The House on Mango Street

House on Mango Street

In chapter one of Sandra Cisnero's The House on Mango Street, Esperanza says: "I knew then I had to have a house. A real house. One I could point to. But this isn't it. The house on Mango Street isn't it. For the time being, Mama says. Temporary, says Papa. But I know how those things go" (Cisneros 5). Esperanza is a girl who is on the brink of becoming a woman. She still enjoys little girl activities, but she has a young woman's thoughts. Her understanding of "how those things go" is something that she has come to learn about her parents and about adults, in general. Her thought are precocious and even a bit critical; she seems embarrassed about where she is from as she thinks constantly about getting out the neighborhood and not being thought of as a little girl. She wants to be her own independent person.

As mentioned before, Esperanza is precocious -- both in imagination and understanding of life. The year on Mango Street is a journey with Esperanza into young womanhood. While this transformation is inevitable, Esperanza doesn't seem ready to let go of childhood at the beginning of the story, despite her longing to be independent; however, when Esperanza turns into an adolescent, when she becomes truly aware of her sexuality and just what it can do to men, she begins to enjoy the newfound power. We can see this when she wears the high heels around the neighborhood. She starts to believe, as many young women do, that her beauty can help her get out of her neighborhood, that all she needs is the attention of men to feel worthy and powerful. However, she does come to see that in the society in which she lives, a patriarchal society, the power of a woman's beauty is denied and viewed as something that must be suppressed. This is evident in the way that men force themselves on the women in the story (e.g. The man who forces himself on Rachel as well as the assault on Esperanza). The fact that Esperanza is able to see how the patriarchal society views women is a blessing because it feeds her ambition.

Esperanza transforms into a girl who wants nothing else but to leave the house on Mango Street and all the neighbors behind into a woman with a real sense of responsibility to the people in her neighborhood. She goes from thinking only of herself to really considering the lives of those in her community. This sense of responsibility and her set of values show that Esperanza has transcended even herself.

Esperanza's most important transformation is, arguably, her transformation into a real writer. In the beginning of the story, Esperanza can only imagine stories in which she is one of the characters; however, by the end of the story, Esperanza is able to imagine stories that don't involve her -- and this denotes that she is becoming a real writer and a true artist. It is ironic that through her writing she is able to detach herself from her neighborhood while, at the same time, she has grown to love the people in her community. This is foreshadowed when Esperanza says:

I put it down on paper and then the ghost does not ache so much. I write it down and Mango says goodbye sometimes. She does not hold me with both arms. She sets me free. 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 here forever. One day I will go away (Cisneros 110).