The world is not as good as it seems. We learn this in the novel The House on Mango street by Sandra Cisnero. The book takes place in a run down neighborhood located in Chicago, Illinois in the 1960’s. Esperanza is the main character. She is 14 year old girl struggling with becoming a woman in a male dominated world, as well as choosing whether she wants to be popular or not. In the the book The House on Mango Street Esperanza is shown to become a dynamic character throughout the story. This is shown by how she is at the beginning when she changes and why.
In the beginning Esperanza cares about popularity her appearance and boys. This is all shown in the chapter “Chanclas”. Her mom buys her everything for the party she is going
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Sally is someone Esperanza looks up to because she is popular and attracts boys which are attributes that Esperanza wants. “It was just a kiss. That’s all for each one. So what. She said”(97). Esperanza finds out that she needs to become promiscuous in order to be popular like Sally and she’s not comfortable with that idea.
Later on Sally and Esperanza go to the carnival, Sally leaves her alone to go with a boy. Esperanza is now by herself vulnerable and ends up getting raped. She realizes that boys are not what she thought they were, so she decides to focus on herself. Esperanza changes what she thought she wanted for the future. “Not a flat, not an apartment in the back. Not a man’s house. Not daddy’s house. A house all my own”(108). Esperanza no longer strives to be popular, pretty or to be with boys. She has changed her focus onto more important things.
In the book the house on mango street Esperanza's shown to be a dynamic character though how she was at the beginning when she changed and why she changed. It’s hard to transition from a girl to a woman in very male dominated society. It so shown throughout the book that it is more important to work on your future than to focus on things society makes important like looks, popularity and