This paragraph is about the times in “The House on Mango Street” where flight is referenced. “How to Read Literature like a Professor” has a chapter on flight, which talks about how flight in books symbolizes Freedom and Escape, and failed flight has negative meaning. In chapters 9-13, we see three flight allusions: when Esperanza talks about being a balloon tied to an anchor, when Angel Vargas tries to fly but fails and dies, and when Meme breaks his hands during the Tarzan Contest. The last two are examples of failed flight. This reflects Esperanza’s own longing to escape from the House on Mango Street, as she has described it as not the grand dream house she was told about, but a terrible house in a terrible place. We see this yearning throughout the entire book, and by it, she finally escapes, and the anchor comes off and she flies away. She is the only one to do this. Since she never really failed to fly, she always had a chance. There is no mention of Meme or Angel ever getting their freedom, since they completely failed at flight.
This opposing dynamic between the two characters is damaging to their relationship. During their argument, Rosamond even thinks, “if [I] had known how Lydgate would behave, [I] would have never married him.” Lydgate’s behavior towards Rosamond is either angry – when she disagrees with him – or gentle – after his anger upsets her. Their relationship doesn’t offer any emotional depth – Tertius is constrained to two emotions, and Rosamond is constrained to only react to them. And when she lets go of Tertius’ hand and moves away from him, Tertius implores her to sit back down. As this occurs, Evans describes Tertius as “a creature who had talons but who had reason too”, which “reduces [Rosamond] to meekness”, making her come back and sit beside him. Evans depiction of Tertius’ intense reaction to Rosamond leaving his side underscores their relationship as primarily physical: Tertius needs Rosamond by his side, holding his hand. Since their relationship relies so deeply on physical attachment rather than emotional connectedness, especially considering their fight for dominance, tension builds between the two, turning an otherwise simple marriage into a complex and tumultuous one.
The first paragraph is an excerpt from a 10th grade essay discussing the symbolism within House on Mango Street through the lense of How to Read Literature Like a Professor. The second is a paragraph from my Prose essay from this year. These two texts show my improvement in analyzing and interpreting a text.
Firstly, in naming the texts, the first excerpt does it incorrectly, using quotation marks instead of italicizing the two books. Furthermore, while instances from the two books are referenced, no quotes are ever given from the parent texts, which shows that the essay has not been researched well. However, both this excerpt and the second one shows the ability to analyze the text, even though this one does not reference the text well.
The second excerpt, however, shows mastery in the ability to draw information from the parent text and use it effectively in an essay. It includes direct quotes from the parent text rather than just referencing the text and provides context and analysis for each quote. And this analysis is much more sophisticated than the first excerpt. Through the first quote “if [I] had known how Lydgate would behave…”, I delve into how shallow the emotional range of their marriage is. I do more with this reference to the text than the first excerpt does, by analyzing more than just the content of the quote, but also the underlying mood that the quote creates.
Thus, I have greatly grown in my ability to reference a parent text to support an argument, and have shown mastery in the ability to analyze that parent text for more than just its surface value. This improvement was mainly due to the vast number of “Deconstruction” essays done in 11th grade, and all of the essay types practiced this year–from open question to poetry.