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Francisco Amador
Humanities-1/2
13 Oct 2013

Womens Inspiration

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of
their dreams. When she said this she was trying to tell people to follow their dreams. Esperanza
is one who definitely benefits from this advice. Esperanza is the main character in the novella,
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros.Through this novella Esperanza is faced with
many challenges such as marital situations where husbands are abusive and controlling.
Although Esperanza is faced with a future she does not want, Sally, Marin, and Alicia influence
Esperanza to not take that path.
Sally and her attempt at escaping Mango Street are great influences on Esperanza. For
example, when Esperanza talks about Sally she asks, Do you wish your feet would one day
keep walking and take you away from Mango Street, far away and maybe your feet would stop
in front of a house, a nice one with flowers and big windows and steps for you to climb upstairs
to where a room is waiting for you. And if you opened the little window hatch and gave it a
shove, the windows would swing open, all the sky would come in (Cisneros 82-83). Esperanza,
in this quote, introduces us to the character Sally and her situation after school when she has to
walk home. Sallys affect on Esperanza is making Esperanza explain life not controlled but free
just like Esperanza wants, not to be controlled by a husband. However, this is not the only way
Sally influences Esperanza. She sits at home because she is afraid to go outside without his
permission (Cisneros 102). Sally ends up becoming married sometime before the eighth grade
and ends up becoming like all the other women on Mango Street, trapped and controlled. As a
result, Esperanza sees Sally end up like all the other
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women on Mango Street and again realizes that she does not want this type of controlled life,
that instead she wants to control her own life. In short, Esperanza is greatly influenced by Sallys
and her failed attempt at escaping from Mango Street.
Another character that influences Esperanza is Marin. An example of Marin's influence
is, "Marin says if she stays here next year she's going to get a job downtown because that's where
the best jobs are since you always get to look beautiful and get to wear nice clothes and can meet
someone in the subway who might marry you and take you to live in a big house far away"
(Cisneros 26). In this passage Esperanza is talking about Marin and her method of getting out of
Mango Street. However, unlike Marin, Esperanza is very insecure about her own looks and does
not think a man will take her off Mango Street. As a result, she feels that she will have to find
another way to leave Mango Street. But, this is not the only way Marin influences Esperanza. In
fact Esperanza also says, "Marin, under the street light, dancing by herself, is singing the same
song somewhere. I know. I know. Is waiting for a car to stop, a star to fall, someone to change
her life" (Cisneros 27). Esperanza, in this passage, feels sympathy for Marin. She feels that
Marin is stuck on Mango Street. Through this, Marin shows Esperanza, accidentally, that waiting
for a man can take forever so instead of relying on one, Esperanza should take her own path. On
the whole, Esperanza is greatly influenced by Marin.
The third and final character that influences Esperanza is Alicia. For instance Alicia tells
Esperanza,Like it or not you are Mango Street, and one day you will come back too (Cisneros
107). In this passage Alicia is talking to Esperanza on a set of steps. Alicia is guiding Esperanza
so she can go and be successful but when she is she must come back. However this is not the
only influential advice Alicia gives to Esperanza. When Esperanza talks about Alicia she says,Is
a good girl, my friend, studies
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all night and sees the mice, the ones her father says do not exist. Is afraid of nothing except four
legged-fur. And Father (Cisneros 32). Even though this passage comes from a very sad and
emotional vignette, it also makes Alicia look like a really good role model. This is because Alicia
is sexually abused by her father at night when she falls asleep. So she stays up all night working
hard to become successful but says she can not sleep because of the mice. This shows that she is
a good role model because she goes through this abuse and still tries to get out by herself and
become successful. To sum it up, Alicia is a great influence and role model to Esperanza.
Sally, Marin, and Alicia help Esperanza take a self reliant path instead of a future with
men she does not want to go through. Seeing these women go through horrible situations
involving men, Esperanza realizes that a man is not what she needs to get off Mango Street.
Instead she learns to rely on herself to get off because relying on men will only trap her even
more than she already is on Mango Street. From this book, young women and young men can
take away so much from the life experience Esperanza and the women in her neighborhood go
through. Even though this was written some time ago many young women can still learn from it
because so many of them today still rely on men even though they are fully capable of becoming
successful on their own. Many young men can also take away from this book because it shows
them that women are just as equal as they are and that women are fully capable to take care of
themselves.




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