House On Mango Street Essay

House On Mango Street Thesis
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, published in 1984, continues to be a staple in
American Literature. The novel features the story of a Latina girl, named Esperanza, growing up in
inner city Chicago. Told through a multitude of vignettes, the story showcases the struggles Mexican
immigrants face in America. Although set in 1984, The House on Mango Street continues to be
relevant with the enduring debate over Mexican immigrants in America today. Mexicans first "came"
to America after the Mexican–American War. Mexico ceded some land possessions to the United
States at the end of the war with The Treaty of Guadalupe– Hidalgo. Soon after, Mexicans began
filtering into the Northern states because of labor. The immigration began with only a handful of
Mexicans. According to the 1850 Census of...show more content...
Sandra Cisneros mirrored her own life with that of Esperanza. The addition of her personal
connection, creates a more intimate experience for her readers. Just like the main character, the
author inherited a Latino working class family in Chicago. Cisneros claims she never felt like she
belonged in Chicago, just like the main character Esperanza. Cisneros would often visit relatives in
Mexico. Her mother never made her do traditional "woman's work," but instead required her to
develop her intellect and imagination through reading, just like Esperanza's mother encouraged her
to continue her education. Another similarity is that the books Cisneros read, appear as books her
character reads in The House on Mango Street. When Cisneros began college, she went to school
with many privileged students of European descent. In order to fit in, she tried to use their culture as
inspiration, but was always unhappy with the results. Cisneros then decided to use her own
background, such as her neighborhood, relatives, friends, and neighbors. Thus, creating The House
on Mango
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House on Mango Street Essay
The Loss of Innocence on Mango Street Often in literature, authors create plot by writing about
characters maturing throughout the story. One work that explores childhood to adulthood is The
House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. In this novella, Esperanza Cordero is a young girl who
lives in a poverty stricken area in Chicago. During the story, Esperanza grows up from being an
adolescent to a young adult. In the novella, the theme is that losing innocence brings about maturity.
Cisneros expresses Esperanza growing up by juxtaposing vignettes. Tone is also used to enhance the
change in Esperanza's thoughts while maturing. Both the juxtaposition of vignettes and tone support
the theme that the loss of innocence and the gaining of...show more content...
Esperanza showing hatred toward Sally indirectly shows how Esperanza has matured. All in all,
Esperanza Cordero's lack of innocence and gaining of knowledge develops her into a more
mature character. When a character is exposed to an incident in which his or her perspective is
forever changed, he or she will gain knowledge and maturity. An event such as being raped is an
example of how one can lose his or her innocence. The House on Mango Street leads the reader
into analyzing his or her own life. It shows how Esperanza's pure view of life has changed to
become a more sophisticated and realistic one. Growing up is something that everyone, at one point
or another, goes through. This loss of innocence is something that is unavoidable and irreversible.
When people lose their innocence, they gain maturity and gain knowledge. When a person losing
the pureness in them, they open their eyes and they are able to see the world for what it really

Reaction Paper On The House On Mango Street
Life is full of horrors and happiness. One may enjoy his or her childhood, while the next may not.
One's identity depends on one's characteristics and who yearn to become. Whether independent
from one's family may bring happiness. Not all families bring joy, in fact some bring dismay and
sorrow. Esperanza faces the harsh reality of life in The House on Mango Street, as life is not
perfect. People hide behind a false persona of blissfulness and euphoria. Only those who truly
know one another, see past the false persona and discover other's trueself. A bildungsroman style
of writing, The House on Mango Street focuses on Esperanza's transition into the new world, in
which life is not what it may seems and can be full of terrors that one might not have seen before
in his or her sheltered and naive life. In Sandra Cisneros' House on Mango Street, Esperanza
learns to express herself, through the harsh realities of transitioning into adulthood, learning the
dreadful roles of women in society and how one can fall into a vicious cycle of violence, but can
break the cycle through help from the community and the purpose of the author's' style of writing
as it influences the story was a whole. Esperanza discovers who she truly is, through an uprising
regarding one's coming of age, as she strays from her sheltered life and braces the real world, facing
experiences of intimidation and horror. The House on Mango Street bases itself of a bildungsroman
style of writing. In which

