In Sandra Cisneros novel “The House on Mango Street,” Cisneros explores the thematic motif of identity throughout the novel through her character Esperanza.
For example, in the vignette titled “The House on Mango Street,” Esperanza is faced with considering her identity for the first time when she judged based off of where she live. Although she does not retaliate, she simply says, “There. I lived there. I nodded” (The House on Mango Street 5). She feels ashamed that she has to admit that that is where she lives. For the first time, she questions her identity because of the house she had to point to when she was asked where she lived. While she can’t point to different places, she decides that in the future she wants to move to a place that she can point to, and feel proud of where she comes from and who she is.
Furthermore, Esperanza feels the same way about her responsibilities. She feels that her responsibility of taking care of, and raising, her sister makes her “a red balloon, a balloon tied to an anchor (Boys & Girls 9).” This also defines her role in the family and who she is as a sibling. This lets the reader know how she feels about her own identity, and who she wishes she could be. She claims that “someday [she] will have a best friend all [her] own.” While a best friend will not solve all her problems, she believes that who she is will improve if she has someone to tell secrets to and guide her. She not only lets the reader know about her own feelings about her own identity, but the outsiders opinion as well by stating: “Those who don’t know any better come in to our neighborhood scared. They think we’re dangerous. They think we will attack them with shiny knives” (Those Who Don’t 28). She knows that these opinions are not true but uses them to show how an identity can be warped through an outsiders perspective.
Also, she explores identity through superstitions. Esperanza mentions that according to an old Chinese tale, because Esperanza was born a certain time of year, she is cursed. She says, “Most likely I will go to hell and most likely I deserve to be there. My mother says I was born on an evil day and prays for me” (Born Bad 58). While this may sound ridiculous, Esperanza truly believes that her identity is related to what day of the year she was born. In light of all this, she decides that she will not grow up like other people, and become a fierce woman. For example in the vignette Beautiful & Cruel, she states, “I have began my own quiet war. Simple. I am on who leaves the table like a man, without putting back the chair or picking up the plate” (Beautiful & Cruel 89). She is determined to be independent, and becomes her own person. She believes that other people simply do as they’re told and wait to have their heads cut off. Leaving the table without putting her chair back is simply her way of saying that she will not be like the others and rise against expectations.
Through all of this, Esparanza learns that she has the ability to do whatever she sets her mind to, and who she is as a person. Sandra Cisneros uses Esperanza uses the thematic motif of identity to relate to her readers on another level.