"A House on Mango Street," by Sandra Cisneros & "A Pair of Tickets," by Amy Tan

In the short stories “A House on Mango Street,” by Sandra Cisneros’s and “A Pair of Tickets,” by Amy Tan, both of the authors try to figure out what their heritages are about. Throughout the story, Tan feels left out because of her heritage. She grew up in San Francisco California but her heritage is Chinese. Although she looks Chinese she doesn’t feel like it because she hardly knows anything about the country she is from. After her mother dies, she goes to China with her father where her twin sisters are. She is very excited to meet them but is also very nervous to tell them that their mother they have being trying to get in touch with for years has passed away. It must be so hard to feel this way because teenagers all over the world are always trying to “fit in” one way or another. Cisneros’s story is differently effected by her heritage. Her family clearly has very low income and it seems due to that they have to continually keep moving from place to place. I could only imagine what it must feel like to want to live in the house of your dreams but you are forced to live in a poorly made house. Cisneros speaks with slight anger, probably due to frustration of the way her life is. Even though she isn’t where she wants to live, I feel that she should have a little more appreciation of her parents trying to provide the best they possibly can for their family.