Essay On The House On Mango Street
The chapter, My Name, gives many metaphors and similes that begin to help the reader understand
Esperanza's battle to be acknowledged and approved in society. "In English my name means hope.
In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting," (Cisneros pg.10).
Esperanza explains the meaning of hope for Hispanic people in a few simple words: sadness and
waiting. For millions, it represents the wait of a new life, a better life for them. It's sadness, knowing
many reject them in a land they were promised opportunity. This motif of repudiation and racial
discrimination appears frequently throughout the novel, which greatly affects Esperanza's life. The
young protagonist also explains her fear of inheriting her great–grandmother's...show more content...
Esperanza. I have inherited her name, but I don't want to inherit her place by the window," (pg.11).
Cisneros makes the readers visualize a woman, time creasing her skin, as she stares out the
window, time passing by as she accepts the life that has whisked her away so suddenly, "as if she
were a fancy chandelier,". Esperanza is repulsed by the thought of having to follow in the footsteps
of her great–grandmother, forced to throw her life away so easily. She confesses as well that her
classmates "say my name funny as if the syllables were made out of tin and hurt the roof of your
mouth,". Esperanza is singled out for this one issue: her name. Which greater delves into her
insecurities when she begins talking about giving herself a new name. "I would like to baptize
myself under a new name, a name more like the real me, the one nobody sees," (pg.11). When
people struggle to accept her, she begins the struggle of accepting herself, desperately trying to find
a way to conform to a society that tells her she's substandard. The House on Mango Street gives
many compelling vignettes that affect the main character greatly however, the chapter My Name
reveals Esperanza's insecurities and her willingness to be accepted into this new

Theme Of Identity In The House On Mango Street
The most important Theme in The House on Mango Street is identity. Identity is a very
important part of everyone. Everything you experienced, you have done in your life is what
makes your identity, shapes our identity It is what defines a person and how people see that
person. Without an identity people would not know what kind of person they are. The book
overall is talking about how the struggle of self definition Esperanza is going through. "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). Esperanza has to face the fact that her every experience she had
on Mango Street is what shaped her identity. The place that Esperanza has...show more content...
Therefore, she became friends with Sally so she can meet her goal of becoming beautiful and
cruel. But, once she got assaulted by a guy, she started realised she does not want to be a beautiful
and cruel girl. "Why did you leave me all alone? I waited my whole life. You're a liar. They all lied.
All the books and magazines, everything that told it wrong. Only his dirty fingernails against my
skin, only his sour smell again. The moon that watched. The tilt–a–whirl. The red clowns laughing
their thick–tongue laugh" (Cisneros 99). She started to realize the Esperanza that wanted a
boyfriend, wanted to be like the other girls on the block all trying to impress boys, marrying at a
young age was not the Esperanza she wanted to be. She saw how men treated women like dogs
being kept on a leash making them do everything they say. As of there she is unsure of who she is.
Eventually, Esperanza decides she does not need to set herself apart from the others in her
neighborhood or her family heritage by changing her name, and she stops forcing herself to
develop sexually, which she is not fully ready for. She is finally accepts her place in her
community and decides that the most best way she can define herself is as a writer. "Not a flat.
Not an apartment in back. Not a man's house. Not a daddy's. A house all my own. With my porch
and my pillow, my pretty

