Windows ...

In the book “The House on Mango Street”, the author Sandra Cisernos seems to talk about a specific subject in a bunch of her “chapters” and the reason is related to each other. One example is windows. In the vignettes: My name, No speak English, Rafaela, and Sally, Cisernos mentions windows at least once. There is obviously a meaning or a reason for the repeat of windows in these four sections of the book.

In the section “My Name”, windows are mentioned only once. She is talking about her great-grandmother whom she never got the chance to meet. She mentions the windows in paragraph 4 when she says:

“She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow.”

To me, this means that looking out of the window is a way of rejuvenating herself. Looking out the window was a way of just chilling and having some one on one by herself. I think that the one looking out the window was not depressed but she was so focused on looking out the window that she had that look on her face.

This leads to the second vignette “No Speak English”. There is a brief mention about windows, which does tie into the first vignette.

“She sits all day by the window and plays the Spanish radio show and sings all the homesick songs about her country in a voice that sounds like a seagull” (77).

Again, this is about getting away from everything and everyone and just having time to oneself. It says that when Mamacita gets homesick, she likes to sit by the window and just sing. That sort of means to me that she wants to be isolated by the world and stare into whatever view the window has and just do her thing.  

Then there is “Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut and Papaya Juice on Tuesdays” which is also about windows. On page 79, it says:

“And then Rafaela, who is still young but getting old from leaning out the window so much, gets locked indoors because her husband is afraid Rafaela will run away since she is too beautiful to look at.”

I feel like this still kind of means that it is a way to be isolated because it seems like Rafaela’s husband does not let her look out the window in fear that she will run away. So I feel like it means the same thing. A way of being isolated.

Then finally yet importantly, there is “Sally”. This is another vignette that talks about windows. It is on page 81 and it says,

“Do you wish your feet would one day keep walking and take you far away from Mango Street, far away and maybe your feet would stop in front of a house, a nice one with flowers and big windows and steps for you to climb up two by two upstarts to where a room is waiting for you.”

In this one, windows are a sign of happiness and maybe even a nice place to be. Windows in her case seem to be a sign of escaping things and just enjoying the world.