Sandra Cisnero's The House On Mango Street

Sandra Cisnero’s The House on Mango Street: Not a Typical Tale A typical fairy tale portrays the valiant hero rescuing a young, beautiful, and innocent girl who, by no fault of her own, has lived in poor, unfair circumstances all her life. This is not wholeheartedly the case in Sandra Cisnero’s The House on Mango Street. Esperanza, a young, beautiful, and innocent girl who lives in poor, unfair circumstances, has one defining difference from that of a typical girl in a fairy tale: nobody is going to come to her rescue. In fact, all around her are examples of women trapped by their circumstance with no rescue in sight. However, it is evident that Esperanza’s ability to understand the restrictions placed on her class, ethnicity, and gender

For instance, during the vignette, “A Rice Sandwich”, Esperanza has to explain to a nun at her school where she lives. Upon receiving the reply, “That one? She said, pointing to a row of ugly three-flats, the ones even the raggedy men are ashamed to go into?” (45) Esperanza cries because she “always cries when nuns yell at me, even if they’re not yelling” (45). This incident, according to Diane Klein in her article “Coming of Age in Novels”, shows how “House and narrator become identified as one, thereby revealing an ideological perspective of poverty and shame” (23 qtd in Olivares 1988). As a result, Esperanza is not just ashamed of her house, she becomes ashamed of herself as well because she understands the restrictions class will have on her life. If she is to make anything of herself, she will have to take strides to better her social

According to Klein, “Esperanza is guided by examples of mentors she does not want to emulate” (24). For instance, Mamacita moved to Mango Street to be with her husband but is trapped by a language barrier. Rafaela is trapped in her house and only able to look out the window at the life she wants. Minerva and Sally all married in order to escape domineering dads or lives in poverty but, in turn, are still trapped by their abusive husbands. Finally, Esperanza’s own mother is trapped by her unfulfilled dreams that she “could’ve been somebody”