In The House on Mango Street , Esperanza and her family move into a small, one bedroom house on Mango Street. Mango Street is in a poor, minority area of Chicago. In this neighborhood, men abuse their wives and daughters. Wives stay inside all day, looking out of the window and dreaming. Esperanza sees this abuse occur and vows that she will move away from Mango Street as soon as she can. However, Esperanza realizes that she can never truly leave Mango Street, as she must return to help the other women stuck there because the men do not help the women. Living on Mango Street teaches Esperanza that she is responsible to help the other people there, especially the women trapped in a patriarchal culture. Esperanza feels as though she does not …show more content…
In the beginning of the novel, Esperanza claims that she is does not belong on Mango Street. While talking with her friend Alicia, Esperanza tells her that she does not have a house. Alicia says that the house on Mango Street is her house and tells Esperanza “you are Mango Street, and one day you’ll come back too” (107). Esperanza says she won’t return until somebody makes it better, but then laughs at the idea that the mayor will improve the neighborhood. This is a pivotal point for Esperanza. She asks “who’s going to do it?” (107), and realizes that it will be her responsibility. She will leave Mango Street, but she will have to return in order to make it better because nobody else will. Life on Mango Street has impacted Esperanza immensely, even in the short year that she had lived there. Esperanza realized that writing would be her way of escaping from both Mango Street and the prevalent patriarchal society. Mango Street is a part of Esperanza, and she cannot forget that. Although Esperanza initially felt as though she did not belong, she came to realize that Mango Street was a part of her. Writing would give Esperanza a means to escape Mango Street, but she cannot leave behind the other women. She must go back to Mango Street and help them because nobody else