House On Mango Street Reflection
Have you ever felt like the place you belonged to didn't belong to you? In The House on Mango
Street, this is how the main character, Esperanza, felt. The author, Sandra Cisneros, did a good job
in portraying a girl who couldn't find her place. She had a problem accepting where she was from,
The House on Mango Street is heartfelt novel and is great to pass the time. In this story, you will be
shown the lives of Esperanza, her sister Nenny, their two best friends Rachel and Lucy, and the
many people who lived on Mango Street. This book is about a girl who went from denying her place
to accepting it.
Esperanza was a little girl who always felt like she was destined to have more than what she had,
which, quite frankly wasn't a lot. She...show more content...
All the people on Mango Street were struggling to get by, but they seemed satisfied with just
making it. Esperanza was not. There were characters like Esperanza's mother who was a "smart
cookie," and could've been anything, but she let shame get the best of her and dropped out of
school. There was also Rafaela who got married before the 8th grade just so she could move into
her own house, but her husband never let her leave the house afterward. He never let her see her
friends, and the highlight of her week was getting coconut or papaya juice from someone who
would send it up in a paper bag attached to a clothespin since she couldn't leave the house. Lastly,
there was the time when she was left stranded by the tilt–a– whirl waiting for a friend that never
came back and got molested by a group of boys. The only witnesses were the red clown statues that
seemed to be laughing at her. Nevertheless, she let none of this stopped her from going forward and
perusing her dream. She still seemed to be struggling with a sense of belonging, but maybe that's
because she didn't.
By the end of the story, Esperanza accepted the fact that she lived on Mango Street even though she
never felt she belonged. She learned that even though she may leave Mango Street, Mango street
would never leave her. In the chapter titled, The Three Sisters, who happened to be fortune tellers,
they told her that she would one day get her big house and a better

Essay On The House On Mango Street
What does a house represent? For most people a house is a shelter from the weather, a safe
environment, a place where one finds stability and strength, and where family gets together. In the
novel written by Sandra Cisneros, "The House on Mango Street", the author tries to explain that
every person owns a home with which an individual identifies, it describes who one is, and
determined by how a individual view itself, and so it is what makes every person unique. However,
for Esperanza, the House on Mango Streets symbolizes the struggles they went through and the
poverty they live in. In the first short story The House on Mango Street, Esperanza Cordero,
describes the place where she and her family were living in as a deteriorated building...show more
content...
She wanted to be a successful woman one day, and to be one she needed to go to the Catholic
school, as her father had told her. The Catholic school was expensive and her parents did not have
the means to cover with all the tuition that is why she was in need to start working. Esperanza
says that in order to get hired at the Peter Pan Phone Finishers, she had to say the she was a year
older (Cisneros 54). This demonstrates how deprived the Cordero family were. That in order for
Esperanza to attend a good school, she had to work as such a young age and even lied about her
age so she can get the job. In conclusion, the House on Mango Street to Esperanza symbolizes the
battles they experienced and the neediness they went through in order to succeed. Moving from one
home to another, hoping that the next one was going to be a better home or the one they always
dream about. The neighborhood Esperanza lived in where everyone struggles to survive. Also the
motivation that Esperanza had to one day leave The House on Mango Street, to a better place, a
better home with a beautiful front and back yard, and lots of tress surrounding her

What a Home Really is in The House on Mango Street
"Home is where the heart is." In The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros develops this
famous statement to depict what a "home" really represents. What is a home? Is it a house with
four walls and a roof, the neighborhood of kids while growing up, or a unique Cleaver household
where everything is perfect and no problems arise? According to Cisneros, we all have our own
home with which we identify; however, we cannot always go back to the environment we once
considered our dwelling place. The home, which is characterized by who we are, and determined
by how we view ourselves, is what makes every individual unique. A home is a personality, a
depiction of who we are inside and...show more content...
"I am an ugly daughter," she says. "I am the one nobody comes for" (109). She feels she can relate
to the four skinny trees outside her window. "Four skinny trees with skinny necks and pointy elbows
like mine" (93). Just as the trees survive under a harsh environment, Esperanza finds difficulty in
accepting the neighborhood in which she lives. She is very self–conscious about her name, whose
mispronunciation by teachers and peers at school sounds ugly to her ears. She struggles with
jealousy of her younger sister Nenny and cynically says that she "has pretty eyes and it's easy to
talk...if you are pretty" (109). Ashamed of most everything she identifies with, Esperanza is
maturing with a very low perception of herself. She is not content with her home and surroundings,
and cannot be until she is happy with her own character.
The neighborhood is not exactly a pretty place as Esperanza describes it. She says, "here there is
too much sadness and not enough sky. Butterflies too are few and so are flowers and most things
that are beautiful" (39). In the one year of Esperanza's life that this book covers, she is raped,
abused, and sees the death of the only person who would listen to her poetry– "Her name was Aunt
Lupe and she was beautiful like [her] mother" (70). Her discontent with the neighborhood
surrounding the house on Mango Street and the rough times that she experienced caused her to want
to move away from

