preview

How Does The House On Mango Street Change

Decent Essays

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

Get Access