The House On Mango Street

Essay by EssaySwap ContributorHigh School, 10th grade February 2008

download word file, 2 pages 0.0

Downloaded 1010 times

A good story? What kind of question is that? The House on Mango Street is more than just a good story, it is great! Usually I'm not much of a story reader, but this was one I really, truly, didn't want to put down.

The House on Mango Street is a short novel, told in a series of vignettes. It is a story of a young girl, of a Latino neighborhood in Chicago. This young girl isn't exactly from the most fortunate family in the world, but she manages to deal with each and every day that comes upon her. Every day she wakes up hoping her dreams, of that beautiful white house, will come true. But, every day this young girl has to deal with the fact that her dreams, most likely, will never come. This young girl strives and struggles, every day, from the time she wakes up until her day is over.

All she wants is something new. Something that will make her fit in, rather than being the odd girl of the crowd, the one that is always made fun of for no reason at all.

This young girl is, Esperanza Cordero. Esperanza comes from a family, where she doesn't feel appreciated. This really seems to bring her down. Esperanza feels that if she can't be appreciated, then she must not be where she belongs. So, as Esperanza strives for her dreams, she doesn't know it, but she is actually preparing herself for what she wishes to become.

Now… Esperanza isn't dreaming of a huge four storey house, or winning a popularity contest, like your average child would. What she is dreaming of is realistic, very realistic, and rather sad.

So, instead of dreaming of huge houses and becoming popular, Esperanza dreamed about things that were more important to her and her family. Like for example, Esperanza always dreamed of this beautiful white house, with a white picket fence and a winding porch going around the house. Now, maybe Esperanza was dreaming a little bit bigger than what was possible, but a bigger house was definitely in consideration. It would have greatly helped.

So, I guess Esperanza Cordero wasn't the most fortunate child of Chicago, but in the long run things got better for Esperanza and her family. Especially Esperanza! So, that just goes to show that, "IF YOU CAN BELIEVE…YOU CAN SUCEED!!!"