Esperanza Giving Back to Mango Street

In the novel “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros, Esperanza is told to come back to Mango Street even though she is finally leaving. Esperanza really hates Mango Street and want nothing to do with it, but hints show me that in the future, she will try to help out Mango Street.

“No, Alicia says. Like it or not you are Mango Street, and one day you’ll come back too. Not me. Not until somebody makes it better. Who’s going to do it? The mayor? And the though of the mayor coming to Mango Street makes me laugh out loud. Who’s going to do it? Not the mayor” (107).

Esperanza knows no one will come to help make Mango Street better, so when she ever comes back, she would be that person that helps Mango Street become better. I think that she will want to help make Mango Street better because she does not want anyone else live the life she lived, a life of loneliness and insecurity. She knows how left out a person can feel in an unwelcoming environment, so she will want the next person who moves into Mango Street feeling less isolated.

By the end of the book, she gets what she wanted, a house, which hints that what she does next might be what I think is how she is helping make Mango Street better.

“I make a story for my life... I like to tell stories. I am going to tell you a story about a girl who didn’t want to belong” (109).

This shows the next step to her plan. She is writing “The House on Mango Street” to show other children that are unfortunate like her, are not alone. This story of a lonely, left out girl would boost the moral of kids living in rough neighborhoods like the one on Mango Street. This is her way to give back to the place she grew up at, a present of a story to comfort the unlucky and isolated children of the streets.