House On Mango Street

In the book The House on Mango Street, author Sandra Cisneros presents a series of vignettes that involve a young girl, named Esperanza, growing up in the Latino section of Chicago. Esperanza Cordero is searching for a release from the low expectations and restrictions that Latino society often imposes on its young women. Cisneros draws on her own background to supply the reader with accurate views of Latino society today. In particular, Cisneros provides the chapters "Boys and Girls" and "Beautiful and Cruel" to portray Esperanza's stages of growth from a questioning and curious girl to an independent woman. Altogether, "Boys and Girls" is not like "Beautiful and Cruel" because Cisneros reveals two different maturity levels in Esperanza; one of a wavering confidence with the
Esperanza first identifies her difficulty with her society, and then accepts and at the same time defies it. In "Boys and Girls" the reader sees a young girl that is investigating her possibilities in life. In "Beautiful and Cruel" the reader sees a woman who has become independent from the boundaries of her society. Esperanza is tied down by the "anchor," and then casts it off with her refusal to wait for the "ball and chain." Esperanza changes from a little girl who makes wishes about her future, to a woman who takes her future in her hands as she begins a "war" on the limitations that she face in her Latino society.
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<br>In conclusion, Esperanza makes the ultimate change of becoming independent. As Sandra Cisneros wrote The House on Mango Street, she too further realized her role as an influential woman of her heritage; this realization mirrors Esperanza's journey to womanhood. Esperanza is "alienated from the rest of society in many ways (Hannon 1)." But she uses this alienation to become "strong and inspirational (Hannon 1)." Esperanza is a very strong woman in