Human's Role in The House on Mango Street

To define one’s identity is not an easy task. Many people spend most of their lives to figure out who they are and where they belong to. There are many factors in society that could form a person’s identity, leading them to having an identity crisis. This circumstance will be illustrated clearly throughout the short vignettes in the novel The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, 1984. In this story, Cisneros portrays Esperanza, a young Mexican girl who lives in a traditional and poor Latino neighborhood. She struggles to find her true identity throughout the gender expectations from her culture, the limited of education, and the way other people look on her socio-economic class. It inspires her to create a uniqueness life that only form for her According to the novel, the author conveys the message that observing and being struggled from the society and culture will cause a person to get in trouble finding their own identity.

In The House on Mango Street, the author suggests that to find the sense of identity development, a person needs to perceive the suffering from her old culture. It will impact how a person decides to place their role in life. The first example occurs when Esperanza, the main character once said that “She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow. I wonder if she made the best with what she got or was she sorry because she couldn’t be all the things she wanted to be. Esperanza. I have inherited her name, but I don’t want to inherit her place by the window” (11). Esperanza gets her name from her grandmother, the first woman in the novel who spends the rest of her life to look at the window and think about escaping. Due to Esperanza culture, the women after marriage have to endure their husband’s control. This highlights strongly how suffering it is when women are trapped in their lives. Esperanza understands even at the beginning of her life that she does not want to be the same as her grandmother, making a wrong decision but not able to fight for her freedom. She is afraid of inheriting the sadness life through her name. It sends a message to the reader that … Furthermore, the author emphasizes the weakness and powerlessness of women in Hispanic culture by repeating the same thing with Sally and Rafaela, especially Minerva, a woman who also stays in door for her whole life and wonders about the world outside. After being abused for a long time, Minerva rose to fight back her husband aiming to get herself free. But then, she still end up with “Black and Blue” (85). Nothing has changed in her life even though she fought against it. This suggests that even when Minerva thinks of escaping from the trap, her power does not strong enough to get it. It leads her back to the cycle of marriage, being stuck indoors and endure the oppression from the husband. Otherwise, Esperanza illustrates her depression with the words “There is nothing I can do” reveals that a woman’s abuse must be the old events and feel guilty when she cannot help her friend. This is the moment where Esperanza notices that she will reject her own culture. Therefore, Esperanza’s identity is created through the way she experienced about gender roles in her culture. Esperanza wants to change her fate as well as many other women, who are still enduring their marital hardship, desire to escape from that. Her point of view is made clear that: She wants to be in control of her own life and be more powerful than women living around her. By emphasizing the pain of women in Latino culture, the author conveys a message that the way a person perceives gender norm in their culture affects their view of themselves and their future.

The author Cisneros uses the view of the protagonist to demonstrate that living in a high poverty family and community will leave a person a sense of embarrassment. The first example occurs when Esperanza describes her house on Mango Street. The house is not really the one that she always dream about. She comments: “It’s small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you’d think they were holding their breath” (4). The window is not supposed to breathe at all. However, the author uses this personification to emphasize how everything in the house is so small making people feel desperate about that. It demonstrates that Esperanza could notice the signs of poverty by observing her house. She feels not belong to this house because it is not the house that she really think of. By focusing on Esperanza’s frustration about her house, the author conveys a message that the way a person observe about poverty around them affect seriously how they feel and think about themselves. Additionally, Cisneros portrays Esperanza’s feelings about poverty more specific when the Nun judges her own house. She says “You live there? The way she said it made me feel nothing. There. I lived there” (5). This means that Esperanza notices how weird the Nun is when she looks at her house. The way Cisneros repeats the word “There” to let the readers imagine what Esperanza house look like making the Nun sounds like nothing exists. And Esperanza knew that, obviously. This highlights the importance of identity through the way other people around sees a person through their class create them a deeper sense of self awareness.

Through the author’s description of poverty, the author suggests that growing up in a community where is low class in the US society brings a person the desire to value themselves by education. Cisneros confirms the painful when a person lives their life with the limit of education. Esperanza demonstrates that through Marin. She states that: “She is the one who told us how Davey the Baby’s sister got pregnant and what cream is best for taking off moustache hair and if you count the white flecks on your fingernails you can know how many boys are thinking of you and lots of other things I can’t remember now” (27). This means that without getting more knowledge from education, a person will only get the information around their society and culture. Marin knows all of that information because it surrounds her life. She does not notice if it is good or bad for her life later. This reinforces the idea that living in a poverty where poverty and gender is outstanding, it will diminish the knowledge of women about their life. Moreover, Esperanza describes her admiration about education by showing Alicia, a strong woman who believes education will get her out of the trap from her culture. Esperanza once states that “Alicia, who inherited her mama’s rolling pin and sleepiness, is young and smart and studies for the first time at the university. Two trains and a bus, because she doesn’t want to spend her whole life in a factory or behind a rolling pin” (31,32). This suggests that Alicia is getting the same place as her mother and other women in her neighbor, a circle of sleeping and getting ready to take care of the family. However, she sacrificed herself to go to school because she wants her life to be different than others. By focusing on Alicia’s desire to change her fate, the author demonstrates how important a person’s life is when they acknowledge the power of education. Finally, it sets Esperanza the understanding about education by showing that she wants to develop her future as a writer . She comments that “One day I will pack my bags of books and paper. One day I will say goodbye to Mango. I am too strong for her to keep me her forever. One day I will go away” (110). This suggests that Esperanza makes sure that education will keep her free. She knows that one day in her life, education will bring her to another place that is better than Mango Street. It also builds up her identity because she knows how education will value herself. By focusing on the importance of education, this conveys the message that if a person struggles with identifying themself, education will have them to figure out that.

In conclusion, Negative things happen around one’s community and society affect how that person grows and finds their true self. It may contain many painful events in their life but the result will be paid off positively. Cisneros brings up the idea that culture is the first and biggest problem affect how a person define themselves. Not a lot of people have a fortunate to fit themselves with their culture, most of them have to fight against that. By writing about poverty problem, the author demonstrates that Esperanza’s identity is shaped by the look of her neighborhood on her economic class. But more importantly, Esperanza is reminded by her mom and Alicia that education is very important for her as a young girl who wants to get out of Mango Street. She has learned that one can find their identity through education. In the world, everybody has their own problems related to the way they define themselves. However, it does not mean that a person should give up easily when they are struggling with their identity. The most important thing is to be strong and steady with the goal that a person wants to achieve.  

Works Cited

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