Young people grow up into the person they want to be as an adult.As you grow up your surroundings, home, Friends, and Family helps form you into a adult. Both stories “Marigold” by Eugenia Collier and The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros.’ They both have characters that are growing up but in different lifestyles. In both stories the Families are both poor.

In today's society we have a overwhelming amount of people in or near poverty. In “Marigold” they deal with poverty by living in Shanty-Towns,“Having no radios, few newspapers, and no magazines.” This quote means they couldn't afford to buy a radio, pay to get a newspaper, or any magazines. They have money issues, not enough money to afford most things they needed. So they made do with what they had. That's how they dealt with poverty. As you read in “Marigold” “In those days everybody we knew was just as hungry and ill-clad as we were.” This quote is saying they were hungry and did not have the proper clothes to wear. not everyone can go out and purchase new items. Lots of people take that for granted. Their clothes were worn out and dirty. In The House on Mango Street they had to deal with poverty by “Bricks are crumbling in places, and the front door is so swollen you have to push hard to get in.” This quote is saying the foundation of their house is falling apart. they can't afford to fix their home. Being they live in poverty and having multiple damages to their home. Such as the swollen door that you have to push hard to get in but, they can't afford to fix it. As found in The House on Mango Street “Everybody has to share a bedroom- mama and papa, carlos and kiki, me and Nenny.” This quote means that the parents couldn't afford to get a bigger house. Everyone was crammed into one room. As they tried to take care of their children to the best of their ability. Both stories are living in a poverty lifestyle.

When in poverty on hopes and dreams for a better life. In “Marigold” “Old witch,fell in a ditch, picked up a penny and thought she was rich!” This quote means she found a penny and she is poor so she thought she was rich. One penny she she thinks is a lot of money because normally she doesn't have money. As in the reading “Marigold” “Look, we aint starving. i git paid every week, and Mrs.Ellis is real nice about giving me things. She gonna let me have Mr.Ellis old coat for you this winter--” This quote is saying that she is hoping she gets Mr.Ellis coat for the winter. How Mrs.Ellis is very generous and real nice. Also her parents get paid every week. Mrs.Ellis gives them stuff for the children. In The House on Mango Street “They always told us that one day we would move into a house, a real house that would be ours for always so we wouldn't have to move each year.” This quote means she hopes she doesn't have to move every year. She hopes her family finds a forever home. She hopes her family finds a dream home. She also hopes they find a working home. In the reading from The house on Mango Street “We’d have a basement and at least three washrooms so when we took a bath we wouldn't have to tell everybody.Our house would be white with trees around it, a great big yard and grass growing without a fence.”  She hopes the house will have more than three washrooms. This quote is her vision and dreams of her dream home. She wants tons of grass. She hopes for a big yard so she can play. In both stories there is hope involved.

Everyone grows up eventually sometime in life. When you start to grow up you are turning into an adult. Everything around you helps turn you into the person you are today. In both stories there is poverty and ope but they deal with the in different ways. Such as in the “Marigold” story they live in Shanty-Towns and in The House on Mango Street they live in a damaged house that is really small. Both stories show what some people go through just to get food,clothes, or even just get warm. So many people take the little things like that for granted. Just in The United States there is 48.7 million people in poverty at this time.