Most people could say that at one point, they have compromised their identity to fit in with others. In the stories “The Clique” by Lisi Harrison and “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros, both characters have to figure out who they really are, and discover themselves as they progress through their teenage years. “The Clique” centers around Claire Lyons, a 7th grade girl moving from Florida to Westchester, NY so her father can get a new job working for an old college friend, the Blocks. Westchester is a whole different world from Florida; she lives in a guesthouse attached to the Block residence, where they have a daughter named Massie who is Claire’s age. Massie is part of a clique which is primarily her best friends, who are exclusive about who can join their group. “The House on Mango Street” is …show more content…
Claire’s main conflict centers around becoming part of the clique and getting Massie, one of her classmates to like her. From the beginning, we see Massie isolate Claire when she informs her friends that “she is not a GLU- it means girl like us.” (page 38). She also naturally just wants to fit in with her classmates, and join the popular group. “....deep down, a little nagging part of [Claire] wished she had been invited to sit at an A-List table.” (page 56). At surface value, this seems so different from Esperanza’s problems, but both girls just want to fit in and feel like a part of something. Esperanza’s main conflict, however, comes back to Mango Street. She decides from the beginning that this is not the place for her- “I knew then I needed to have a house. A real house. One I could point to. But this isn’t it. The house on Mango Street isn’t it.” (chapter 1, paragraph 11). This is different from “The Clique”’s conflict when you first see it and in terms of motivation but both girls relate back to wanting to feel like apart of