The American Dream in The House On Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

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The American Dream, yes everybody has one, it can be from living in a large house and having a million dollars to just having the privilege to live in America and try to make something better for themselves in this new life or new start they are trying to grasp. There are many traditions and dreams of every American today while some dreams are practical and some are not and most of all their dreams are from the heart. The American dream is really simple--it consists of a house a job a car three kids and one dog but this is not always the case.

The American Dream can be lived by anyone who tries to make due with what they can afford at the time they are in and the situation that’s upon them. The American Dream is built into everybody who has ever wanted better for themselves and family members. It is not being selfish just wishing to have all the worries of the hustle and bustle of life go away that would be so nice; everybody innately wants to achieve that because why would you want to spend most of your life worrying about money and security?

Today in society, people have different perspectives on what is the American dream because we as Americans are all not the same because we all see things differently than what another person sees. Some families with tons of money could be living a horrible life, always fighting with each other and never happy while a not so rich family could just be happy and make due with what they have as long as they stick together; maybe the dream for some people is more realistic than the dream for other people who may have more opportunities. This could be their dream. The House on Mango Street presents good aspects of the American Dream and offers insights on the extension of the American Dream they are living; wanting more than they can achieve with in their means and desires that one must uphold to keep a family together peacefully. The House on Mango Street presents a family that lives right below the American Dream (kind of like an extension of it); they have a house, beautiful family that loves each other, mother and father who are together and love each other and their children the same, but because they still do not have the financial security one must obtain to freely pursue that dream, it just would not be a typi...

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...will pack my bags of books and paper. One day I will say goodbye to Mango. I am too strong for her to keep me here forever. One day I will go away.” (Cinceros 110) This shows how Esperanza needs to break free of Mango Street and move on because Mango Street has nothing more to offer a young free mind like Esperanza. She will move far away so she can continue on with her American Dream as one person and not have the weight of her family’s American Dream on her shoulders.

The American dream can be realized by anyone who puts their mind to it. Some people shoot for what they can afford and some turn for the stars. The House On Mango Street really gives people a good example of how a poor American family can achieve the American Dream. Esperanza and her family proves that anyone with a strong will and a lot of hope can make a worthwhile struggle for what they need to get ever closer to the fulfilling and completing their extension of the American Dream so maybe, it would not be an extension anymore. So they do achieve their own version while Esperanza must now go off and achieve hers.

Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. London: Bloomsbury, 2004. Print.

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