Character Analysis Of Esperanza In The House On Mango Street

Have you ever had to eat a rice sandwich? If so, you might identify with a certain little girl named Esperanza. Esperanza Cordero is the main character of the book The House on Mango Street. Esperanza exhibits many strong character traits. Esperanza is a very timid, or shy girl. It can also be inferred that she is physically weak and malnourished. Finally, Esperanza will do anything to get what she wants. This means that she is extremely determined. Esperanza is a very timid little girl. After pestering her mother to give her a note to eat in the canteen, she is seemingly unable to answer the nun who asks what she is doing there, instead meekly holding up the note and scurrying upstairs to Sister Superior. When upstairs, she starts crying while having a conversation with the nun, saying “I always cry when the nuns yell at me, even if they’re not yelling.” This is yet another example of Esperanza’s shyness and social awkwardness. Lastly, after being told that she can eat at canteen for the day, she cries and eats her rice sandwich alone. Esperanza is also physically weak and malnourished. She states that she has “an anemic wrist” and she “can’t blow up a balloon without getting dizzy.” Her mother also states in her note to Sister Superior that she wants Esperanza to eat in the

Interestingly, she seems to lose this confidence when speaking to adults outside of her immediate family. Perhaps this points to some traumatic incident with a stranger? But I digress. Esperanza pesters her mother for three days, asking for a note to eat in the canteen. She tells her mother “You will see me less, and like me more.” This tactic seems to be rooted in making her mother feel like Esperanza feels unloved, which to a child’s mind will make the adult in question bestow gifts and reassurance upon the child to prove their love. In Esperanza’s case, this comes in the form of a note to eat with the “special”