House On Mango Street Analysis
The House on Mango Street Reading the House on Mango Street was very interesting. It was
fascinating to read someone else's story and be able to relate to someone with a completely
different life than me. It also compelled me to look at life through a different culture and growing
up experiences than mine and challenged me to think about things I initially would not think
about. I enjoyed reading it because I was able to mentally create a timeline of all the different
vignettes, each of them showing me different little snippets of her growing up and figuring out
how to exist in the world. There was a reason for each story. Some of them had very clear lessons
that she learned, others were experiences she went through that she never forgot. Some were
happy, others not so much. All of them combined made the story of her life growing up in the
house on mango street. This is why I think the dominant theme to this book is growing up. The
struggles and the experiences one goes through to figure out themselves and the world around
them. A lot of the vignettes she wrote seemed to be her retelling parts in her life from a very
young age all the way into adulthood, but there are three in particular that stood out to me as stories
that revealed her growing up. The first Vignette that I think really backs up my theme is The Family
of Little Feet. It depicts how Esperanza and her friends learn a lesson through a not very
comfortable experience. They seem to be teenagers at the time,

House On Mango Street Culture
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to grow up in a different culture? Or face
discrimination because of your gender? These are just some of the challenges the character
Esperanza encounters in the coming of age novel The House on Mango Street. Written by Sandra
Cisneros, this book depicts the life of an adolescent girl named Esperanza. The novel covers her
time spent in a racially separated neighborhood where she experiences the hardships that come with
being a girl in her time and culture. Self–discovery, the responsibilities of women, and the clash of
two different cultures are all major themes throughout the story. To begin with, the theme of
self–discovery is unmistakable in this novel. Discovering one's self is an important...show more
content...
Esperanza's neighborhood, home only to Mexican–American families, is separated from the rest of
society. Many parents of these families were raised in Mexico, and although their children now
reside in America, they still expect them to continue to practice the traditions of their initial culture.
Esperanza, like many other young Hispanics, is thrown into this situation along with her siblings.
She tries to balance holding on to the customs of her family with fitting in at school and among her
peers. Despite her efforts to blend in, the severity of the segregation causes both the American and
Mexican cultures to conflict each other. Esperanza senses the grudge between the two cultures and
tells readers that "those who don't know any better come into our neighborhood scared. They think
we are dangerous. They think we will attack them with shiny knives" (28). The Mexican–Americans
in Esperanza's community are regarded as lower class and threatening to the rest of society. As a
result of this labeling, Esperanza will never be completely like her white American peers. The
amount of influence coming from her home culture changes her in a way that is so unlike the
Americans that she gives up trying to fit in. Instead, she decides to take the best of each culture and
create her own way of living. To conclude, this novel distinctly explores the theme of two different
cultures striving to mix together. The House on Mango Street's main themes include self–discovery,
the roles of women, and the blending of two cultures to form another. Esperanza's journey on Mango
Street is an inspiring one, teaching readers many truths about life. From self–defining moments to
the difficulties of womanhood, all themes expressed in this novel change people's view of the world
around

