Esperanza, a strong- willed girl who dreams big despite her surroundings and restrictions, is the main character in The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Esperanza represents the females of her poor and impoverished neighborhood who wish to change and better themselves. She desires both sexuality and autonomy of marriage, hoping to break the typical life cycle of woman in her family and neighborhood. Throughout the novel, she goes through many different changes in search of identity and maturity, seeking self-reliance and interdependence, through insecure ideas such as owning her own house, instead of seeking comfort and in one’s self. Esperanza matures as she begins to see the difference. She evolves from an insecure girl to a mature young lady through her difficult life experiences and the people she comes across. It is through personal encounters and experiences that Esperanza begins to become sexually aware and acceptance her place and self-definition in her community.
" 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
Latin American women in media are usually assigned the typical stereotypes. The stereotypes that are commonly associated with Latinas are thugs, gangbangers, laborers, servants, or seductress. In this novel we observe the experiences that many Latin American women have to endure due to the male-dominated society. The House on Mango Street is about a young Mexican-American girl, Esperanza, who dreams of a better life. Esperanza's family moves to a new house on Mango Street, but it doesn't meet the expectation of Esperanza's "dream house." The house is located in a crowded Latino neighborhood that consists of the lower income families. This book gives insight to the living conditions that many poor Latin-Americans live in.
In “The House on Mango Street” the author Sandra Cisneros explores the ins and outs of a girl living in a neighborhood of poverty. The main character of the book experiences may things that ultimately shape her into the person she wants to become. Through the book Cisneros explains the experiences out of a person’s control creates a foundation for what they value in life by having Esperanza move houses, go through a traumatic event, and have social normalities forced upon her.
Symbolism is the key to understanding Sandra Cisneros’ novel, “The House on Mango Street”. By unraveling the symbolism, the reader truly exposes the role of not only Latina women but women of any background. Esperanza, a girl from a Mexican background living in Chicago, writes down what she witnesses while growing up. As a result of her sheltered upbringing, Esperanza hardly comprehends the actions that take place around her, but what she did understand she wrote in her journal. Cisneros used this technique of the point of view of a child, to her advantage by giving the readers enough information of what is taking place on Mango Street so that they can gather the pieces of the puzzle a get the big picture.
Esperanza finally comes to the conclusion that she does not need to fit into the mold of Mango Street. She also realizes that by making her own world, she can do bigger and better things and come back to help others on Mango Street. Not everybody can fit into the same mold and Esperanza made her own. . Esperanza leaving shows that she is a leader and hopefully she will have the others from Mango Street follow in her path. Maybe other people will fit into Esperanza’s mold or they will use her as an example. Esperanza used the other women as an example to make something of herself so all of the negative people she meets and has in her life, they made her the person she wanted to be.
In his essay “Land of Opportunity” James W. Loewen details the ignorance that most American students have towards class structure. He bemoans the fact that most textbooks completely ignore the issue of class, and when it does it is usually only mentions middle class in order to make the point that America is a “middle class country. This is particularly grievous to Loewen because he believes, “Social class is probably the single most important variable in society. From womb to tomb, it correlates with almost all other social characteristics of people that we can measure.” Loewen simply believes that social class usually determine the paths that a person will take in life. (Loewen 203)
In the book, “The House on Mango Street” Esperanza possesses many aspects of her identity that affect her life. The most prominent being her socioeconomic class. In the book Esperanza is describing her old home and says, “We had to leave the flat on Loomis quick, the water pipes broke and the landlord wouldn’t fix them because the house was too old.” (4) She later states “Our house would have running water and pipes that worked.” when describing her dream house. It’s clearly proven here that her family has been living in a place where there was no running water. Esperanza views running water as a luxury and not a basic human need, whereas wealthier people can easily obtain running water while she cannot. Secondly, Esperanza describes her neighborhood
As long as civilizations have been around, there has always been a group of oppressed people; today the crucial problem facing America happens to be the discrimination and oppression of Mexican immigrants. “Mexican Americans constitute the oldest Hispanic-origin population in the United States.”(57 Falcon) Today the population of Mexican’s in the United States is said to be about 10.9%, that’s about 34 million people according to the US Census Bureau in 2012. With this many people in the United States being of Mexican descent or origin, one would think that discrimination wouldn’t be a problem, however though the issue of Mexican immigrant oppression and discrimination has never been a more prevalent problem in the United States before now. As the need for resolve grows stronger with each movement and march, the examination of why these people are being discriminated against and oppressed becomes more crucial and important. Oppression and Anti-discrimination organizations such as the Freedom Socialist Organization believe that the problem of discrimination began when America conquered Mexican l...
Introduction: If esperanza has the choice to be anyone she could have been Lucy or like her grandma the wild horse of a woman, but she turned out great with her own house and no man to control her. In addition, In the chapter The Three Sisters ‘p.103” she has to remember to come back for the others. Also if esperanza leaves the people behind mango can't get any better because no one will help mango change. Next if esperanza did not meet the three old ladies she would have left sooner making bad choices. In addition, I believe esperanza is supposed to help the women from the men abusing them. Last Esperanza really deals with
The House on Mango Street characterizes a community of girls and women restricted in their movements within the barrio. The roles of these girls and women are translated through the eyes of a child. When women in the barrio are confined, they can become a victim of abuse due to male domination. Women are confined to interior spaces in addition to their domestic roles as daughters, wives, and mothers. They live inside the barrio, but desire to escape and live outside the barrio. In addition, women can escape their restricted lifestyle by receiving an education. Esperanza, the child narrator is the only one who escapes this ethnic lifestyle (Mullen 6).
Countless people grow up as members of the lower social classes. In the novel The House on Mango Street Esperanza proves to become a genuinely mature woman despite of being brought up as a member of a lower social class. Esperanza's experiences in The House on Mango Street demonstrates that members of lower social classes often have an authentically generous and overall beneficial personality, often a result of their childhood experiences. This is displayed by “Bums in the Attic”, supporting Sally in “The Monkey Garden”, and Esperanza going with Sally to the carnival even though she did not wish to go.
Throughout the story, Esperanza faces difficulties and hardships that help her become who she is. Her environment, her home, and her friends are the ones who shape her to be who she is. Though she may not be grateful for what she has, and who she has, it’s what makes Esperanza who she
Conflict theory starts by emphasizing that conflict within society is the normal way of life and that the changing aspects can be understood by identifying the sources of conflict and power. Conflict theory argues that society is thick with conflict and that society does not work within equality; inequalities are expected to exist such as the haves having more power than have-nots. The unequal scattering of resources creates a social arrangement or class structure, which designates social structure and influences the functioning of society. According to Steven Tepper, an Associate Professor of Sociology at Vanderbilt University, “Cultural conflict and moral regulation can serve to demarcate acceptable and unacceptable behavior, high- and low-status lifestyles, in- and outgroup membership, and reputable and disreputable values and beliefs” (Tepper 278).
Esperanza is a very strong woman in herself. Her goals are not to forget her "reason for being" and "to grow despite the concrete" so as to achieve a freedom that's not separate from togetherness.