Throughout this novel we can see Esperanza’s struggle with
her ethnicity, gender, and sexuality which all ties into her ultimate search
for identity. In the second half of the book Esperanza talks about her friends,
Minerva and Sally and she realizes through them what she doesn’t want to be.
Minerva is only a little bit older than Esperanza but she already has two
children and a husband who always leaves. Sally is not even in the eighth grade
yet when she gets married and lives in a house with her husband. Although
Esperanza dreams of moving out of Mango Street and into a new house, she
doesn’t want it to be a “man’s house”. She wants a house of her own and unlike
Sally, she will make sure she’s free to do whatever she wants without fear of
angering a man. Esperanza clearly values her independence but when she gets
sexually assaulted, she loses a piece of it. She is confused about her
sexuality and doesn’t know how to react when she gets raped so she blames Sally
and all the magazines and books for lying to her about the experience. We can
also see Esperanza’s internal struggle when she calls herself the “ugly
daughter”. She knows she’s not like other girls in the neighborhood because boys
don’t pay attention to her. Although she feels unattractive and unwanted, she creates
her own “quiet war” which involves acting in an unrestricted and carefree
manner.
Esparanza begins to realize everything she doesn't want to be by observing her friends around her. By living vicariously through their mistakes, she learns right from wrong and learns what path she ultimately wants to take for her own sake. The fact of the matter is that throughout the novel, she's searching for herself and who she is, but at the same time tries to keep a piece of her heritage too. Sadly, she gets sucked into many things she doesn't want to be a part of, but later begins to realize how her life will turn out when she takes matters into her own hands. The irony though is that no matter how hard she tried to leave Mango Street, there was always a force there to pull her back in and it would always be a reminder to her of what she had to call her own. This house was basically left to her as a reminder to everything she went through and a reminder to never go through any of that again.
ReplyDeleteIn this book, it's all about identity and how Esperanza thinks of herself. In the beginning of the book, she refers to her grandma and how she was trapped in her husband's house and always looked out of the window. Towards the end of the book, her friends, Sally and Minerva, she remarks how they became trapped living their lives by order of their husband, not their own free will. They end up looking out of the window like Esperanza's grandma. Esperanza wants independence but it seems like everyone around her are giving in. After being sexually assaulted, she gets confused and blames that the stories she's heard of how perfect relationships aren't real. She was lied to. After these experiences, I think it pushes her more to wanting an independent life. The chapter "A House of My Own" portrays that she wants a house of her own and how she would keep it. The obstacle is just getting to it.
ReplyDeleteIdentity is probably the main theme of this novel. From the very start we see that Esperanza is not happy with where she is, or who she is. She describes her hair as being lazy, saying that she does not believe her hair is as pretty as others. And I believe in one part her uncle complimented her and she could not accept the compliment because she did not believe it. Esperanza had gone through many traumatic experiences in her short life, all which lead her to her ultimate identity crisis. Towards the end we see just how bad she wants to leave Mango Street and just go somewhere new, never to return. When one of her friends tells her that she'll be back, she says that the only reason she would ever come back is to help girls like her get out of that awful community.
ReplyDeleteThe author of this novel uses form to express the emotions of Esperanza. Each chapter contains a short story to explain the different experiences that she has in her life. The short stories also show how she grows up throughout the book. One of the experiences that she explains is the awful trauma with the guy who sexually assaults her. All these different stories pile up to create her negative view of her neighborhood and home. She always mentions her desire to have a better house and to get away from all the bad experiences she has. Although she has such a pessimistic view of her house on Mango Street, she still plans to come back. Her memories will always remain in that house of hers.
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