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Loss Of Innocence In The House On Mango Street

1405 Words6 Pages

The House on Mango Street is about a young girl named Esperanza and the different challenges she faces throughout her life. She has a big family that consists of 5 other people and has moved to different homes many times. As she moves to the house on Mango Street she is disappointed at the fact that the house was not the house of her dreams nor the one she imagined it to be. The house on Mango Street is an improvement compared to Esperanza’s previous homes, but it is still not the house she or her family dreams of, and throughout the book Esperanza feels that she doesn’t belong there. As a family of 6 people, it consists of different responsibilities including taking care of younger siblings and so Esperanza has to take care of her younger …show more content…

Most of Esperanza’s female neighbors are abused or oppressed by their fathers and husbands, so Esperanza knows that she wants to escape the male dominated society, but at the same time she has to deal with her own sexuality and her desire to be loved by men. She meets Sally who is around the same age as her but is more sexually mature than other girls and she also has an abusive father. Being a Sally’s friend, Esperanza experiences “the loss of innocence” as she describes it in the book. Esperanza’s friendship with Sally also leads her to the most traumatic experience in the book, for example, as Sally leaves her alone at a carnival Esperanza is raped. This is the moment that Esperanza’s experiences a massive impact in her life. The experience of male oppression leads Esperanza to express herself through creative ways, like, writing. This causes her to want to leave and escape Mango Street. At the end of the book, Esperanza is still in the same house, but she has matured and is confident that she is stronger than to be trapped there forever. Her writing lets her escape Mango Street emotionally, but it will also let her escape physically through education and financial independence. When she actually does leave, Esperanza promises to come back to Mango Street for people who are not strong enough to escape due to

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Yet her refusal to do so prevents her growth. She instead chooses to sit by her window and miss something that she can no longer have. Esperanza throughout the novel does the same. She misses a home, even though at that moment her home is Mango Street. She is constantly repeating throughout the novel that Mango Street is temporary and not her home.

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At the end of the novel two quotes correspond to the stories and the house. Esperanza writes about the house, or she, stating, “One day I will say goodbye to Mango. I am to strong for her to keep me her forever”

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Imagine growing up in a neighborhood that tries day after day to tear you down. Imagine growing up in a world without role models to help guide you down the right path. Imagine growing up in a place where you saw your friends fall into a cycle of abuse. Imagine being the only one strong enough not to fall into the ways of the world around you. Wouldn’t that make you tougher in the long run?

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However Sally’s father claims her to be “trouble.” Every time her father caught her looking at guys he would beat her. It’s obvious in The House on Mango Street that Esperanza is often uncomfortable around Sally. This awkwardness grows and eventually it puts Esperanza in extreme danger. From this friendship, Esperanza realizes that she tried to “mature too quickly.”

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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.

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In the House on Mango Street, Esperanza is seeking for an identity of her own. In her current neighborhood, she struggles with economic, cultural, and gender based barriers to personal growth, and she believes that changing her surroundings is her solution; however, she realizes that to discover her identity, her ultimate destination is a home in the heart. The house on Mango Street was one that was the opposite of what Esperanza had dreamt her entire life. The house is, “…small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you 'd think they were holding their breath... bricks...crumbling in places, and the front door...so swollen you have to push hard to get in". (Cisneros 5)

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I am too strong for her to keep me here forever. One day I will go away.” (Cisneros 110). At the end of the book, Esperanza has fully accepted who she is. She accepts that fact that she grew up on Mango Street, but that will not hold her back from moving away and growing as a person.

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