Esperanza Rising: The House On Mango Street

Soon after, tragedy struck Esperanza lost everything she had in Aguascalientes. This caused her to change to because she wasn’t a rich person. She had to faced

Many girls desire a female role model from a young age. The way these women are treated, and deal with this treatment can heavily impact the way young girls view themselves, and their future as well. Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street brings attention to issues of sexism and gender roles. This is done through a series of vignettes about the main character Esperanza navigating life by the example of her many role models. Each role model impacts Esperanza in a special way, Sally who is married at 13, Marin who is waiting to be rescued by a man, and Alicia who is balancing school and home responsibilities. These problems coming to light through the many women Esperanza looks up to, drive her to rise above her obstacles, and become more than just another poorly treated woman.

What is the definition of "coming of age". According to the Oxford dictionary, "coming of age refers to the process of growing up or entering into adulthood". Now the other hand, Why does it happen? and finally, how does it affect ones health or mindset? These questions will all be answered from a specific perspective of a character and the main protagonist, in the book, "House On Mango Street". The main protagonist Esperanza, matures from a childish girl to a young confident woman through many critical and life changing events in the story. Ultimately, the author, Sandra Cisneros implements the symbols of confidence, the house on mango street and the metaphor of shoes to show how Esperanza develops into a more mature state.

This quote is a significant part of the story because it shows how Esperanza truly feels about herself and her family. She thinks that because she is poor and lives and a bad neighborhood people move away from her family. Esperanza doesn’t think very much of her or her family at all. She thinks that it is because of their race that people do not want to be near them. The wealthy people tend to be unwilling to live in poor neighborhoods. All of the rundown homes on Mango Street are occupied by poor people. This quote may also be interpreted in a way reflecting racism throughout the text. In many different vignettes people are treated poorly because of their race. Racism and this text effects Esperanza and everyone around her in a very negative way. People are even afraid to come near their neighborhood, they fear that they will be attacked. The residents of Mango Street are talked about as criminals, just because of their race and their poverty. As a result of being Hispanic, Esperanza and those around her are viewed by other, higher classes, as a minority. Hispanics at that time made less money and were seen as lessers compared to people in the higher class. Higher class people believed they were superior to her. Esperanza is not proud of her heritage, she even wants to change her name. Her friend she meets,

It states, “I got up to join Lucy and Rachel who were already outside waiting by the door, wondering what I was doing talking to three old ladies who smelled like cinnamon. I didn't understand everything they had told me. I turned around. They smiled and waved in their smoky way. Then I didn't see them. Not once, or twice, or ever again.” (Cisneros 105). One of the reasons for this is her meeting the three old ladies who came for Rachel’s sister’s funeral. There prophesy that Esperanza will leave Mango Street boosts her self-confidence. The narrator also says, “Before Keeler it was Paulina, but what I remember most is Mango Street, sad red house, the house I belong but do not belong to.” (Cisneros 109). This is a radical change from the first vignette, in which she says that the house on Mango Street is not a real house. Esperanza says it isn’t a house you can belong to. It also states, “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.” (Cisneros 110). At the end of the book, Esperanza has fully accepted who she is. She accepts that fact that she grew up on Mango Street, but that will not hold her back from moving away and growing as a person. Esperanza says that she will come back, she will come back for “the ones I left behind... the ones who cannot out”. (Cisneros 110). Esperanza is able to go through a change and accept who she is through her community and her family. She is able to use her situation to empower herself, and to be hopeful in her own

She had to go through the death of her dad, the fire, the threats, moving to America. If I was in her place, I wouldn’t have known what to do, I would’ve been miserable for days, but she stayed strong and did her best. She became stronger and stronger as the story went on, as the problems got worse. It was such a tragedy when Esperanza’s mom became sick. Esperanza was really mournful, but she managed to get it together and help as much as she could. She started helping around the house, but when she figured out that it wasn’t much, she got a job at the fields and even though she had no experience in it she still went ahead and did it. “Mama had been strong for her. Now it was her turn to be strong for Mama. She must show her that she didn’t need to worry anymore.”(p163) Based on this quote, I can tell that she knew she had to be strong and her Mom’s sickness didn’t make her more sad than she already was, it motivated her to be strong for her mom and whatever was coming up. She wanted to repay it to her mom for always being there and helping her in whatever she was going through. Esperanza became more and more stronger as she faced more and more problems. She was a scared girl who used to be afraid, but now she’s a lot braver. All these incidents gave her a message, that she was stronger than she knew she was. “Don’t worry Mama. Remember, I will take care of everything. I am

