The House On Mango Street Identity Analysis

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“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. At the beginning of the novel E. struggles to identify with her name. She describes her name as different from herself and does not want to accept her name as part of her identity. In chapter one of the book E. talks about how she does not feel connected to her name but rather detached "In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters .It means …show more content…

accepts finally Mango street as part of her identity but does not want it to be her only recognition. In the final chapter E. finally believes she belongs at Mango street and accepts her roots,”But what I remember most is Mango Street, the house I belong but do not belong to…One day I will pack my bags of books and paper. One day I will say goodbye to Mango. I am too strong for her to keep me here forever… Friends and neighbors will say, What happened to that Esperanza? … They do not know I have gone away to come back… For the ones who cannot" The House on Mango Street 109- 110).E. does not want to be only defined by mango Street but wants to be known as a writer that came from M.S.. She is confident about her future and what she wants to be and will not let anything restrict her from her dreams. The sisters help her realize the importance of her roots. This makes her want to come back and help those who are not able to leave. At the end of the novel E. accepts M.S. and her name as part of her identity and wants to use them to establish herself as a