Although there are a variety of characters throughout literature that have made sacrifices that expose their values, none of them come close in comparison to the sacrifices of Esperanza in Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street. The consistent sacrifices displayed through Esperanza’s self-image, innocence, and cynicism express the struggles and desire for feminine individuality and respect that begin for many in childhood and dissolve into adulthood. Not only does Esperanza display these sacrifices constantly throughout the novel, the author’s use of her character as a beacon of catharsis to the reader symbolically represents the majority of women. Much like other women, Esperanza constantly tries to find herself throughout her own sacrifices,
The House on Mango Street, is a series of vignettes about a girl named Esperanza who is around the age of twelve at the beginning of the book it goes through Esperanza’s struggles with her identity, as she grows older and matures the struggles are focused on finding a connection with someone, and close to the end of the book Esperanza struggles with the idea of staying on Mango Street and live a life like other people in the community. Maturing into an adulthood, Esperanza accepts herself and has her own house just like how she wanted throughout the book. In the book she also talks about the house she lives in, her name, heritage, even detailed information about the neighborhood she lives in and the residents in the neighborhood. You learn and read how much Esperanza observed her community and how important to her the house she lived in and reaching the goal of living in a house on her own. Through my creative piece I wanted to emulate the figurative language Cisneros uses and also tries to write about a well-observed community that is out of the box.
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)
The author establishes a contrast between Esperanza’s reality and fantasy through imagery. When her family first moved to Mango Street, Esperanza had high expectations for a “real home,” but she was disappointed to live in a tiny, run-down house. She depicts her current house on Mango Street as “small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you’d think they were holding their breath. Bricks are crumbling in places, and the front door is so swollen you have to push hard to get in” (Cisneros 4).
In the series of vignettes The House on Mango Street, the author Sandra Cisneros details the life of main character Esperanza, a young girl living in a barrio of Chicago. As Esperanza tells the reader about her experiences in her day to day life, the reader hears about her struggles and dreams, her hopes and expectations in life and how these affect her. Being a young girl, Esperanza holds naivety and hope for the world, not having experienced many mature situations or society yet, and since she is going through the time in her life when she begins experiencing these issues, we see her heartbreak and the world she knew shatter. For example, when Esperanza and her family move to Mango Street, as our story kicks off, her parents would often talk about the life that they would get when they win the lottery, like having “A real house that would be ours for always so we wouldn't have to move each year. And our house would have running water and pipes that worked.
In the novella The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, main character Esperanza Cordero eventually discovers a sense of identity within the community after she grapples with challenges presented by the impoverished neighborhood she resides in. Initially, when people ask her where she lives, Esperanza feels ashamed to point at the dilapidated building she calls home, vowing that she will one day have “a real house”. One I could point to” (Cisneros 5). Repulsion fuels her desire to escape the run-down neighborhood, and she longs for a residence that can reflect her aspirations instead. Although perceived negatively by Esperanza, her house motivates her to work hard to achieve her dreams.
There are many aspects of life which we desire such as materialistic desires and happiness. Among the things that we desire, freedom is the most abstract and indispensable one. In The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, Esperanza, the main character, struggles trying to escape from poverty and getting restricted by men. From Esperanza trying to get out of Mango Street by education, to Esperanza’s mom giving up education, to Sally escaping from her dad by marrying a man, Cisneros suggests that only independence can offer a better life and freedom. Alicia and Esperanza are the only characters in the book who hope to find freedom through writing.
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.
Everyone is affected by life’s circumstances. The responses to those experiences can have a positive or negative outcome in one’s future. In Sandra Cisneros's The House on Mango Street, the protagonist, Esperanza, gives us her views on life, how she views herself, and she views her future. Not only does she give her perspective throughout the story, she tells us of the numerous experiences that she grows through. These experiences have an impact on her, creating new emotions and new adult like perspectives she has never faced before.
The House on Mango Street is set in a poor, primarily Hispanic neighborhood. Author Sandra Cisneros creates an atypical, yet easily digestible world for the reader to experience while learning about Esperanza’s childhood. The culture of her environment influences Esperanza’s development as she becomes a young woman, and contributes to the book’s driving theme of self-empowerment. Mango Street is the source of Esperanza’s growth through her childhood, and it hides sadness and longing underneath stereotypes of Hispanic people. The characters that live in the broken-down neighborhood all seem to represent pigeonholed views of Latino individuals.
In conclusion, the house on Mango street portrays the theme for the fight for identity and defining self. It shows the challenges that the marginalized face and the scuffle they go through to acquire
Believe it or not, people are not entirely unique. It is certain that no one is truly the same as another person, but it would not be ridiculous to think that everyone does in fact share many similarities. After all, the majority of the population grows and develops opinions or values based on what they see or hear. For Esperanza, the protagonist of Sandra Cisneros’s, The House on Mango Street, the perspective she has is built upon her childhood on Mango Street. This coming-of-age novel illustrates how Esperanza’s experiences on Mango Street play an important role during her period of growth.
Aidan Henkel Mrs. Bishop Multicultural Literature 8 Feb. 2023 An Identity Found on Mango Street “I close my eyes like tight stars…” (Cisneros 97). Theme: Confinement Esperanza, from The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, feels confined within her neighborhood.
The Fundamental Features That Make People Distinct An individual’s identity is comprised of a combination of features that makes them unique among others. This differentiation occurs because the features of a person’s identity are applicable to all facets of life, and people live in a variety of situations. Factors that impact one’s identity include ethnicity, social status, religion, and gender because each component applies to a specific part of a person’s life, and therefore allow for much distinction among people to emerge. In the novel, The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros, the story is told through the eyes of a young girl named Esperanza–a reluctant occupant of Mango Street–who experiences a great deal of development and learns
“All discomfort comes from suppressing your identity”(Bryant H. McGill). We can not decide upon our own identity; It comes from our hopes, dreams, memories, culture and experiences. We can not suppress or change who we are or where we came from and must except ourselves. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros introduces the main character Esperanza, who is initially ashamed and tries to repress parts of her identity. One of the main themes in The House on Mango Street is E. acknowledging her name and mango street as part of her self identity.
