The House On Mango Street Essay

The House On Mango Street is a unique novel that tells the story of Esperanza Cordova, a twelve-year-old Latin American girl growing up in a rough Chicago neighborhood. Esperanza and her family have moved around more times than Esperanza can remember. The latest move brings Esperanza and her family to a little red house on Mango Street. It is nothing like the house her parents have fed her and her siblings stories of; there is no white picket fence or big yard to play in, only two oak trees the city planted and a garage for the vehicle they do not yet own. Esperanza is disappointed by this house, although it is a vast improvement over the family’s previous apartment on Loomis street. Esperanza likes learning, but she doesn’t like the kids at …show more content…
Many times Netty is Esperanza’s responsibility, as she is younger than her. Throughout the year, Esperanza matures both physically and emotionally. She grows hips, and she experiences death within her family, including her beloved grandfather. She experiences family violence among her peers, and she is sexually assaulted one day at a carnival when one of her friends leaves her alone. She gets a job at a factory, and, as a way of escaping her situation, begins to write. She realizes that this is her ticket out, and, as she says, “...they will wonder, what happened to Esperanza? Where did she go with her papers and books and pens? Little do they know that I will have gone away to come back, so that I may help the ones that didn’t make it out in …show more content…
The theme of family is ever present throughout, in many different forms. Esperanza loves her parents, but resents her mother because she hasn’t tried to leave Mango Street and make something better of herself. Many families in Esperanza’s neighborhood are broken, with child brides and drunken husbands. Some fathers are there and some aren’t, and many mothers are left to take care of the family the best that they can. Esperanza’s family is one of the luckier ones, having stayed together despite difficulties. Hope is a central theme in the novel; Esperanza’s name literally means “hope”. The dream house that Mama and Papa talk about is a symbol of hope as well; it is the light at the unforeseen end of the tunnel. That house is a pipe dream; it is an illusion so that they have something to hold on to.
I learned about the hardships that many Mexican-Americans and Latin-Americans (particularly children of immigrants) go through. Many second generation Mexican-Americans can probably relate to Esperanza’s story, in one way or another. I learned how different writing styles affect the overall perception of the novel. I learned that informal writing can work if it is