What Does Esperanza Tell Us Her Name Mean?

Improved Essays
House on Mango Street
Sandra Cisneros
Nov. 1, 2017
Miranda Spitler

The House on Mango Street
Section 1 Pages 3-27
"My Name"
1. What does Esperanza tell us her name means? Based on this, what can you infer about how Esperanza views herself? Esperanza tells us her name means hope in English and her name in Spanish means too many letters. Based on this I can infer that Esperanza likes the way her name is pronounced in Spanish, but not in English.
2. How does her culture view women? Make sure you use an example to support your point. Her culture views women like they are very important. And us women are important. In the story, it talks about how Esperanza was inspiring and how it was an honor to “get” her name.
3.
…show more content…
Why would Esperanza state, "I have inherited her name, but I don't want to inherit her place by the window"? Esperanza doesn’t want to inherit her place by the window because she doesn’t want to become sad and worried. It says, “
5. Why does Esperanza want a new name? What is she really trying to tell us about herself? She wants a new name because in Spanish it means sadness and waiting. She is trying to tell us she isn’t sad and that her name means sadness but she won’t be
…show more content…
Almost everyone wants to have a successful life. Whether you want to be a police officer or doctor, you want to be something in life. But being the thing you want to be isn’t always easy. My home is in Warren, Indiana. It has two stories (not counting the basement), it has a garage too. I’m blessed that I have a house and parents who can afford to buy my needs and wants. My dream home is to have a two-story home (counting my basement).
The House on Mango Street
Section 2 Pages 28-48

"Chanclas"
1. What event is Esperanza attending and why would this be a "good day" for her?
Esperanza is attending a baptism. This would be a good day for her because she is getting new clothes. Also, she is witnessing someone getting baptized in Jesus’s name.
2. How is the mood spoiled and, once again, how does this make Esperanza feel? The mood is spoiled by her Uncle “lying” that she is the prettiest girl there. This makes Esperanza feel sad that her uncle is lying and realizes her shoes are ordinary.
3. Who cheers her up, how do they do this, and how does this make her feel?
Her uncle cheers her up by telling her she is the most beautiful girl here.
4. The last line explains what made her feel even better. Why would this have an impact on

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The three sisters also remind Esperanza that you cannot just simply forget your memories. “You will always be Esperanza. You will always be Mango Street. You can’t erase what you know. You can’t forget who you are” (Cisneros, 105). Memories are a precious part of life and they help remind people of who they really are. Esperanza doesn’t feel like she belongs to Mango Street due to her experience there. “Before Keeler it was Paulina, but what I remember most is Mango Street, sad red house, the house I belong but do not belong to” (Cisneros, 109). This indicates that she has negative emotions towards Mango Streets, which are usually more likely to stick to a person than most good memories.…

    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    She has an opportunity to do and be more than she ends up doing with her life. Cisneros describes her as drinking coconut and papaya juice on Tuesdays and says, “ And always there is someone offering sweeter drinks, someone promising to keep them on a silver string” (Cisneros 80). Its an important aspect to consider when coming to the decision of marrying someone. The motif appears here again because it shows another woman making the mistake of not choosing herself over a man. Flying and falling means much more than just seeking and not succeeding. By letting one choice determine a woman’s future, it prevents her from ever being able to find her true potential. This especially takes place in the neighborhood of Mango Street because of the male dominance and the culture that women should be suppressed from being independent and strong. To clarify, the society in which Esperanza lives in, degrades the poorer classes and women. This explains the lack of opportunity for people like Esperanza who want to make something out of their life. When she finally builds enough courage to find a home of her own, and learn to love herself it fulfills the sense of satisfaction in her…

    • 526 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    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.…

    • 581 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the beginning of the novel, Esperanza is a young insecure child who is insecure about her new life on Mango Street. The first time we see Esperanza’s insecurity is when she talks about her new home, and when she talks about the house on Mango Street. She says “I knew I had to have a house. A real house, one that I can point to, but this isn’t it.” She wants a house to be proud of but that house isn’t it. Another quote from the book is about her insecurity. “I had to point where she pointed-the third floor. The paint peeling, wooden bars Papa had nailed on the windows so we wouldn’t fall out. You live there? The way she said it made me feel like nothing.” Esperanza is embarrassed about her new home and wishes she didn’t live there. Later on in the book Esperanza starts to notice something she never used when she was a kid.…

    • 526 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Esperanza lives in a small, rundown house on Mango Street. Throughout the story, Esperanza loses her innocence and matures. As the story begins, Esperanza is portrayed as innocent and young. She explains to the reader how the boys and the girls in her neighborhood seem to “live in separate worlds” (Cisneros 8). Esperanza does not seem to have an interest in the opposite sex. However, as Esperanza’s life continues on, she transforms into a young adult. She explains that someone “can never have too much sky. [Someone] can fall asleep and wake up drunk on sky, and sky can keep you safe when you are sad” (Cisneros 33). Esperanza shows the reader that she understands that she should make the best of what she has because she does not have much. Esperanza’s view about her life shows us that she has a mature voice. The theme of the novella is that the loss of innocence and the gaining of knowledge is what define…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There are a few characters in the story that have a negative impact on Esperanza. A girl named Marin says to Esperanza, “What matters is for the boys to see us and us to see them” (27). This reveals that Marin only cares about getting boys to notice her. While she wants to get married and relies on a boy to take her away, Esperanza is the opposite, wants to be completely independent, and take care of herself. Rafaela is another woman who is a negative…

