The House On Mango Street Essay

Secure and comforting or strict and oppressive, the idea of home can greatly influence the emotions, dreams, and worldviews of literary characters. Different parts of the home setting can be used symbolically to represent a character’s struggles and even an aspect of a character’s personality. The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams and The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros are two stories that employ a home setting to achieve their meaning. Laura, a central character in The Glass Menagerie, is confined to her home by a fear of the outside world. Esperanza, the main character in The House on Mango Street, aspires to escape the cycle of poverty and brokenness in her home, but her family’s economic situation prevents her from doing so. While these two works of literature view the

importance of home differently, they both use the symbolism of a home setting to represent unique aspects of their characters. Viewing these stories side-by-side allows readers to recognize the full meaning and importance of home to both Laura and Esperanza.
Dreading the outside world, Laura Wingfield perfectly exemplifies a homebody. Because of a limp that she has had her whole life, Laura views herself as inferior and different from the outside world. While other people barely notice her limp, Laura spends all her time worrying about what others think of her. This constant fear stops her from leaving her home very often. When Laura’s mother signs her up for typing school, Laura cannot bear the possibility of failure and secretly quits school. Laura fears being proven deficient and, for her, home is a safe place because the repeated activities and situations that occur within its walls preclude the possibility of failure. Even though the apartment is small and cramped, Laura sees her home as a place of comfort and she never wants to leave. Every day is spent doing the exact same things: polishing and rearranging her glass collection, listening to the same old records. Being in control is comforting to Laura and since her home is manageable and predictable she is content to stay confined in her home.
On a symbolic level home is also an important theme in The Glass Menagerie. Laura feels most at home when she is arranging her glass collection. Several times throughout the play the glass menagerie, which Laura loves so dearly, is used to represent Laura herself. Since Laura has no ambition and no desire to leave, the glass highlights her fragility and simplicity. One piece of glass, the glass unicorn, specifically correlates with Laura’s unique beauty. Laura sets the unicorn on the shelf with other glass horses, but it appears out of place. The unicorn’s horn is not really at home with all of the regular horses. In the same way, Laura’s limp and perceived differences make her feel out of place in the world. At one point in the story, Laura’s high school crush accidently breaks off the horn of the unicorn as he dances with Laura. As the unicorn loses its horn, it begins to fit in with the other horses. “The horn was removed to make him feel less-freakish! Now he will feel more at home with the other horses, the ones that don’t have horns . . . “ (Scene 7). Parallelling with this, Laura transforms to feel like a normal girl when she dances with Jim. When Jim breaks the news that he is engaged to another girl, the changes that the reader sees in Laura end abruptly. She again sinks back into her cycle of insecurities and fear, feeling as broken as the unicorn.
Another part of Laura’s home used symbolically is the fire escape. Laura’s family always used the fire escape to enter and exit their home since it is the fastest option. One day Laura’s mother asks her to go to the store and Laura feels uncomfortable asking the cashier to “charge it” (Scene 4). As Laura is leaving, she trips on the fire escape stairs. The fire escape is anything but an escape. The one time Laura tries to leave home, her path is hindered. It symbolizes that Laura is trapped. Laura thinks she is trapped because other people do not value her, but in reality, she is trapped because she does not value herself.
The House on Mango Street is the story of a young girl in a poverty stricken neighborhood. The story opens with Esperanza describing all the places that she has lived. Rundown houses and apartments make up all she has ever known. Her mother tells her about the house they will eventually move to. One where they “don’t have to pay rent to anybody” (3). One with “running water” and “stairs inside like the houses on T.V.” (4). Esperanza relishes in this hope, but the next house they move to on Mango Street is just the same as all the others. Esperanza is ashamed of her shabby house and dreams of one day leaving Mango Street and never coming back. Coming from a poor family, Esperanza is at an economic disadvantage. Unlike Laura, who lets her limp define her, Esperanza is determined to move up in the world despite the setbacks that she faces.
Pieced together, yet beautiful, The House on Mango Street is not a story set up in chronological order, rather it is a jumbled collection of random thoughts. A description of her family's hair is all that serves as an introduction to Esperanza’s parents. The brightly colored high-heeled shoes that she and her friends play with one day show Esperanza’s imagination. Her plan to invite a bum live in her attic shows her kindness. Esperanza’s mind is wild. She jumps from one idea to another, constantly dreaming and planning. Her disorderly thoughts parallel with the disorderly neighborhood that she lives in.
Esperanza’s image of herself is shaped by the place that she lives.

When Esperanza moves in, her neighbor tells her that their family is going to move away because “the neighborhood is getting bad” (13). This implies that Esperanza’s family moving in is part of what is making the neighborhood bad. As more and more people make underhanded comments about where Esperanza lives, she becomes determined to distance herself from Mango Street. When her teacher asks her where she lives, the teacher assumes that Esperanza comes from the most rundown apartment in the area and thus furthers Esperanza’s hatred of the way that she is perceived.

Annie O. Eysturoy in “House Symbolism in The House on Mango Street” discusses the idea that many parts of the setting described by Esperanza are a representation of her. The house makes her oppressive socioeconomic situation very apparent. Eysturoy also notes that at the beginning of The House on Mango Street Esperanza refers to we. “ We didn’t always live on Mango Street” (3). “It’s not the house we thought we’d get” (3). Eventually, as her discontent grows, Esperanza begins to talk in terms of I. “I knew then I had to have a house. A real house”

(5).
Near the end of the story, Esperanza goes to visit a group of three old ladies who recognize her desire to leave her home. They tell her, “When you leave you must remember to come back for the others… You will always be Esperanza. You will always be Mango Street. You can’t erase what you know. You can’t forget who you are” (105). Even if Esperanza does not like where she lives, it has influenced and shaped her life. Esperanza’s attempts to leave and forget her home do not work. No matter how far she goes, Mango Street will always be part of who she is.
The two girls in these two stories view their homes completely differently. Esperanza wants to escape and her economic situation prevents her from doing so. Laura has the opportunity to move freely, but her fears confine her to the four walls of her home. Esperanza sees the brokenness around her and makes plans to better herself. Laura is the polar opposite. Laura sees herself as broken and determines to stay at home forever.
Both Laura and Esperanza use symbols to represent their home. Laura treasures a single glass menagerie that represents her safety and comfort. The simple, pure beauty of the glass perfectly correlates to Laura’s character. Esperanza doesn’t want to define herself by the things around her. Even so, Esperanza has been influenced by all the tiny aspects of her childhood home. A bike represents her yearning for freedom. A record player shows that even an ugly little box can hold great potential. Laura doesn’t want to leave her home, but she is being slowly oppressed by it. Esperanza wants to leave, but at the same time, Mango Street is ingrained in her. Both stories use symbols to achieve different ends and meanings.
The life Esperanza lives does not make her content and she dreams of change. Laura’s fears stop her from pursuing any change in her life. Though these two girls have completely differing worldviews, the homes of both are essential in shaping their characters and the symbols created by unique aspects of both homes help to illustrate their characters. Comparing these two stories shows the significance of positive and negative views of home. In The Glass Menagerie Laura’s reliance on home’s safety show the downfalls created by fear of change. In The House on Mango Street Esperanza’s struggle to put Mango Street behind her highlight the role that one’s home plays in making one who they are.