Analysis Of The House On Mango Street

In the United States, English is looked at as the most powerful language. When living in the U.S. if one doesn’t speak English they’re looked at differently, and are not able to obtain as many resources as those speaking English. In most schools, English is automatically the dominant language spoken. Languages such as French and Spanish are taught as foreign languages. How can the United States be known as a “melting pot” of cultures if other languages are looked at as less powerful as English. The book, The House on Mango Street does a respectable job of highlighting instances where language created experiences of characters. In chapter four, My Name, the author first exposes her name. Esperanza. She starts off saying “In English my name mean hope. In Spanish…it means sadness, it means waiting.” This is symbolic in the sense that the meaning of her name in Spanish describes her emotional state in life. The fact that she wants to escape Mango Street but is unable at this time. The nature of this chapter is somber making depressing comparisons of her name to things like “a muddy color.” It’s easy to tell that she doesn’t like her name as she mentions the way kids at school cannot …show more content…
She develops a way to make sad, or dire events into beautiful words. She uses this talent in her writing, which is looked at as a way to freedom. Esperanza’s long-time wish of escaping the house on Mango Street finally comes true when she gets a house of her own. Esperanza depicts the house as “clean as paper before the poem;” space for Esperanza to create her own story. Esperanza reveals that she is too strong for Mango Street, too strong to be stuck there; but ends saying “They will not know I have gone away to come back. For the ones I left behind. For the ones who cannot out.” She will always be a part of Mango