The House On Mango Street Essay
The Latina women in the male–dominated society of The House on Mango Street cannot envision
their own autonomy because they are taught to need a man to fulfill their life which allows these
women to be easily manipulated. A woman's lack of power in a male–dominated society allows men
to manipulate women physically and sexually because their society believes in powerful men and
powerless women. Alicia, a women in The House on Mango Street, wants to study and go to school,
but cannot because her father expects her to inherit her mother's role in society as powerless worker
in a factory. Her father demonstrates the common traditional views of a male in their
male–dominated society. He states, "Anyway, awoman's place is sleeping so she...show more
content...
It was that simple" (Cisneros 96). Cisneros' choice to use the word "simple" to describe the amount
of thinking it took for Sally to agree to the offer, allows readers to understand the impact of the
superiority of men in their society. A mans ability to manipulate a women is "simple," because
society gives all the power to the men, therefore men can control women. Consequently, women
cannot achieve autonomy because they are constantly controlled by men and think that they need a
man to save them, but they will end up being controlled by that man and in turn give up all their
power. Without a positive role model to help the women believe that autonomy is achievable, the
Latino women in Mango Street think that they need a man to take care of them which allows readers
to understand that women in male–dominated societies are easily manipulated through their desire to
have a man which denies them from achieving autonomy.
Because of the male–dominance in Esperanza's society, women fall short of their capabilities in life
which denies their ability to achieve autonomy. Men have all the control of their female partner and
do not allow them to be the person they want to be and do the things that they want to do.
Cisneros uses the motif women by windows to represent the women that are trapped by their
partners. Rafaela is the perfect example because she is locked indoors always leaning out a window
dreaming of a life where she is capable to do whatever she

Sandra Cisneros purpose in this novel is to use a fictional character to narrate a young latino girls
life and show readers how she portrayed the narrator's hopes and dreams. Cisneros, a very driven
individual, wants readers to strive and succeed. The author wants to inspire many and uses her
writing skills to get her message out to many. She uses Esperanza to prove to readers the American
dream is possible and to go always beyond the limits. Sandra Cisneros strives to tell a good story but
also hopes to serve as an inspiration.

House on Mango Street essay
Growing Up in Poverty In the novel, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, a young
confused girl has trouble finding herself as she grows up in the Latino section of Chicago.
Esperanza and her family move to a small, crumbling red house in a poor urban neighborhood.
Determined, she decides that someday she will leave and move somewhere else and totally forget
everything about Mango Street. Throughout the novel, Esperanza significantly matures sexually
and emotionally. The many stories of her neighbors gives a full image of what Mango Street is
like and showing the many possible paths Esperanza may follow in the near future. However
towards the end, she begins to write as a way of expressing herself and as a way to escape the...show
more content...
At first, she was a strong woman, but after her forced marriage she spent most of her days looking
out a window and hoping for escape. Explaining the interaction between both sexes of children on
Mango Street, Esperanza states that the boys and the girls live in separate worlds. Even at a
young age, divisions between gender are present among the characters. By living in separate
worlds, they are demonstrating real life situations that are already occurring in society at that time
period. All in all, unfair gender roles in society is another important theme illustrated in the
beginning of the novel. Lastly, the third theme portrayed in the first few chapters is society and
class. Expounding the looks of her house, "Out back is a small garage for the car we don't own
yet and a small yard that looks smaller between the two buildings on either side" (4). The
description of Esperanza's home contains clues about their social class. Obviously, her family lives in
poverty by living in a poor quality house in the impoverished Latino section of Chicago. When a
nun from Esperanza's school examines her house, she states, "You live there? The way she said it
make me feel like nothing. There. I lived there. I nodded" (5). She feels immensely judged by the
woman who must live in a much higher social class. The way she says the word there tells
Esperanza that there is something wrong with her home.

