The House On Mango Street By Sandra Cisneros

Many people in society struggle to understand themselves and often times lack self-worth. The House on Mango Street, a novella by Sandra Cisneros, illustrates Esperanza’s life through her personal experiences with finding herself during her adolescent years. Esperanza’s negative view of herself slowly changes as she begins to focus on her larger community and her place within it. Through this, Cisneros shows that knowing and accepting where one comes from is an important part of growing up and determining one’s identity.
Firstly, Cisneros has Esperanza explain her hatred of her name is the vignette “My Name”. In the beginning, Esperanza does not like her name because it is hideous to her. “At school, they say my name funny as if the syllables were made of of tin and hurt the roof of your mouth” (Cisneros 11). Cisneros writes herself through Esperanza, expressing her negativity often in the beginning. Esperanza despises her name because her grandma shared it with her. She feared because of the depressing life her grandma led, she would lead a similar one. This thought

Esperanza decides she does not want to be the typical housewife for some man she marries; she wants to be independent. “I am one who leaves the table like a man, without putting back the chair or picking up the plate” (Cisneros 89). At the beginning of the vignette, Esperanza is wallowing in self-pity to her mother, worried she is unattractive and her looks will leave her stuck at home, locked away. Her mother comforts her and informs her she is wrong and will become charming with time. That is when Esperanza decides she does not want to worry about it anymore; she is not going to be like those women in femme fairytale movies who drive men crazy just to deny them. Esperanza comes to the conclusion that she is going to live for