Esperanza is the type of person who easily trusts others which makes her susceptible to betrayal. Her naïveté and inexperience is a common recurrence throughout the book as she begins to mature. Esperanza finds a friend in Sally, whose promiscuity often make Esperanza uncomfortable and what ultimately puts her in danger. It is presumed that she gets raped by a group of boys while waiting for Sally at a carnival. Esperanza encounter was not what she had thought it would be. She feels betrayed by how the storybooks and movies depict it (sex) but most importantly she feels betrayed by Sally whom she trusted the most in to come and save her. The way she's describing the four skinny trees is how Esperanza sees herself. She often feels like she doesn't belong there on Mango Street which is another reason why Esperanza is ashamed of her poverty. She often …show more content…
Like her, Esperanza wants to leave Mango Street but unlike Alicia, Esperanza wants to leave and never comeback. Alicia tells her the reality of leaving. She tells Esperanza that might be able to leave but she won’t be able to forget about the people in their neighborhood and the struggles they face. Alicia sees the reality of her neighborhood getting better. She tells Esperanza that they can’t wait for someone else to come and fix it, the mayor certainty won’t as Alicia points out. Alicia uses this to fuel her own desires and remind Esperanza to come back Alicia’s strongest characteristic is that she is determined. She doesn’t want end up like the other girls from her neighborhood who end up marrying young. In order for her to get out of Mango Street, she studies hard unlike the other girls who have escaped through marriage. We see her determination and value for an education, that she takes two trains and studies all night which is why she sees the mice her father says do not
“Someday, I will have a best friend all my own. One I can tell my secrets to. One who will understand my jokes without me having to explain them” (9). These are the longing words spoken by Esperanza. In the novel The House on Mango Street, Esperanza is young girl experiencing adolescence not only longing for a place to fit in but also wanting to be beautiful. This becomes complicated as Esperanza becomes more sexually aware. Throughout the novel, Cisneros argues the importance of beauty and how Esperanza deals with beauty as a part of her identity. When Esperanza meets Sally a new friend, Esperanza’s whole world is turned upside down. Esperanza’s views on beauty change from a positive outlook to a negative one by watching how beauty has damaged Sally’s life.
Esperanza's family has been moving a lot throughout her whole life. Her family consists of six; which is her Mama, Papa, Carlos, KiKi, Nenny and herself. The house on Mango Street is their new home, which is the first house they owned and didn't have to pay rent. The house had a yard they did not have to share, no landlord and no worries of the being too loud. It was a big improvement from the apartment they just moved out of, but it wasn't the dream house they had always talked about getting one day. Esperanza's parents always talked about a house they would have one day that would be all their own. The house on Mango Street was not that, it was small and rundown. Esperanza dreams of a day when she will leave this house to live in her own.
" They always told me that one day we would move into a real house, that would be ours. A house with trees, a white picket fence, real stairs and running water. The house on Mango Street isn't it. " (Cisneros, 4). This quote gives the reader a better understanding on why Esperanza is so frustrated with her poverty. Esperanza is constantly being let down because her poverty gets in the way. Her parents make all these promises to her that they cannot keep, because they do not have the money. Esperanza is still young and so far her life has been full of disappointment. When Esperanza's family moved into The House on Mango Street Esperanza's was excited, she expected to be moving into her dream house. Yet, once again her family's poverty gets in the way and they move into a shabby house. Esperanza's constant disappointment causes her a great deal of emotional pain, and all this pain leads back to her family's
Esperanza builds her strength off the mishaps that occur while living on Mango Street. In the vignettes, Esperanza describes some very interesting things that take place on Mango Street. She recalls a time when Sally befriended her and told Esperanza to leave her alone with the boys. Esperanza felt out of place and was very uncomfortable and very ashamed to be in that situation. She wanted more from life than that, so she left the scene.
...her own appearance and style. Also, they are really affective in their way of telling Esperanza that even if she leaves she has to come back for her people. They told her that she will always belong to her family and she will always be Mango Street. Additionally, it easy to relate the three sisters with the three witches in one of Shakespeare’s plays, Macbeth. On the other hand, the difference between the three sisters and Elenita in a different chapter can prove that the three sisters are more affective on Esperanza. The theme of identity in this chapter of how Esperanza will always be Esperanza and will always be realated to Mango Street is similar to the theme of Identity in the whole novel. Also, how people always look to the future in life can be noticed in this particular chapter and in the whole novel. As a final point, Esperanza wants a home, not a house.
Esperanza is a Latino young teenager who lives on Mango Street, a low income neighborhood. Esperanza goes to a catholic school who has to take care of her family. Esperanza has many family and friends around her but she makes bad decisions in life. When Esperanza is at home she helps her mother and father out with her younger brothers and sister. When she is not helping with her family she goes to her
Sally is a companion of Esperanza who demonstrates that by relying on others, she faces one poor situation after another. Sally experiences trouble with herself when she wants more, but ends up with less. Her incident becomes evident when Esperanza tells Sally needs to take on her past when she speaks about being vigilant of herself and caring what others think. According to Esperanza, “You could go to sleep and wake up and never have to think who likes and doesn’t like you” (Cisneros 83). This quote conveys that even when Sally was young, she was dependent on others to care for her. Another example of Sally counting on others and winding in the same situation is when Sally wants to be free from her abusive
Esperanza has many friends on Mango Street. Rachel, Lucy, and Alicia are all some of her friends. In other words, Esperanza has a good number of friends. Thus, they all are kind to Esperanza. Sometimes they will be rude but nobody's perfect. On the other hand, Esperanza learns from that her friends tell her. Lucy and Rachel's mother taught Esperanza that Jesus took Lucy and Rachel's sister. She learned that the monkey garden was a fun place. Esperanza learned a lot from her friends "The Four Skinny Trees." She learned that there is still hope when you are growing from concrete(p.75). Esperanza learned to not give up just like the trees on Mango Street.
