Analytical_Essay

Analytical Essay University of Phoenix At first glance, the stories “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” by Ernest Hemingway and “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros have seemingly little in common. “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” centers on a conversation between two waiters in a small café discussing an old man staying late to drink (and later focuses on the elder waiter’s inner monologue with himself), while “The House on Mango Street” centers on the desires and observations of a young girl whose family has moved repeatedly over the years. The primary similarity between these two stories is the theme of innocence and experience, although both stories take different approaches to this theme. More specifically, both stories share the similarity of centering on the idea of gaining perspective through experience and losing the idealization or simplicity of innocence. The narrator in “The House on Mango Street” is a young girl who desires to live in a house she can be proud of. During the short story, she describes the buildings her family has lived in over the years and how the condition of the current house they reside in contrasts from the idealized house her parents have always claimed the family would one day call home. The narrator’s perspective of her situation is clearly changing through her growing awareness of the disparities between the ideal house her parents have painted her a picture of and the reality of the buildings her family has passed through over the years. This awakening change in her perspective is made particularly evident in the last paragraph of the short story: “I knew then I had to have a house. A real house, one I could point to. But this isn’t it. The house on Mango Street isn’t it. For the time being, Mama said. Temporary, said Papa. But I know how these things go” (Abcarian and Klotz, 2007, p. 128). Her statement that she knows “how these things go” (Abcarian and Klotz, 2007, p. 128) seems indicative of her growing consciousness of the reality of the situation (i.e., there may be a long road ahead before she can live in that house she has imagined, but nonetheless, she is determined to get there). In addition, her recounted encounter with a nun who asked her where she lived and expressed unintentionally critical surprise at where the young girl pointed is significant as the motivator for the narrator’s inner declaration in the final paragraph. Hemingway’s story begins with a dialogue between two waiters, one older and one younger, regarding a deaf old man who has been staying late in their café. This exchange of dialogue between the older waiter and the younger waiter is remarkably telling of the gap between both waiters’ experience levels and their conscious perceptions of the world. The younger waiter is impatient to leave and wants to get the old man out of the café as quickly as possible, whereas the older waiter is more patient, and is willing to let the old man stay. He is also more ready to speculate on the old man’s situation. This story relies heavily on the use of dialogue, and is told from a third person point of view to give a feel of an outsider looking into the scene and glimpsing this brief interaction between the characters’ individual worlds, especially that of the elder waiter. In addition to theme, another similarity between these two stories is their lack of a defined time period in regards to the setting. A specific date and geographical location is never mentioned in the context of either story, although the use of Spanish phrases and small, time period-related details helps to endow “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” with the sense of a defined setting in regards to social context without needing any further specifics. The lack of a defined time period in “The House on Mango Street” also seems appropriate for conveying the young girl’s viewpoint. It seems reasonable to say that each author’s use of literary devices was effective, albeit in different ways. Hemingway primarily uses dialogue to convey a sense of distance between the two waiters in their levels of conscious experience, and uses a distinctive, flowing writing style which is effective for conveying a tranquil, solitary tone to the piece. He also uses a form of irony later in the story, when the older waiter has a monologue with himself which invites the reader to interpret more about the character. In contrast, Cisneros’ writing style differs from Hemingway’s due to the story being narrated by the young girl in first person. Within “The House on Mango Street”, the story is also written in a more familiar, free-flowing manner, and almost comes across as if the narrator was recounting the story for the reader verbally or through means of a diary. References Abcarian, R., and Klotz, M. (2007). Literature: The Human Experience (shorter 9th ed.). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s.