House On Mango Street Essay Thesis
Introduction
Hook: In the coming–of–age novel, House on Mango Street, the main character Esperanza narrates
the story through her perspective of the situations she encounters as she grows older in her new
neighborhood.
Background Info: By writing in vignettes, she illustrates her emotions and the feelings she expresses
towards the people that surround her.
Specifically: The roles of Esperanza's neighbors allow Esperanza to compare herself
As Esperanza goes into detail,The more Esperanza describes her neighbors the more Esperanza
struggles with her place in society and desires to leave her neighborhood.
Specifically:
Thesis: As the story continues, Esperanza matures mentally, emotionally, and sexually.
Body1
TS: Throughout the novel, Esperanza...show more content...
CM: At first, Esperanza's mental image of herself changes as she feels more confident with who and
how superior she feels while walking in the heels.
CM: This is important because it is one of the first encounters Esperanza is comfortable and
brandishes herself throughout the neighborhood.
CD: However, as
CM:
CM:
TRANS:
Body2
TS: Esperanza changes emotionally once she begins to like boys, particularly a boy in her
neighborhood, Sire.
CD: In the vignette titles "Sire", Esperanza admits to trying not to look Sire in the eye, but instead
stare straight, as she walks past him.
CM: This shows that
CM: This is important because
CD: Esperanza also admits that she would not mind taking Sire's girlfriend, Lois's place.
CM: However, Esperanza's mother continuously refers to Sire as the neighborhood punk which has a
girlfriend that is on
CM:
TRANS:
Body3
TS: The final and most critical change Esperanza experiences is a sexual awakening.
CD: At the beginning of the novel, Esperanza describes her relations to the boys in her

neighborhood as "a red balloon that is tied to an

Essay on House On Mango Street
Women's Escape into Misery Women's need for male support and their husband's constant
degradation of them was a recurring theme in the book House on Mango Street. Many of
Esperanza's stories were about women's dreams of marrying, the perfect husband and having the
perfect family and home. Sally, Rafaela, and Minerva are women who gave me the impression of
[damsel's in distress].CLICH&Eacute;, it's ok though. It's relevant They wished for a man to
sweep them of their feet and rescue them from their present misery. These characters are inspiring
and strong but they are unable to escape the repression of the surrounding environment. *Cisneros
presents a rigid world in which they lived in, and left them no other hope but to get married....show
more content...
Cisneros presents the loneliness that Rafaela feels because of her husband's continuous
imprisonment of her. Rafael's beauty is used as an excuse in order to avoid the truth, male
dominance in a woman's home. Esperanza explains that, &quot;Rafaela who is still young
gets locked indoors because her husband is afraid Rafaela will run away since she is too
beautiful to look at.&quot; (79). Thanks to these women, Esperanza is able to avoid
problems that come with a marriage. She is young and does not want to &quot;look out the
window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow&quot; (11).
Unlike most of the women in the book her escape is no longer the window. &quot;But that
night he comes back and sends a big rock through the window&quot;(85), shattering her glass
hopes [???] and making her turn to poetry as an escape. &quot;Minerva is only a little bit
older than me but already she has too kids and a husband who left.&quot; (83) She is a
perfect example of a woman who is subjected to the consequence of suffering because of marriage
She &quot;writes... on little pieces of paper that she holds in her hand for a long
time&quot; (84). Like unhappily married women, she always takes him back even after the
incessant beatings. &quot;She has many troubles, but the big one is her husband who left her
and keeps on

