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Nicole Velazquez
Humanities -
30 Oct. 2014
Leaving Mango Street
Eleanor Roosevelt once said, The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of
their dreams. This quote relates to Esperanza because she has always dreamed about leaving
Mango Street to find and own the big house she has always wanted. In the novella The House on
Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, Esperanza is the main character in this novella. Esperanza sees
the struggle of many women in her neighborhood and cannot help but to notice the desperation in
trying to escape Mango Street. Throughout the book she takes into account what she sees and
uses those experiences as advice on what and what not to do in order to leave the oppression of
Mango Street. Esperanza is influenced positively and negatively, but all experiences help her to
realize that she only needs to depend on herself to escape Mango Street. She uses the experiences
of three women in particular Marin, Sally, and her grandmother as motivation to only rely on
herself in order to escape the poverty and discrimination from the life in Mango Street.
Marin influences Esperanza in the beginning of the book. Marins influential on
Esperanza is obvious when she states, Marin, under the street light dancing by herself is signing
to the same song somewhere. I know now is waiting for that one car to stop, a star to fall,
someone to change her life(Cisneros 27). In this passage Marin teaches Esperanza that being
beautiful and knowing how to use her beauty is a way to get a man, which is the key to leave
Mango Street. Esperanza is still young and does not have the confidence in her looks so she feels
that she cannot follow in Marins foot steps and to find chooses another way to get out of Mango
Street. However there is additional evidence that poves Marin is influential to Esperanza.
Esperanza states, Marin says that if she stays here next year she's going to get a real job

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downtown, because that is where the best jobs are, since you have 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 27). Marin teaches Esperanza to depend on her beauty to leave
Mango Street, but Esperanza is still insecure because she is a young girl. Instead Esperanza
chooses to find a different way to leave Mango Street. Over all, Marin influences Esperanza in
many ways.
Besides Marin, Sally is also a very influential character to Esperanza. Sally is influential
when she describes how her father hits her for talking to boys (Cisneros 93). By knowing about
what happens to Sally, Esperanza realizes that she is lucky to have a loving family and a
supportive father. She also realizes that it is risky to rely on a man for escape as he might end up
being abusive as well. This realization makes her not want to rely on a man or marriage as a way
to help her get out of Mango Street. However, this isn't the only evidence that supports that Sally
is influential. Sally is also influential to Esperanza when she states, She is really happy, except
sometimes her husband gets angry and once he broke the door when his foot went through,
though sometimes hes okay(Cisneros 103). Sally disliking her marriage, teaches Esperanza that
finding a husband can sometimes result to more oppression to women. Sally teaches Esperanza
that marriage can seem like a ticket out, but theres is no guarantee is will be a happy one. not a
happy one. Clearly, Sally is very influential in pushing Esperanza to escape Mango Street by
relying on herself when getting married turns out to be a bad decision for her.
Besides Marin and Sally, Esperanza is also influenced by her grandmother.Readers can
see her grandmothers influence when she states, Just like that. As if she were a fancy
chandelier. Thats the way they did it. And story goes that she never forgave him. She looked out
the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on their elbow (Cisneros

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11). Esperanzas grandmother was being forced to marry her her grandfather. By Esperanza
knowing that her grandma was forced into her marriage and spent her life experiencing great
sadness, she realizes how men can potentially treat her. She did not want to end up like her
grandmother and looking out of window at all of the things she cannot have. As a result she she
starts to realize that she needs to depend more on herself. However this is not the only way she
influences Esperanza to depend on herself. Esperanza is also influenced by her grandmother when
she states, I wonder if she made the best with what she got or was she sorry because she couldn't
be all the things she wanted to be. Esperanza. I inherited her name, but I dont want to inherit her
place by the window (Cisneros 11). By knowing what her grandma went through and that she
has inherited her grandmother's name, Esperanza knew she knew she does not want to inherit her
life controlled by marriage.Instead she wants to be the wild horse her grandma was before she
got married.From her grandmother she wants to be free to be all the things she wants to be. Over
all, her grandma is a positive influence to her because she opens Esperanzas eyes to see that life
is better without a husband and to depend on herself.
All in all, Esperanza realizes that she needs to rely on herself by being influenced
negatively and positively by the women around her neighborhood. The experiences of these
women help her to realize the importance of depending on herself to escape a life of poverty and
discrimination on Mango Street.Esperanza takes the experiences of Marin, Sally, and her
grandmother, guarantee of and learns from them that marriage can be a way to escape Mango
Street, but it is not a happy one. The overall lesson she learns is to depend on herself. Readers
can benefit from the experiences of the women on Mango Street to be more independent and to
rely on themselves.

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Work Cited
Cisneros, Sandra. The House On Mango Street. New York: Vintage Books, 1991.