Lizzy Marquez

Humanities
4 Nov. 2013

Home Sweet Home

General George Patton once said, Accept the challenges so that you may feel the
exhilaration of victory. When General George said this, he meant for people to realize they
must get around their obstacles. Instead of running from their problems, confront them so that
when they succeed they will feel a sense of accomplishment. Esperanza could relate to this quote
from General George. She learns to accept the challenges and obstacles she faces and defeat
them. Esperanza is a young girl in the novella The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros.
In The House on Mango Street there are many characters who all seem to be held back from their
dreams because of their gender and ethnicity. Esperanza begins the novella with the same
mindset as the others, but she realizes she has more to offer and will not settle for less like
everyone else. Even though Esperanza begins as an insecure girl, eventually she gains
confidence and emerges as a confident young woman who is capable of achieving her greatest
dreams, making her growth obvious.
Esperanza is very insecure at the beginning of the novella. She is constantly embarrassed
of who she is and where she is from. Here is an example showing Esperanzas insecurity,
There. I had to look to where she pointed- the third floor, the paint peeling, wooden bars Papa
had nailed on the windows so we wouldnt fall out. You live there? The way she said it made me
feel like nothing. There. I lived there. I nodded (Cisneros 5). This quote shows Esperanzas
insecurity because she is self-conscious and embarrassed of where she lives. Based on the
condition of the house one could assume that she is poor and part of a not so great neighborhood.
Rather than not caring about how the nun reacts to her house, Esperanza lets it crush her.
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Consequently showing her to be insecure. Nevertheless there are many more examples showing
Esperanzas lack of confidence and insecurity. For instance, 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). Esperanzas name shows a lot about her.
It represents her heritage, when no one can pronounce her name correctly at school, she feels as
if she does not fit in with everyone else. Also she states her name means hope and she believes
she cannot live up to all her name has to offer. Esperanza can find the littlest things, even her
name, to be insecure about; thus proving her to be very insecure. It is evident to the reader that
Esperanza is a very insecure young girl, but people will slowly see her growth throughout the
novella.
As the reader gets further into the book, they will realize that Esperanza begins to gain
confidence. Specifically, her growth is evident in the following passage, All night the boy who
is a man watches me dance. He watched me dance (Cisneros 48). In this vignette, Esperanza
begins insecure. She talks about her scuffed, ugly shoes and how she did not want to dance.
However she quickly gains confidence when she sees the boy, who is a man, watching her dance.
She begins to feel beautiful. This proves her growth in self-confidence. However this is not the
only example of Esperanza growing older and gaining confidence. Here is another example of
Esperanza becoming a confident young women, I walked past. I knew he was looking. I had to
prove to me I wasnt scared of nobodys eyes, not even his. I had to look back hard, just once,
like he was glass. And I did. I did once. But I looked too long when he rode his bike past me. I
looked because I wanted to be brave, straight into the dusty cat fur of his eyes and the bike
stopped and he bumped into a parked car, bumped, and I walked fast (Cisneros 72). This
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passage shows Esperanzas growth immensely. She talks about how other girls cross the street to
avoid him, Sire, but Esperanza shows herself and Sire that no one can scare her. She is no longer
self-conscious or cares about what other people think of her. This shows she is gaining
confidence and is no longer immature. In short, it is obvious to the reader that Esperanza is
beginning to gain confidence, mature and grow. Although her growth does not stop there.
By the end of the book the reader will know that Esperanza is now a confident young
woman, capable of achieving her dreams. Her becoming a confident, independent young woman
is evident in the following passage, 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 (Cisneros 110). This quote shows Esperanza being a confident young
woman because she says Mango Street sets her free. To Esperanza Mango Street represents
discrimination to gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic level. When she says Mango Street has set
her free she means she has grown past all those issues and nothing can hold her back from
achieving her dreams anymore. As a result of Mango Street setting her free she becomes a
confident young woman. Although this is not the only part of the book proving Esperanzas
confidence. Indeed she says, I tell them after the mailman says, heres your mail. Heres your
mail he said (Cisneros 109). What Sandra Cisneros is implying in this passage is that Esperanza
now has her own home. This justifies her becoming a confident, independent young woman. No
other woman in the novella ever get their own home; they live with a man. For Esperanza to be
able to get her own home, without anyones help, proves she is finally able to achieve anything
she sets her mind to. Finally, Esperanza has become a confident young women who is capable of
achieving her dreams.
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Esperanza becomes a confident young woman who can achieve anything she sets her
mind to, after she goes through being insecure and slowly gaining confidence. Had Esperanza
not gone through these stages, she may have never discovered who she truly is and not gone
down the same path that she did. If Esperanza had stayed insecure forever she would have never
become the independent confident young woman she is today. Going through these three stages
help Esperanza realize her destiny and make her stronger. All young adults could benefit from
reading Esperanzas story. She shows people that its alright to start out lost, confused and
scared. Eventually they will discover themselves and become happy with who they are, as
Esperanza did.














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Works Cited
Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. New York: Vintage Books, 1984.

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