Have you ever been hopeful for something that exceeds what you already have? You would do anything to make that one thing in your life better. Some people are like that and do whatever they can do to make it happen and some people simply just hope for it to happen there whole life. You will never understand why other people hope for what they are hopeful for. It’s like, always wanting more than you have and you have to do something big about it to make the littlest thing happen. Esperanza and her family, Alicia, and Sally feel the similar way throughout the book. Esperanza and her family have been hoping for a long time to get this house that would be extensive to fit her whole family. Alicia is hopeful to become prosperous in her life. Then unlike the other two situations, Sally is hopeful to get away from her abusive home. All of these situations are

In the beginning Esperanza cares about popularity her appearance and boys. This is all shown in the chapter “Chanclas”. Her mom buys her everything for the party she is going

Her mom teaches Esperanza many life lessons throughout the story. The reader learns that the mom dropped out of school because she “didn't have nice clothes” (91). The mom regrets this decision as staying in school could have let her lead a better life in a wealthier place. Esperanza quickly realizes that she wants to stay in school to move out of Mango Street. This mom is also there for emotional support when Esperanza needed it. She is also one of the strongest women in the plot of the story. This makes Esperanza look up to her mom and make herself want to be a strong woman when she grows up. Esperanza's mom helps influence the way Esperanza wants to live her life in the future.

Esperanza and her family are always moving because they do not have much money, but they finally moved into a house on Mango Street where they “Don’t have to pay rent to anybody, or share the yard with the people downstairs, or be careful not to make too much noise” (703). Although it sounded like a nice place, when a nun from her school saw where Esperanza lived, she said, “You live there?” (703). That made Esperanza feel like nothing and made her realize she needs a real house, one that is really nice. Esperanza wants to change her life and make the best of what she has. She dreams “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” (707). Esperanza believes that she can change the way she is living and live a better life. She is trying to get a good education to become a more improved and intelligent person so one day she does not have to be poor. Just by having a positive attitude and trying so hard, already makes Esperanza overcome the obstacle of being out of place in her

The House on Mango Street is set in a poor, primarily Hispanic neighborhood. Author Sandra Cisneros creates an atypical, yet easily digestible world for the reader to experience while learning about Esperanza’s childhood. The culture of her environment influences Esperanza’s development as she becomes a young woman, and contributes to the book’s driving theme of self-empowerment.

In the book, The House on Mango Street, Esperanza is portrayed as a young innocent girl that drastically changes over the course of the book. Esperanza is new to mango street and encounters many challenges but also positive experiences that she is able to take away from mango street. In order for Esperanza to transform as a human it was inevitable for her to face the struggles on mango street. As Esperanza matures throughout the novel she experiences three major developments that shape her future through the awakening of maturity, responsibility and her awakening of her interest in poetry.

Esperanza is often humiliated not only by where she lives, but also by her physical appearance, hence causing a restriction in her climb to a higher social class. Esperanza is frequently ashamed of her family’s broken-down house in an urban, poor

Esperanza is a very timid little girl. After pestering her mother to give her a note to eat in the canteen, she is seemingly unable to answer the nun who asks what she is doing there, instead meekly holding up the note and scurrying upstairs to Sister Superior. When upstairs, she starts crying while having a conversation with the nun, saying “I always cry when the nuns yell at me, even if they’re not yelling.” This is yet another example of Esperanza’s shyness and social awkwardness. Lastly, after being told that she can eat at canteen for the day, she cries and eats her rice sandwich alone.

Believe it or not, people are not entirely unique. It is certain that no one is truly the same as another person, but it would not be ridiculous to think that everyone does in fact share many similarities. After all, the majority of the population grows and develops opinions or values based on what they see or hear. For Esperanza, the protagonist of Sandra Cisneros’s, The House on Mango Street, the perspective she has is built upon her childhood on Mango Street. This coming-of-age novel illustrates how Esperanza’s experiences on Mango Street play an important role during her period of growth. As she transitions into womanhood, Esperanza gains a new understanding of weighty concepts such as gender roles. On Mango Street, she is exposed to a variety of females who fill the role model and non-role model categories. Specifically, Esperanza’s observations of the characters, Marin, Sally, and Alicia, reveal the oppressive or often dangerous roles placed on women and how they ultimately influence the development of her identity.