Social Issues in The House on Mango Street Essay
The House on Mango Street: More than a Story In today's world there are countless social
problems. People are often treated as an inferior or as if they are less important for many different
reasons. In The House on Mango Street, the author Sandra Cisneros addresses these problems.
Throughout the story Cisneros does a thorough job explaining and showing how these issues affect
the public. This novel is written through the eyes of a young girl, Esperanza, growing up in a poor
neighborhood where the lifestyles of the lower class are revealed. Cisneros points out that, in today's
society, the expectation of women and their treatment, discrimination based on poverty, and
discrimination because of a person's ethnicity are the major...show more content...
Esperanza tells us many stories where it is evident that women are treated as possessions and
often have little or no say in the affairs of the family. Too often it seems that in Esperanza's
experiences women are beaten by their husbands' or fathers'. One such example of a beating is
when Sally explains to Esperanza why she often has so many bruises. "He never hits me hard"
(92), is how Sally tells Esperanza that her father often beats her. During many instances in The
House on Mango Street people are treated according to their wealth. People often look down upon
Esperanza and her peers with no reason except that they live differently because they have less
money. During one part of the story Esperanza talks about strangers by saying:
Those who don't know any better come into our neighborhood scared. They think we're dangerous.
They think we will attack them with shiny knives. They are stupid people who are lost and got here
by mistake. (28)
Cisneros shows how people often have misconceptions about people who are different from them
and are often too quick to judge. This idea is shown again when Esperanza is talking to a nun and
the nun asks, Where do you live? She asked. There, I said pointing up to the third floor. You live
there?
There. I had to look to where she pointed– the third floor, the paint peeling, wooden bars Papa had
nailed on the windows so we wouldn't fall

Argumentative Essay On The House On Mango Street
In the book House on Mango Street, the author builds an argument stating that writing is a way to
freedom and a better life. The author uses education, freedom, and the remembrance of Mango Street
to strengthen the logic and persuasiveness of the argument.
Alicia is a neighborhood girl who lives on mango street on which her mother died. She has to do all
the chores such as cooking and cleaning while trying to attend college. Alicia uses public
transportation everyday to go to school so she can escape her life. One night, she stays up all
night studying and sees a mice, her father gives her a hard time about her studies and say the
mise?? doesn't exist. He basically explains that her life is to wake up morning after morning to
make tortillas for her younger siblings lunches."Alicia, who inherited her mama's rolling pin and
sleepiness, is young and smart and studies for the first time at university." Alicia tries to use her
education to have freedom, to leave her family and go have a better life.
Mama explains to esperanza that she is free and doesn't need to rely on anyone, not even neither a
man to take care of her. Esperanza already knows how to speak two languages, sing, draw, and fix a
television but...show more content...
Lucy and Rachel losing their baby sister was an awful tragedy, everyone gathered to view the
baby before she was buried. The sisters compliment Esperanza's name and tell her that she's very
special. Her wish was a selfish wish and she starts to feel guilty. They tell her that she will always
be on Mango Street and even though she has to leave , she should come back for others. Alicia is
lucky that she has somewhere to call home, Guadalajara, and she will return there someday. "You
live right here, 4006 Mango, Alicia says and points to the house I am ashamed of." Esperanza
refused that she doesn't have a home or come from Mango street until someone makes it better which
is

Sarah Kim
Ms. Padilla
Adv L.A.
18 August 2016
The House On Mango Street In the novel "The House On Mango Street," Sandra Cisneros shows the
themes identity, family, and the house, through Esmeralda's experiences. She demonstrates the
theme of identity by telling the story of Esperanza, the main character, and how she finds out what
identifies her from others. Cisneros reveals that Esperanza's family helps her feel like she belongs to
the house on Mango Street and not left out. The house is an important theme of the novel because
it helps Esperanza to look back and have a past that she is proud of by living in that house and
overcoming many hardships. The themes in the novel "The House On Mango Street," are identity,
family, and the house. One important theme of the novel "The House On Mango Street," is identity.
Identity is shown throughout the novel by Esperanza. She struggles to fit her cultural inheritance,
her economic status, gender, sexuality, and ethnicity into one logical world. She wants to move
out of the house on Mango Street and get a new house for her family. But later on, she determines
that she wants the house to herself where she can grow as a writer. Esperanza figures out that what
defines her more than anything is her ability to tell stories. Her writing abilities allow her to
balance out herself to those aspects that once made her feel different from her former peers. Aunt
Lupe told Esperanza, "That's nice. That's very good, she said in her tired

