Imagine desiring to be different from everything that makes a person them. This is exactly how Esperanza felt in the story. In House on Mango Street, author Sandra Cisneros addresses the idea that the identity from the past shapes and defines a new person; this becomes clear to readers when Esperanza changes as she grows up but also keeps traits from her past. To notice how the past shaped her as a person, Esperanza must change throughout her life. From the start, she always wanted to change, including when she said, “I would baptize myself under a new name, a name more like the real me,” (Cisneros 11). Wanting change to happen, Esperanza felt she needed to change everything to feel more herself. Esperanza however does not notice the changes she does make because she is more focused on the person she’s not. Only with a new home did Esperanza feel she could help other people, …show more content…
Her aunt did not want things to change in Esperanza. This is showed when her aunt says, “You just remember to keep writing Esperanza. You must keep writing. It will keep you fee…” (61). Despite Esperanza seeming to have a strong understanding of herself, some people just understand her a bit more or they see what she’ll do. So in return to what people say for her to keep, Esperanza does not change those traits. Esperanza goes through great change but people know she should keep some things the same. Alicia states to Esperanza, “Like it or not you are Mango Street, and one day you’ll come back too,” (107). Alicia saw something in Esperanza that made her sure that one day Esperanza will come back to help others free themselves from Mango Street. Although it is a change in her personality, it is the fact that she will return is what will stay the same. The connection with how her past shaped the person she is now because she had gone through many events and experiences, causing her to change and stay the
Did you know that Esperanza has changed in several different ways throughout the book? If you didn’t know this then you should read this book. Esperanza is very different from the people from the camp they went to. In the beginning Esperanza is selfish when she had gotten on the train. She was also very naive too. But in the middle of the book she changes a lot. She is very nice and giving.
Esperanza and her mother made the choice to leave Mexico and go to California to work and escape Tio Luis, which I believe to be a good decision. Before going, Esperanza was spoiled, rich, and quite full of herself, living in a high social class family, and in general thought of herself better than others. At first, she was against leaving everything she knew and loved, but in the end, found herself liking California. Esperanza made new friends, in particular, Isabel, who taught her many things, even though she was younger. She taught her how to appreciate what she had, and how to get a job done. She taught her how to deal with the fact that
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
With all of the bad things going on around Esperanza, she was very optimistic and made the best of everything she could. For example, in chapter one, Esperanza explain how she and her family had always grown up poor and that they always had dreams of one day owning a big beautiful house like the ones that they saw on television. One with a back yard and a basement. When Esperanza's family was forced to move her parents had purchased the first house that they could afford so they wouldn't have to continue paying rent. The house was nothing like what they had spoke of or dreamt about. But Esperanza states, "I then knew I had to have a house. One I could point to. But this isn't it. The house on Mango Street isn't it. For the time being, Mama said. Temporary, says Papa. But I know how those things go.." Within this paragraph it shows that Esperanza isn't exactly happy about where she is living but she is going to make the best of it and do what she has to do to get out of there and have a house of her own. One that she can point to.
Esperanza wishes to be grown so she can be free from Mango Street, but she is faced with a sense of powerlessness and no role models to show her to be powerful. Esperanza is surrounded by women who have submitted to their fate instead of standing up for themselves, except for Alicia. Esperanza, instead of following every woman who has submitted to their powerlessness, has chosen a role model who is showing her to be powerful. After Esperanza is raped, the peak of her powerlessness, she is speaking with Alicia, “No, this isn’t my house I say and shake my head as if shaking could undo the year I’ve lived here...No, Alicia says. Like it or not you are Mango Street, and one day you’ll come back too. Not me. Not until somebody makes it better. Who’s going to do it? Not the mayor” (Cisneros 106). Alicia is telling Esperanza that no matter how hard she tries, Mango Street will always be a part of her past, and she will come back someday. But at the same time, she’s hinting to Esperanza that she is strong enough to come back and change Mango Street for the better. Because who else is going to do it? Esperanza understands Alicia’s message to her and reflects upon what she wishes her future to be like, “One day I 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...They will not know I have gone away to
Throughout the course of Mango Street, Esperanza’s relationship towards her house change. As time passes her feelings about the house itself change and the emotional impact of the house of her changes as well. Esperanza’s house on Mango Street symbolizes her Mexican culture. For so long she has wanted to leave it. She envisions a different type of life than what she is used to - moving from house to house. “this house is going to be different / my life is going to be different”. One can look at all the things she envisions - the "trappings of the good life" such as the running water, the garden etc. as symbols for the new life.
