Self Identity And Self-Identity In The House On Mango Street

“I want to be like the waves on the sea, like the clouds in the wind, but I’m me. One day I’ll jump out of my skin. I’ll shake the sky like a hundred violins” (60). In the story “The House on Mango Street”, the author Sandra Cisneros uses sentences full of imagery, metaphors, and word games, to show how self definition is a result of the people and places surrounding you. This is represented throughout the book when Esperanza wants to change her name, living in a male dominated society, and when she wishes for a new home.

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

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros tells the poignant and heartwarming story of Esperanza Cordero, a Latina girl maturing in Chicago. As Esperanza grows, she is faced with new hardships and expectations associated with being a woman, and becomes ashamed of her life. Esperanza learns to accept

The most important Theme in The House on Mango Street is identity. Identity is a very

Sandra Cisneros’, “The House on Mango Street” focuses on the narration of Esperanza, a young adolescent growing up in Chicago. Throughout the novel, Esperanza strives to develop her own sense of identity, while searching for the means out of her poverty-stricken neighborhood. With the help of her friends and family, Esperanza discovers how the world works, and what she needs to do in order to successfully better herself. The novel features several concepts of gender and sexuality studies including that of class structures, red-lining, gender, sexuality, intersectionality, and beauty. Those listed are simply a few more prominent features, as each character Esperanza introduces displays many more concepts within each scene. The concept of gender is portrayed widely throughout the novel and creates a foundation for the expectations the girls are about to face as they grow. Intersectionality interplays within the daily lives of each girl, and is seen within every page of the novel. Finally, beauty standards play an important role in the transition from adolescent to young adult each girl faces. Together, gender, intersectionality, and beauty standards, make up the novel, as it portrays the importance of each of these three core concepts of gender, women and sexuality studies.

In life many people set goals for themselves. For some people it maybe a goal such as obtaining a high test grade and for others it maybe to one day own a race car. Everybody has a different outlook on life and everyone has different goals in which they one day hope to achieve. The people who achieve their goals are those who are motivated and determined to do so. When these goals are achieved it is then when you are a hero to yourself.

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

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.

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

In the book The House on Mango Street, author Sandra Cisneros presents a series of vignettes that involve a young girl, named Esperanza, growing up in the Latino section of Chicago. Esperanza Cordero is searching for a release from the low expectations and restrictions that Latino society often imposes on its young women. Cisneros draws on her own background to supply the reader with accurate views of Latino society today. In particular, Cisneros provides the chapters “Boys and Girls” and “Beautiful and Cruel” to portray Esperanza’s stages of growth from a questioning and curious girl to an independent woman. Altogether, “Boys and Girls” is not like “Beautiful and Cruel” because Cisneros reveals two different maturity levels in Esperanza;

Works Cited Cisneros, Sandra. House on Mango Street. San Diego, CA: Jane Schaffer Publications, 1997. Print. "Mexican Machista." Family Friend Poems. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 May 2013. "My Grandparents, My Parents and Me." My Grandparents My Parents, Mis Abuelos Mis Padres, Frida Kahlo, C0160. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May

The books The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (written by Sherman Alexie) and The House on Mango Street (written by Sandra Cisneros) follow young adolescents as they come of age throughout the novel. In the former, Alexie writes about Junior’s struggle to come to terms with both his place in his Native-American heritage and his new found home in an all-white school. The later contains the story of a young Hispanic girl striving to defy the gender roles set in place by her family and society. The role of society in both of these books plays a key role in how their respective main characters view themselves and their names. In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and The House on Mango Street the characters struggle with an identity crisis relating to their names, and the stereotypes that are associated with them.

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.

Esperanza: the Person Behind the Print In The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros, a little girl from a Latino heritage is given birth to. Not literally, but in the sense of characterization. Esperanza is a fictional character made up by Cisneros to bring about sensitive, alert, and rich literature. She is the protagonist in the novel and is used to depict a female’s life growing up in the Latino section of Chicago. Cisneros creates the illusion that Esperanza is a real human being to communicate the struggles of growing up as a Latina immigrant in a modern world, by giving her a name, elaborating her thoughts and feelings, and illustrating her growth as a person through major events.

What’s In a Name? The books The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (written by Sherman Alexie) and The House on Mango Street (written by Sandra Cisneros) follow young adolescents as they come of age throughout the novel. In the former, Alexie writes about Junior’s struggle to come to terms with both his place in his Native-American heritage and his new found home in an all-white school. The later contains the story of a young Hispanic girl striving to defy the gender roles set in place by her family and society. The role of society in both of these books, plays a key role in how their respective main characters view themselves and their names. In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and The House on Mango Street the characters struggle with an identity crisis relating to their names, and the stereotypes that are associated with them.