Rhetorical Analysis Of The House On Mango Street
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros uses many rhetorical devices to push her
viewpoint of how sexual maturity and individuality come with age and experience. Cisneros'
effective use of symbols, syntax, and tone convey and persuade Esperanza's upbringing. Cisneros
uses simple syntax and tells the story in vignettes to present the story as if it were told in
Esperanza's eyes. Vignettes are short little descriptions of an event or idea. The House on Mango
Street is strictly told in vignettes which makes sense as it is told in a child's eyes. These vignettes
tend to get larger as the story progresses and as Esperanza becomes more aware of her
surroundings. As a result of this, the vignettes not only become more complex, but more mature as
well. In vignettes such as "Hairs" and "My Name", Esperanza writes about simple innocent ideas
like what she likes and does not like, but later in the story vignettes such as "The Monkey Garden"
and "No Speak English" cover much more mature situations such as the patriarchy and rape in the
near–poverty–line Latino neighborhood of Chicago. Esperanza finds herself in these situations
because of how she begins to mature and become an independent sexual being. With all of this
information in mind, Cisneros uses the power of the vignette convey the fact that Esperanza is
becoming an individual sexual being.
Symbolism is key in this novel as Cisneros expresses a lot of information through symbols The
concept of the high heels that the girls; Esperanza, Lucy, Rachel, and Nenny had received showed
one of their first tastes into their sexual maturity. Beforehand, Esperanza believed that boys in
girls live in separate social spheres as shown in the vignette "Boys & Girls" where she discusses
how her brothers are best friends and that she wants another friend, specifically a girl, to talk about
her feelings and share her secrets with. This is also where Esperanza talks about another key symbol
in this story. In the vignette "Boys & Girls" Esperanza states "Until then I am a red balloon, a
balloon tied to an anchor" (Cisneros 8). This is the first key and memorable piece of symbolism in
the story. As the red balloon suggests, Esperanza is a vibrant young lady with great potential,

The House on Mango Street Essay
As a young girl, Esperanza is a young girl who looks at life from experience of living in poverty,
where many do not question their experience. She is a shy, but very bright girl. She dreams of the
perfect home, with beautiful flowers and a room for everyone. When she moves to the house of
Mango Street, reality is so different than the dream. In this story, hope (Esperanza) sustains
tragedy. The house she dreamed of was another on. It was one of her own. One where she did not
have to share a bedroom with everyone. That included her mother, father and two siblings. The run
down tiny house has "bricks crumbling in places". The one she dreamed of had a great big yard,
trees and 'grass growing without a fence'. She did not want to abandon...show more content...
"She sits at become afraid to go outside". The leave home, she would need permission. She evolves
from a victim of child abuse to a slave–like wife. Esperanza sees this despair throughout her story.
In "My Name, "She looked out the window her whole life, they way so many women sit, with
their sadness on an elbow". Abuse to Rafaela, again subtle because she does not go out, in fear of
husband. Poverty on Loomis, Keeler and Paulina; poverty is a way of life. The impact is for all
generations, the parents who cannot get out, the children that see it and the little ones who cannot
know any better. The opportunities are limited in the barrio. Esperanza was embarrassed when she
pointed to her house "there". "There?", as if there was no place for a girl to live. But survival is
instinctive and there is a certain amount of barrio pride "Those who don't know any better come
into our neighborhood scared. They think we are dangerous. They think we will attack them with
shiny knives. They are stupid people who are lost and got here by mistake." The victim of being
called a "rice sandwich". Hurt by the sister superior as she points to a row of ugly houses reminding
Esperanza of the sin of being poor.
Machismo is something seen in the domestic situations throughout Hispanic people. The violence,
the subservience that is expected and the men believe the women are second and are second class
citizens. There role is to be domestic housekeepers and to birth children. Alicia makes

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