The House On Mango Street Literary Analysis

“When you leave you must remember to come back for the others. A circle, understand? You will always be Esperanza. You will always be Mango Street. You can’t erase what you know. You can’t forget who you are” (Cisneros 105). Sandra Cisneros author of the short story novel, The House on Mango Street, wrote this coming of age novel based on day to day events that occurred in her life. “A house all my own. With my porch and my pillow, my pretty purple petunias” ( Cisneros 108). Throughout her childhood, she dreamed of owning a house that was her’s and she also dreamed of becoming successful. To reach her dreams, she would have to overcome the nightmares she faced: poverty, gender roles, and discrimination. The Cordero family like many Hispanic families immigrated from

She had always been ashamed of the places her family lived in, she didn't like being looked down on by others. She despised getting rude comments about her home: “You live there? The way she said it made me feel like nothing” (Cisneros 4). These rude comments are what gave her the ambition to own a house, a house she belonged to, that she could proudly point to. The house on Mango Street wasn’t it. Moreover, poverty was not the only factor Esperanza had to face. Guys tended to have more power in the society she lived in. Men were influenced to ignore women and be seen with them in public. “But outside they can’t be seen talking to girls” (Cisneros 4). Esperanza mentions how “ boys and the girls live in separate worlds” (Cisneros 8).This shows how much they are separated. Since her family is not financially stable, she lives in a neighborhood where rapes, murders, and kidnappings are prone to happen. Men are often the predators and women are most often the prey. Esperanza’s first experience with injustice was when she got her first job at Peter Pan Photo Finishers. She was the outcast, she