In conclusion, we know that Esperanza’s negativity of herself begins to slowly change as she slowly experience what accepting means and how she began to accept where she was from . Throughout this book, Cisnero showed us accepting is an important part of growing in life as well as determining the true you. In the beginning she hated her life always wanted to escape out of Mango Street versus the end she says she is going to come back. From the beginning to the end, Esperanza finally accepted where she was from and how Mango Street has developed who she became
Esperanza had always desired a new home, but realizes Mango Street will always be a part of her. “I knew then I had to have a house. A real house. One I could point to. But this isn’t it” (5). At first Esperanza wanted an escape from Mango Street, she was embarrassed of where she came from. But as she grows as a person and is exposed to devastations in other people's lives around her, she realizes something much more ugly than just the looks of Mango Street. “You must keep writing. It will keep you free, and I said yes, but at that time I didn’t know what she meant” (61). Writing kept Esperanza free, and helped her cope with her problems. Esperanza later perceives why her aunt wanted her to continue writing, because not everyone had something to set them free from Mango Street. “They will not know I have gone away to come back. For the ones who cannot out”(110). Instead of leaving to never return, Esperanza realizes the women in her community have it
A poignant figure in Esperanza’s life is her own grandmother. In fact, Esperanza was given her birth name after her grandmother. A touching gesture that came from good faith. A name may have some value, but for Esperanza there was a high intrinsic quality to such a simple component. Despite, never encountering her own grandmother in person, Esperanza was grateful to have fond memories by carrying her legacy through her name. Life’s motto concerns dealing with adversity and carrying the legacy of one’s family eternally. Being confident and smart was the only way to live by. No man was needed to help raise and nurture herself. Her grandmother instilled in Esperanza a sense of fortitude and independence. It is sad that a regret of Esperanza is linked to her grandmother, further illustrating the physical and mental hardships one can endure in
The first way that Esperanza changes involves the change of her attitude. She is initially very selfish and quite arrogant. The transition that she goes through ends up causing her to be more of a kind person. She is also very generous to everyone around. Before she made this change, her selfishness was very obvious. This was evident when she was traveling to California with her mother. She did not want to be in the cheap section of the train where peasants travel. Esperanza goes on to say, “We cannot travel in this car.” (Munoz Ryan) She really does come off quite arrogant. Her selfishness is also very evident when she is getting on the train. Esperanza is holding her doll and a girl named Mona, daughter of a peasant, wants to hold her doll. She would not even allow the girl to touch the doll. Esperanza says to her mother, “Mama she is
It means sadness, it means waiting” (10). Not only is Esperanza’s name a way to trace her origin but it is also symbolic to the book as a whole. Her name illustrates how the Spanish inside her is sad and it is putting her in a position that is weighing her down and keeping her from becoming someone. The English counterpart is what is keeping her going and motivated to find a way to escape Mango Street and all it encompasses. Just like a genuine immigrants dream when they come to America, Esperanza’s name means “hope” and she uses this hope for a better life to “One day I 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” (110). Cisneros uses the name of her character to give her a place in a Latino setting and start expounding on her thoughts and feelings that come with that life.
Now, Esperanza has changed a lot throughout the book. First she was spoiled and a brat. Here are some examples when she kept on complaining about their living conditions. She called the cabin a horse stable. So she has been really disrespectful to her mom and Miguel.
Everyone has challenges in their life, their feelings behind their actions make them who they are. In the novel The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros there are many conflicts which explore the characters, to get to know them closer. The internal conflict is used to discover the identity of the main character, Esperanza.
Throughout the novella, Esperanza introduces several characters that shape her transformation as she enters a new stage of life. In The House on Mango Street, the novella focus directly on Esperanza’s loss of innocence she faces while struggling with several challenges and encounters that teach her to love herself.
To begin, Esperanza’s want to change can be seen through the self conflict she endures. For example, Esperanza always reads pieces of writing with her Aunt Guadalupe when one day she decides to show her aunt her own piece of