The House On Mango Street Role Model Essay

5.2 million children in the United States grow up in poverty. That means that one out of four children under the age of six are living with families whose income falls below the federal poverty line. The book The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros is about a young Latina girl named Esperanza who is growing up in a poor neighborhood. Esperanza has a dream of having a nice house when she grows up, but for now she is stuck in a small unsatisfactory house which she hates. Being a [[#|child]] in middle school she can not do much about her living situation until she grows up. Esperanza is unsure about who she wants to be when she grows up so she counts on role models to guide her through childhood. Her role models are mostly the [[#|older girls]] who live in her neighborhood.

Esperanza’s role models do not have to be older then her, in fact one of her role models is in the same grade as

Sally had a negative effect on Esperanza because she is jealous of her. They are the same age so Esperanza wants to be just like her at that time so she had nothing to work for. Alicia is the best role model for Esperanza because she is going to college so that she can get a good job and be successful. Marin is crazy about boys and is wild, she is a good role model because she teaches Esperanza how to have fun but she doesn’t teach her about more important things like getting a good job. Young people need to have role models to guide them to adulthood and so they have someone to look up to. Esperanza has Sally, Alicia and Marin as role models and she looks up to each of them for different