The House On Mango Street By Sandra Cisneros: An Analysis

Home is where the heart is. The heart is where it is happiest, secure, comforted, and accepted. Sandra Cisneros juggles with the idea of self-acceptance in her novella, The House on Mango Street. Esperanza is a young, Mexican-American girl, growing up on Mango Street, facing the challenges of self-acceptance. Cisneros writes Esperanza’s stories and thoughts, both the good and the bad, along her journey. Esperanza’s negative view of herself changes as she discovers her role in her community. Cisneros shows knowing and accepting where one comes from is an important part of growing up and determining one’s identity. Esperanza’s name means ‘hope’ in English. In Spanish, she considers the name to be bland. In “My Name” Esperanza calls it “sadness” and “waiting” (Cisneros 10). She compares it to the “number nine”, a “muddy color” (Cisneros 10) and the records her father plays on Sunday mornings. Esperanza does not like her name. She believes it to be too boring, …show more content…
They will live and grow and experience new, exciting things and climb mountains and cross rivers, but the experience of growing up will shape who they are. In “Bums in the Attic”, Esperanza mentions when she gets a house of her own, she will offer “passing bums” her attic, because she knows “how it is to be without a house” (Cisneros 87). Esperanza, when she is far away, her childhood will still be a part of her. She will offer her home to those without because she she can relate to how they are feeling and that is what she wanted and needed. Esperanza will never truly be away from Mango Street. Cisneros writes in “Mango Says Goodbye Sometimes”, “I have gone away to come back” (110). Her house on Mango Street will always influence her and her actions. She left and came back for the “ones [she] left behind” and the “ones who cannot” (Cisneros 106). Esperanza can travel far and wide, but she will always find her way back