When reading both The House on Mango Street, and The Rule of St. Benedict in
English, one notices a common writing style that both works share. In both
works, information is being narrated to the reader on a personal level. Stories
or rules are told to the reader as if the reader is to follow or participate.
The House on Mango Street is the story of a young woman named Esperanza Cordero.
Esperanza lives in the Latino part of Chicago and struggles in accepting the
life that she is being raised into. She sees that she has an inadequate house
and she does not want to stay there all of her life. Esperanza wants to succeed
past the low expectations that her world has to offer. In the opening of the
book, Esperanza begins by describing the house on Mango Street. She tells of how
she had always dreamed of a real house that belonged to her family, but when
they moved into the house on mango street she was not as excited. She describes
the house as small and red with tight steps in front. She also complains that
she has to share a bedroom with her Mama, Papa, Carlos, Kiki, and Nenny.
Esperanza is not satisfied with the life that she was given, and is destined to
improve and achieve past the expectations set forth by her environment. The
writing style used in The House on Mango Street is a very indirect way of
narrative. The author presents to the reader many different stories, stories
that if taken at face value could be see as details alone. These stories are
short narratives that describe a character in the life of Esperanza, or tell of
an action that took place. Each individual story is told as if the reader is to
understand, as if the reader is a friend of Esperanza. This is a very personal
attraction that The House on Mango Street offers to the reader. These individual
stories are used to reveal a personality in Esperanza. All of the stories make
up who Esperanza really is. The reader knows that at the end of the book that
Esperanza will succeed due to the history that the reader has with her by the
end of the book. It is similar to making a friend and learning about that friend
and getting to know that friend. And when you know that person, you know how
that person will act. The author presented The House on Mango Street in such a
manner that the reader becomes “friends” with the main character and
sympathizes with her. The Rule of St. Benedict in English is presented as a
narrative. This is a different approach than what I expected. Due to the
material that is discussed in The Rule, I assumed that it would be presented in
a very impersonal way. The Rule describes to the reader how the lifestyle of a
Benedictine should be followed. When perusing this handbook of knowledge, I
noticed that information was being told in as a narrative. When describing the
regiment of a Benedictine monk they used the term “we.” This approach is
similar to that of The House on Mango Street. Th technique is to make the
information approachable, and make the reader care about what is being said. The
writers of The Rule presented this information in such a manner for a specific
reason. They know that humans in general respond more openly when someone is
open to them. A person is more revealing and will let their guard down if they
feel that another person is doing the same sort of action to them. It is a trust
factor that all humans follow. If we are more comfortable and have no fear of
being hurt, we will let our guard down and connect. The Rule is attempting to
appeal to that side of humans. With the topic of religion to be discussed, the
authors knew that they had to appeal to the reader or their message would be
lost. They used the same technique of getting personal with the reader that was
successful in The House on Mango Street. The author put religion on a personal
level, making it an approachable topic that appeals to the reader. The house on
Mango Street is the story of a young Hispanic woman who is unsatisfied with her
environment, and wants to achieve greater than her environment will let her. The
Rule of St. Benedict in English tells how the life of a Benedictine should be
lived and the ideas behind Benedictine Christianity. These two books share a
narrative writing style that appeals to the reader on a personal level. The
reader is drawn to read deeper into these books due to the personal presentation
of information. This technique made both books approachable and appealing to a
sensitive side of the reader.