The House On Mango Street Identity Essay

In the novel The House On Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros she discusses that, people have trouble defining themselves. In this case, Esperanza shows a struggle for defining herself. She is able to define other people while explaining how they are and what there life is like. But she can't seem to define herself. She's able to talk about her life and others but can't seem to explain herself as a person. Esperanza seems to define herself as a women, but her perception of her identity changes throughout the story. In the chapter "My Name" Esperanza wants to change her name to define it the way she is, the way she wants, instead of accepting a family heritage. "I would like to baptize myself under a new name, a name more like the real me, the one nobody sees." She would like to be different from her family, without her grandmas name. …show more content…
You don’t really know what to do in the beginning of your life, you seem to be poor, but then once you get to the end you seem to put your life together save your money and do what you have dreamed about doing. As shown in the chapter "Hairs" it describes there personality described themselves with hairstyles that they had. In the chapter "The House On Mango Street" it says "Temporary. Says Papa. But I know how those things go." Poverty hits hard once you know how everything goes. As we get to the end on chapter "Mango Says Goodbye Sometimes" Esperanza says "I like to tell stories. I am going to tell you a story about a girl who didn’t want to belong. We didn’t always live on Mango Street. Before that we lied on Keeler. Before Keeler it was Paulina, but what I remember most is Mango Street." Pursuing her dreams Esperanza likes to tell her