    • 539 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Chapter 4 focuses on Esperanza reflecting on her name. During the process, she reveals “marks” of her identity: how she identifies herself, what she values, where her family is from, and other topics that are relevant to this project. She talks about how she does not like her name and that others could pronounce it correctly. The name means. “hope” but to her it means sadness.…

    • 936 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When her grandpa or abuelito died, her father wanted her to be brave, the narrator says, “Because I am the oldest, my father told me first, and now it is my turn to tell the others” (56). Esperanza's father expects her to tell her siblings, she needs to be the courageous leader of her family. It does not sound like it is her choice, she was asked by her father to talk to her brothers and sister. Even though she is still just a child, her father laid a difficult task upon her. She needs to be brave, it is her responsibility, put out by her father. Another expectation for Esperanza was given by Sally. She expects Esperanza to be a cool kid, and to no longer play. The story says, “Who was it that said I was getting too old to play? Who was it I didn’t listen to? I only remember that when the others ran, I wanted to run too, up and down and through the monkey garden, fast as the boys, not like Sally who screamed if she got her stockings muddy” (96). This shows that people have given expectations to Esperanza. Sally expects her to just hang out, and not play because that is what the cool kids do. Esperanza feels that this is what she wants to do too, or she could be who she…

    • 829 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the beginning of the book, as shown in the previous quote, Esperanza felt stuck and alone living on Mango street. Expressing these feeling she went as far as to compare herself to “… a red balloon, a balloon tied to an anchor."(9). She was without any hope for herself. But then her journey through the book, shows her realizations that she can go somewhere and with enough belief and encouragement, she will get her own house and make a life for herself. She starts to have hope for herself. She becomes more aware of her situation and of her surroundings therefore makes what she can out of what she has. " for the ones I left behind" , Esperanza referring to people such as Marin, who will most likely not make it out of mango street, meaning poverty or better living or whatever interpretation the reader takes from it. Esperanza transitions from downbeat and doubtfulness to hopeful and…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In “The Three Sisters”, the sisters, godmothers of Rachel and Lucy’s dead sister, pull Esperanza aside, ask her to make a wish, and, as if knowing what she wished for, warned that “[she] will always be Esperanza. [She] will always be Mango Street. [She] can’t erase what [she] know[s]. [She] can’t forget who [she] is” (105). Although Esperanza only becomes more confused, she comes to realize that she cannot change where she has come from, where she has grown up, and where she has obtained valuable experiences that have shaped her character. No matter what, Mango Street will always be a part of her, whether she cherishes it or not. The three sisters go on to advise Esperanza that “[she] must remember to come back. For the ones who cannot leave as easily as [her]” (105). Esperanza later on grasps the wise meaning the three women spoke of, that she has to be the one to help other people on Mango Street, or no one else will. She is the only hope for the impecunious families, and the only one who can bring Mango Street up from the difficult situations that plagues the neighborhood. Her outlook on Mango Street significantly changed after she caught on to the guidance of the three sisters when they tell her she can’t forget her origin and must come back to help “the ones that cannot out”…

    • 1003 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Esperanza’s initial expectations for her new house were raised too high, and dealt a heavy blow to her morale when they went unfulfilled. When Esperanza recalls her parents saying that one day they would have a house with “at least three washrooms” and “a great big yard and grass growing without a fence” but then realizes that the house “is not the way they told it at all” (Cisneros 4). Esperanza's hopes were raised for nothing. Now the very roof over her head becomes a constant reminder of those hopes, preventing her from being content…

    • 328 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Esperanza is inclined towards a life of marriage and self definition, but through the women she encounters she realizes it may be unattainable. Ruthie for example, owns a “pretty house outside the city” (69) and is married. It is mentioned however, that “there were many thing’s Ruthie could have been if she wanted to” (68), but she gave up her future for wedding vow. Her childlike characteristics are a by product of her failed marriage and a representation of a nonexisting happiness and naiveness Esperanza wishes to have. She essentially serves as an example of hindered potential for success. Ruthie had the contingency to be more than a woman on Mango Street but ends up being a depiction of a fictitious illusion for a better…

    • 912 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the beginning of the book Esperanza expresses her feelings about her name. She says, "In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting. It is like the number nine. A muddy color. It is the Mexican records my father plays on Sunday mornings when he is shaving, songs like sobbing" (Cisneros 10). Esperanza's name means "hope", something that gives her negative and positive feelings. Hope brings joy, but it also requires waiting and anticipation. Because of that, Esperanza dislikes her…

    • 1171 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    43. For a living Esperanza’s father gardens for nicer homes. Esperanza does not join her family on Sunday outings anymore because she is tired of looking at things she cannot have. Esperanza is ashamed, she is tired of looking at rich homes, something she will probably never have. It is important to know that there are many different classes in Esperanza’s area, some are richer than…

    • 1624 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    It is developed through stories that Esperanza tells about many women in her Mango Street community. These stories include those of Minerva, who has an abusive husband; Rafaela, whose husband locks her away in her home and Esperanza’s great-grandmother who was reluctantly married and lived a life of despair. For Esperanza, defying gender roles and remaining independent is an act of nonconformity, and a source of…

    • 1155 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays