Esperanza’s Identity in the House on Mango Street

Always feeling accepted is a feeling that s hard to have on a regular basis. Acceptance is something we all should want to give and to receive but is also something everyone struggles with whether you're the one accepting or the one being accepted. In the book " The House on Mango Street", Esperanza struggles with her home life and her friendships. Esperanza's name especially makes her feel divided from others. One of the first struggles that I come across when reading this book is she "compares" herself to another character named Ruthie who is according to the text " Ruthie, tall skinny lady... is the only grown-up we know who likes to play." (67) Esperanza realizes that Ruthie is more physically antiquity than her. Even so, she still accepts her like how she says in the book, ' We are glad because she is our friend." (69) On the contrary, she feels sad because she doesn't blend or fit in with some of the other kids. She would just like to be accepted by anyone no matter the difference between them. How Esperanza comes off is that she is disappointed in her lack of maturity compared to others she surrounds herself with and wants to be able to be accepted for who she is not based upon her maturity level.

Esperanza wants to change her name so that she can see herself as her own, instead of accepting a name that traces back bad history. She seems as if she wants to divide herself from her family so that she and only she can live her own life the way she pleases, and changing her name to fit her is like taking that first baby step to then run a mile. Esperanza then becomes more aware of her outter appearance and considers herself “beautiful and cruel” (88) so others, maybe including the opposite gender will like her but will also know not to mess with her, and she challenges that pharase in my opinion by becoming friends with Sally. After she is hit with a cruel reality, she doesn’t want to coincider herself as “beautiful and cruel” anymore, but once again is now unsure of who she is anymore and where she belongs. Esperanza decides she does not need to change herself to feel apart of her surroundings or her peers. She accepts herself and decides that the biggest way to set herself apart from everyone else and to embrace herself is to become a poet and write.

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