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The House On Mango Street Analysis Essay

2452 Words10 Pages

Kelbey Deck
Mr. Hayworth
Honors English IV
05/17/16
The House on Mango Street

Girls experience different challenges than boys while going through the adolescent stages while maturing, varying in their emotional, physical and sexual development. Esperanza, the protagonist, does not feel fully connected with her home on Mango Street, owing to her struggles to defy stereotypes that society has set for girls of her age and race. Once Esperanza has conquered puberty and has developed some sort of identity, she finds herself emotionally ready to leave Mango Street, but realizes that in the end, she must come back to rescue all the women she left behind. The novel, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, is about a Chicana’s coming of age story …show more content…

“Knowing that she cannot improve herself well by following her family and society imprudently, Esperanza is well aware that she will be unable to manage to have her own home or freedom if she does exactly what others do” (Kalay). Having friends while going through puberty seems essential in a young girl’s life, but Esperanza does not feel affixed to the girls who she spends time with, intensifying her loneliness, which makes finding her own identity even harder. Just like Esperanza wants a “real” house of her own and a true identity, she also wishes for friends that she feels connected with. “Someday I will have a best friend all my own. One I can tell my secrets to. One who will understand my jokes without my having to explain them. Until then I am a red balloon, a balloon tied to an anchor” (Cisneros 9). The “balloon tied to an anchor” metaphor symbolizes her loneliness, and then, later on in the novel, Esperanza compares herself to trees that are unappreciated and cannot leave where they are

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