The Journey for Hope in The House on Mango Street and The Road

It may seem difficult to find the common characteristic in those two novels as they are completely different. The only thing seen at the first sight is the fact that the main characters are children. But there are more linking features, especially hope, and this work is going to reveal them. The main character of the novel The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros is Chicana girl called Esperanza struggling with her origin and searching for her place in society, whereas the main protagonist of the novel The Road by Cormack McCarthy is an unnamed boy fighting for his life in the post-apocalyptic world when the only person he has is his father.

First of all, the environment and family will be discussed to clarify what influences the main protagonists and their behaviour. Then the main motives of hope and their analysis will be described. Finally, this essay will try to answer the question, why the bearers of hope are just children, what motivates them and what both characters have in common.

Family and environment play crucial role for both children protagonists and helps to form their character. While Esperanza is surrounded by a huge family (mother, father, sister and two brothers) and friends, the small boy has only his father, when his mother died some time ago. Michael Sauder and Chad Michael McPherson in their essay The Value of a Negative Case observe that in The Road the man is the only source of information for his son, so he tries to teach him everything he can, chiefly the reality of the present world and practical questions of survival. They later mention that the boy knows only this post-apocalyptic world, so he must be aware of all the dangers the road can bring to them. On the other hand, unlike the small boy, who...

... middle of paper ...

...House on Mango Street, or the symbol of fire carried inside in The Road. It is interesting to point out that hope is connected to children who are the main bearers of it. They have completely different lives, environment, family and dreams and different are their fates and the manifestations of hope. While Esperanza acts to change her life and to fulfil her dreams and fights for a better position in a society, the little boy, fighting literally for his life, brings hope by his view of life and by the fact his child’s innocence brings light to the cruel world. They both have something inside that helps them to remain hopeful and to maintain the power of belief and the power of dreaming about a better future. So the topic for a further discussion could be whether these children characters are so strong and positive or whether all children carry the fire inside them.