In the book, Esperanza doesn’t want to follow the norms of the life around her; she wants to be independent. Esperanza states her independence by stating, “Not a man’s house. Not a daddy’s. A house all my own,” (Cisneros 108.) The syntax of these sentences stick out and are not complete thoughts, yet they convey much meaning and establish Esperanza’s feeling of not belonging. Esperanza’s feeling of not belonging is also emphasized when her sisters tell her that the events of her life have made her who she is and that is something she can not get rid of. Her sisters explain that the things she has experienced made her who she is by saying, “You will always be esperanza. You will always be mango street. You can’t erase what you know” (105.) What her sisters are trying to tell her is that the past has changed her but it doesn’t have to be a negative thing; it can be used to make her a better person who is stronger and more independent. Esperanza realizes that the things around her don’t really add up to what she believes is right, which also conveys the sense of not
She does not know that there is bad in people, when she was young she believed that everyone had all good in them and no bad but she was wrong. Esperanza describes her mother’s “sweet to put your nose into when she is holding you… is the warm smell of bread before you bake it (Cisneros 6). Esperanza is trying to grow up and she figures out why Sally is so sad which shows she is starting to mature. She starts to come of age and starts to question the bad in the world. Her maturity level is raising from the beginning of the book showing her innocence is rising in a short time. This proves her innocence and love for her mother. Her relationship with her mother is just like her relationship with everyone else because she is innocent and she believes that everyone is a good person. Esperanza is so innocent that when she followed Marin “we ran down the block to where the cop car’s siren spun a dizzy blue” (25). Esperanza is so innocent she does not know what is happening to Louie’s cousin. It is shocking for her to witness someone crashing their car and the cops coming to take them away. She is starting to realize the bad in this world and begins to come of age. She has never seen something this dramatic, when she witnessed the event she did not think anything of it because she did not think it was a bad thing. She did not know why he was getting arrested, she did not realize
I think having lived in an apartment building previously; she thought that moving to a house would be exponentially better. She explains some of what she thought it would have: “a basement … three washrooms … trees … a big yard, etc.” The reality of the house was far less wonderful than she had dreamed it would be. Her previous home on Loomis was embarrassingly bad. She felt that when she pointed out where she lived, others were disgusted by its state of disrepair: “the paint peeling, wooden bars Papa had nailed on the windows so we wouldn’t fall out”. She had hoped for something as far from their old home as possible. The house on Mango Street fell far short. The trees were small, the yard was small, and the garage was small. It all made her feel small and insignificant. She was unhappy about the fact that they moved to a home and not only did they still had to share one bathroom, “Everybody has to share a bedroom--Mama and Papa, Carlos and Kiki, me and Nenny”. This disappointment lit a fire in her to leave this place and find her a respectable home that she could be proud of. She would move to a home far away from her childhood embarrassment and dissatisfaction. It was not only the size of the house on Mango Street, but its dilapidated appearance “bricks are crumbling in places, and the front door is so swollen you have to push hard to get in”. Esperanza fears
At first, Esperanza is young, insecure, and immature. Her immaturity is apparent when she talks about her mom holding her, saying it is, “sweet to put your nose into when she is holding you and you feel safe” (Cisneros 6-7). This shows Esperanza’s insecurity because her mom is still a big comfort source to her. She feels a false sense of comfort because her mom is there and will protect her. In addition, Esperanza’s immaturity is shown through her dislike for outsiders of the neighborhood when she says, “They are stupid people who are lost and got here by mistake” (Cisneros 28). This indicates how defensive and protective Esperanza is towards her barrio by calling outsiders stupid for reacting the way they do, even though she dislikes Mango Street....
...will pack my bags of books and paper. One day I will say goodbye to Mango. I am too strong for her to keep me here forever. One day I will go away.” (Cinceros 110) This shows how Esperanza needs to break free of Mango Street and move on because Mango Street has nothing more to offer a young free mind like Esperanza. She will move far away so she can continue on with her American Dream as one person and not have the weight of her family’s American Dream on her shoulders.
Although Esperanza is constantly reaffirming that she wants to move away from Mango Street, we know by the end novel that she will one day return to help those who will not have the opportunities Esperanza has had in her life. Indeed, in the closing pages Esperanza admits that she cannot escape Mango Street. She can never again call it home, but it has influenced her dreams, formed her personality, and she has learned valuable life lessons from its inhabitants. That is why, explains Esperanza, she tells stories about the house on Mango Street, revealing the beauty amidst dirty streets and unveiling her true inner self, the peace of knowing that her “home is where her heart is.”
However, in face of the tribulations that face her in this misogynist society, Esperanza uses feminist ideology to gain the confidence and sympathy to help out her fellow women on Mango Street, finally rising from her distrust and victim hood. With this new thinking, Esperanza is able to finally somewhat break the status quo that treats women so lightly and weakly, and eventually feel some sort of freedom from both her society/culture (and from Mango Street) at