House On Mango Street Identity Analysis

Residence of Deeper Meaning

Home as you know it is just the place you live, but home matters much more than you think it does. Your opinion of home can be related back to your past experiences or parts of your identity. This concept is shown throughout the book of House on Mango Street. In this Sandra Cisnero’s novel Esperanza’s (The main character) view of Home changes throughout the story because her opinion is seemingly connected to her identity and how she has grown between chapters.

Esperanza’s opinion of home at the start is a more physical place than a mental one. At the start is when Esperanza and her family move into a new house on Mango street. Esperanza is not a big fan of the house because the quality of the home is extremely low

Near the end, Esperanza had finished her journey and is now about to move away from Mango street and is reflecting on the type of home she wants for herself. This is where her last opinion of home shows through. The following quote states: “Not an apartment in the back. Not a man’s house. Not a daddy’s. A house all my own. With my porch and my pillow. My 2 shoes waiting beside the bed. Nobody to shake a stick at. Nobody’s garbage to pick up after. Only a house quiet as snow, a space for myself to go, clean as paper before the poem” (Cisneros 108). This quote means that Esperanza has undergone another shift in her opinion of home and identity. This new emotion originates from a negative experience which evolves into a learning experience. This emotion consists of the basic right to make your own decisions and to be able to think for yourself. A basic right to be free. Freedom from poverty, bad men, and the struggles of that side of the world. This attitude came into her opinion from the chapter, “Red Clowns.” In this chapter Esperanza is at a carnival, is abandoned by her “friend”, and is molested by a group of boys. This experience had changed her mind about boys in general as being abusive and overbearing. This helped enlarge her new need for freedom. Her emotions go even further in the 2 chapters, “Alicia and I Talking on Edna’s Steps,” and “Mango Says Goodbye Sometimes.” These 2 chapters help show that her feeling of compassion for others, like her, is still ever-present. This means that she has kept what she learned from her past opinions of home and is still applying it in her life. This is important because it highlights that what you value and what you want for yourself creates your vision of