things because of her upbringing.