The House on Mango Street (vol. III)

Sandra Cisneros work, The House on Mango Street, is certainly a bildungsroman. At the heart of the book is Esperanza’s journey to forge her own identity and come to terms with her situation. Esperanza’s story covers many issues of self-discovery but they all revolve around the idea of self-actualization or realizing her full potential. Esperanza views herself as possessing the same powerful, restless spirit that her great-grandmother possessed. But her great-grandmother was taken away by her great-grandfather and she spent her life sitting by the window “sorry because she couldn’t be all the things she wanted to be” (11). Even Esperanza’s first steps into coming to terms with her emerging sexuality are viewed through the lens of self-actualization. She desires to be the woman with the red lips who drives men crazy because her power is her own (89). Esperanza dreams of leaving Mango Street because she believes it is holding her back and is not the final destination for her. But as the three sisters tell Esperanza, it is our past which shapes us to pursue our dreams in the future. Our background provides us strength to create a new reality for ourselves and leave the cycle of people who live in sorrow by the window. Our past creates the soil in which we develop roots which help us to reach out from the concrete like the four skinny trees outside the Cordero house on Mango Street.