Similarities Between The Goldfinch And The House On Mango Street

Many people go through a point in their life where it feels like they are at an all-time low. Everyone will hold on to a certain memory, whether it's in a physical or mental way. In The House on Mango Street, a 13-year-old Hispanic girl named Esperanza goes through many ups and downs. She feels ashamed of her house and neighborhood and wants to do something better with her life. A similar book is The Goldfinch written by Donna Tartt. A young boy named Theodore Decker struggles with addiction and depression after the tragic death of his mother. His mom dies in a New York museum during a bombing. During the chaos, he grabs a painting called The Goldfinch and keeps it without knowing what he is going to do with it. Both Esperanza and Theodore feel like outsiders, they reached a low point that leads them to find themselves, their parents are absent from their lives and both hold on to a special memory that made them who they are. This all leads to the theme of struggling to find their identity.

To begin with, Esperanza feels

different from the rest of her family. Esperanza describes her siblings as being beautiful and perfect, but she describes her hair as “lazy...never obeys barrettes or bands” (Cisneros 6). This conveys that Esperanza doubts herself and is different from her family. Furthermore, she feels like she sticks out but can’t do anything about it when she says, “I am a red balloon, a balloon tied to an anchor” (Cisneros 9). On the other hand, Theodore lost his mother in a bombing and was never the same since. He was a troubled kid in school and “was blind to the future” (Tartt 13). This shows that Theo never thought about consequences for his actions and stood out in a bad way. Theo and his friend Boris spend all their time drinking and doing drugs and Theo says “sometimes we want what we want even if we know it's going to kill us” (Tartt 770). This furthermore explains how he always feels like an outsider and does drugs because he became an addict thinking from all the trauma. Both characters go through points in their life where they feel different from others because of where they live or what they’ve been through.
In addition, Both characters from the novels reach a low point that leads them to finding themselves.

In The Goldfinch, Theo was much more like his father, during a shooting Theo shoots and kills a man. He's built up anxiety over the next few days and tries to commit suicide. Boris goes to Theo and says “this is the rewards money!” (Tartt 738). This proves that although he reached a low point in his life good came around and helped him. In the novel, The House on Mango Street Esperanza has always been ashamed of where she lived. Her whole life has always had a negative factor. Growing up in a Hispanic neighborhood she always wanted to leave and do something other than being forced to marry a man. Esperanza finally realizes that her situation isn’t that bad when she finds “a pretty box with flowers painted on it” in a junk store (Cisneros 20). This shows a bright thing in such a dark place where Esperanza only saw embarrassment and

dirty.
Next, Esperanza and Theo hold on to a memory a certain way. At the end, Esperanza finally leaves the neighborhood she's wanted to leave her whole life. After talking to Alicia, Esperanza says “they will not know I have gone away to come back” (Cisneros 110). This is when Esperanza holds onto all the memories she had on Mango Street and realizes that is who she is. Whereas, Theo takes the painting from the museum during the bombing. To him, it had no meaning but it let him hold on to the memory of his mother. When he looked at the small bright painting it made him “think of pictures… of his mother when she was small: a dark-capped finch with steady eyes” (Tartt 27). This proves that the painting had a sentimental value to him that made him think of his mother so he took it during all the chaos. It became a memory of his mother but he heard people were being arrested for stealing the paintings so rented a storage locker and kept the painting in there. This also shows that even if Theo didn't have the painting in his possession, he still liked the thought of having it somewhere safe.
Finally, Theodore's parents are scarce from his life. His mother died during the bombing when he was young. His father was a drug addict and was “killed in a car accident that might have been intentional” (Tartt 467). This shows that he grew up without parents and was in and out of foster homes. Esperanza relates to this because her dad works all the time and her mother is busy with other things. Esperanza describes her mom as safe and warm and says “mama’s hair smells like bread” (Cisneros 7). This shows that both her parents are not a huge part of her life but she will always have a love for Mama. Both characters parents had a part in their lives but were never there due to death or being too busy.
In conclusion, Esperanza and Theo go through many tough times in their lives. They both feel like outsiders, they struggle to find themselves, they hold on to a memory, and their parents are not the main figure in their lives. This all ties into the theme of struggling to find their identity. Everyday people should stay true to who they are, even if they have struggled in their life. People shouldn’t take the bad and turn it into something worse m=but they should make themselves stronger.