The House On Mango Street Research Paper

The Women on Mango Street "Esperanza. I have inherited [my great grandmother's] name, but I don't want to inherit her place by the window." Young Esperanza's opening thoughts in Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street begins with the introduction of a surprisingly insightful disadvantaged Hispanic girl named Esperanza, who has just moved into a poor Latino neighborhood. Esperanza's opening remarks foreshadow a theme that continues to develop throughout the entire novel, cumulating piece by piece until a complete puzzle is produced. As Cisneros' Mango Street chronicles an emotionally pivotal year in the life of a young girl, the author herself presumably draws on personal experiences of being raised in an environment in which she struggles and feels like she does not belong. It is evident that Cisneros creatively expresses her own experiences in her writing, and goes so far as to dedicate the book "a las Mujeres," or to the Women. Though not purely biographical, striking similarities of race and background exist between the author and narrator such that Cisneros
Her perception is absolutely crushed after the experience at the carnival and is forced to regress back into a vulnerable and powerless child again. In Cisneros' Monkey Garden, Esperanza tries to protect Sally but is emotionally humiliated. In Red Clowns however, it is Esperanza who needs Sally to save her and winds up sexually humiliated. The lack of personal responsibility between women that Esperanza perceives in her world leaves her feeling alienated and deeply confused. Once again, the narrator suffers a crisis of identity and must reevaluate her role as a writer and growing young woman. It is not until after her assault at the carnival does Esperanza drop the notion of being a "beautiful and cruel" woman to eventually accept her identification as a budding