The Narrator's Redemption In The House On Mango Street

I believe that the house on Mango Street represents the narrator's optimistic fantasy and simultaneously, the narrator's gloomy confinement and shame. The narrator is terribly ashamed of their, "small red house" because when they are simply asked where they live, the narrator becomes immediately uncomfortable and feels humiliated by the nun. The narrator’s embarrassment is evident when they reluctantly admit that the floor that had, “paint peeling wooden bars” was indeed, where they lived. The narrator became so embarrassed that it made them, “feel like nothing”. The narrator’s shame in their house seems to be wrapped up in their feelings about wealth and status. The narrator feel as if their houses are expressions of their families' poverty. Looking for a way to escape their own meager residences, the narrator fantasizes about living in, “a real house”, where water is running and the whole family can have their own personal space.

The image of the house can also be a negative symbol of the confinement of the narrator and the trapped feeling that the narrator demonstrates. The way in which the house on Mango Street was described, it conjured the image of a prisoner who was itching to be let out. In this context, windows become an expression of longing, and sort of a teaser of freedom for narrator who is burdened with a difficult socio-economic environment. The narrator portrays her house with, “tight steps, small windows, crumbling bricks, swollen front door, no front yard, four little elms, small garage, and small yard” obviously depicting it as a place where the narrator feels stuck and cornered. As I have stated previously, I conclude that the symbolism of the house on Mango Street can be characterized as the narrator’s sanguine dreams, and the crippling shame that they