Esperanza's Achievement Of Cultural Identity And Autonomy

I stroll into my room, swing open my closet door, and I peer in to see what I am to wear for the night. As always, I end up closing that door after .2 seconds, turn on my heel towards my roommate’s room. “What do you want to wear of mine tonight?”

In the book The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros demonstrates in her writing how a child can be forced to mature too rapidly. Esperanza encounters sexism, racism, and discrimination towards the poor that impacted her paradigm of the world around her. The motif occurring throughout the novel is how a young girl must become a woman before they are ready. In the chapter “The Monkey Garden”, Esperanza makes one of her final transitions into the woman, her environment forces her to be, this is shown by the change of her opinion of her shoes, the realization of woman accepting manipulation by men, and her loss of childlike interest in the Monkey Garden.

Every human being is born with a desire for a unique identity. Whether it is at their jobs, schools, or amongst their friends, people will always search for recognition. The House on Mango Street, a novel beautifully crafted by author Sandra Cisneros, depicts a young Latino girl's prolonged search for an identity. Cisneros uses ethnic and thematic elements to portray the girl's evolution. Through many hardships and life-changing experiences, Esperanza slowly blossoms from an innocent child into a mature young 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.

“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.” (Cisnero 73)

The House on Mango Street is a touching and timeless tale told in short vignettes. It tells the story of a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago. Her life, and the lives of the people around her, are laid bare to the readers in this touching novella. In the beginning, Esperanza is not accepting of herself. Her family’s poor financial situation, the sadness of the people around her, and the problems she faces in her daily life make her very cynical. However, Esperanza’s negative view of herself slowly changes as she begins to focus on her larger community and her place within it. Through this, Cisneros shows that knowing and accepting where we have come from is an important part of growing up and determining who we are.

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros is a semi-autobiography shown through the eyes of the story’s narrator, Esperanza Cordero, an adolescent Mexican-American girl who is about thirteen and growing up in an impoverished, mostly Latino neighborhood in Chicago. The novel is a coming of age story, told over the course of about a year in a series of standalone vignettes, written in a non chronological order, that use poetic and figurative language, such as metaphors and similes, to convey its themes.

Shaped by the journey of life, each and every human develops an everlasting identity from their perception of the world. Everyone’s identity sticks, but humans contain the capacity to change their identity throughout life; an attribute Esperanza shows greatly. Oppressed by male figures and because of her wealth, and race, Esperanza develops her sense of identity from negative aspects of her life, causing her to feel shame and develop an aspiration to form a new identity. For so long she develops her worth from what others think and say about her, but contains the power to see beyond and what her really life holds for her.

Imagine all limbs turned to stone, unable to move or shout no matter how hard one tries. Powerless. This is life for 12 year old Esperanza as a poor, Hispanic girl. Much like a bad dream where one cannot move, Esperanza has no power or voice; her entire life resembles this nightmare. She is discriminated against, not only for her race, but for her gender and social status as well. Dealing with all this unfair treatment, she is easily taken advantage of, leading to a desperation for a better life. She craves for a “real house” but, due to her family’s poverty, they are forced to move frequently into dingy apartments. In The House on Mango Street, Cisneros’s use of rhetorical devices like imagery, analogies, and motifs, helps to create the text’s longing tone.

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.

As I read the ‘The House on Mango Street,’ I was strongly affected by the way Sandra Cisneros explores the idea of identity, and how it can be tied down to a physical place. During the course of the book, I was inspired to reflect upon the houses I grew

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.

“All discomfort comes from suppressing your identity”(Bryant H. McGill). We can not decide upon our own identity; It comes from our hopes, dreams, memories, culture and experiences. We can not suppress or change who we are or where we came from and must except ourselves. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros introduces the main character Esperanza, who is initially ashamed and tries to repress parts of her identity. One of the main themes in The House on Mango Street is E. acknowledging her name and mango street as part of her self identity.

The House on Mango Street follows Esperanza Cordero 's transitioning through a progression of pieces about her family, neighborhood, and mystery dreams. In spite of the fact that the novel does not take after a customary sequential example, a story develops by Esperanza’s fortifying toward oneself and will overcomebarriers of poverty, sex, and race. The novel starts when the Cordero family moves into another house, the first they have ever claimed, on Mango Street in the Latino segment of Chicago. The red, unstable house frustrates Esperanza. It is not in the least the fantasy house her guardians had constantly discussed, nor is it the house high on a slope that Esperanza promises to one day own.

The exceptional Sandra Cisneros incorporates many stylistic choices in her book, The House on Mango Street. The vignettes, “The First Job”, “Hips”, and “Red Clowns” really accentuate her theme of Esperanza Cordero’s journey into adulthood. In these vignettes, Cisneros repeatedly illustrates the contrasts between expectation and reality in order to highlight Esperanza’s drive, as well as the complications she must face of growing up.