Maggie Brown's Blog

Esperanza belongs on a house on Mango Street. The only problem with that is she doesn’t want to belong. People like Alicia pointed out Esperanza’s house, connecting her to it, but Esperanza would deny it, hoping it would just disappear. Esperanza states, “No, this isn’t my house I say and shake my head as if shaking could undo the year I’ve lived here. I don’t belong. I don’t ever want to come from here”(Cisnero 106). Esperanza sleeps at a house on Mango Street. She eats her breakfast there. She brushes her teeth and takes showers there. She gets dressed there. When she leaves school, she comes home to her family on Mango Street. Even though she doesn’t like it, her home is on Mango Street.

When Esperanza gets older, she wants to live in a nice house. She wants to be far away from poverty and Mango Street. She doesn’t want people to look at her house and point in disgust. She wants for others to be surprised by her house. She identifies herself with her house, so if she is proud of her home, then she can be proud of her house. However, no matter what, the house on Mango Street will always be her home, where she once belonged. She cannot make it go away or delete it from her past.

“No, You mustn’t do it! You can’t marry the marshmallow salesman. I know that you are marrying him because you want to escape your crazy father. I understand because I married Curly to escape my unsupportive mother,” Curly’s wife pleaded. “It will only cause more pain later. If he is wanting a 13 year old girl then he will continue to want a younger girl. He might even leave you for a younger girl when you start to age. I know that marshmallow salesmen. He has a bad temper and won’t want you to leave the house. He will want to keep you all to himself. The husbands always hold their wifes back just as much as the parents did. Besides all of that, you are barely a teenager. You are way to young touphold the responsibilities of being a wife.”
“I am not trying to escape my father. I love my father very much. The only thing I love more than my father is the marshmallow salesman,” Sally snapped, sticking her tongue out.
“That is proof right there,” Curly’s wife asserted, grabbing a hold of Sally’s tongue. “If you are young enough to stick your tongue out at people, then you are too young to marry. Please, Sally do not make the same mistake as me. You will regret it in a few years. You will enjoy playing house for a while but soon it won’t fun anymore. The marshmallow salesman will treat you differently. He won’t give you the attention you desire. I only see Curley a few hours a day and I wanted to be an actress. You can imagine the difference in attention.”
Sally rolled her eyes, “ Well, maybe you should have picked a better man or been a better actress.”
“Excuse you, little missy, I was discovered but my mother held me back. Concerning Curley, I should have waited. I know that, Sally. That’s why I’m urgiung you to think about it more. You are young. You can still turn your life around.”
“You don’t know me. I can handle this,” Sally confidently stated,”I will marry my beloved marshmallow salesmen.”

In “The House on Mango Street,” by Sandra Cisneros, the thematic motif of friendship is employed through the people she encounters and how they interact. The friendship motif can be traced through various vignettes throughout the book.

At the beginning of the book, Cisneros tries to express that friendships aren’t perfect and they don’t last forever. In the vignette “Cathy Queen of Cats,” Esperanza finds her first friend in the neighborhood, but it is a short friendship. “I’ll be your friend,” Cathy said,”But only till next Tuesday. That’s when we move away” (Cisnero 13). Esperanza has been looking for a friend to tell secrets and jokes to, but her first friend is about to move, so she will have to find another friend. When playing with Cathy, Esperanza crosses paths with Rachel and Lucy. They all buy a bike together and become fast friends. Because they are little girls, they are going to fight and make up. For example, “Rachel almost put out Lucy’s eye about who was going to get to ride it first. But finally we agreed to ride it together” (15). The friends fought, especially since they are younger, but they worked through their differences. They compromised the first ride and rode it all at once.

The middle of the book puts an emphasis on friends helping one another out. When the girls were wearing heels, a bum man offer Rachel a dollar for a kiss. “We have to go right now, Lucy says taking Rachel’s hand because she looks like she’s thinking about that dollar” (40). When in need, Esperanza comes to her friend’s rescue. She knew Rachel didn’t want to kiss the scary man, but she did want a dollar. Esperanza was available to tend to her friend, simply by pulling on her wrist. Friends don’t always have to physically pull each other out of mishap to be helpful, they can also mentally pull friends out of confusion. For instance, the young girls don’t know much about growing up, so they talk to one another. When jump roping, Esperanza chants, “ I don’t care what kind I get. Just as long as I get hips” (51). The girls wouldn’t want to talk about hips with anyone else, but because they are amongst friends, they can talk about hips with other girls who are just as confused. Friends are always there for each other to help one another out.

At the end of the book, Esperanza begins to learn that friendships are a two way street and it isn’t fun to be the only car. “ I took three big sticks and a brick and figured this was enough. But when I got there Sally said go home.” Esperanza did what she thought was best. She was going to save Sally the way she saved Rachel, but Sally didn’t want to be saved and she didn’t bother explaining it to Esperanza. Sally wasn’t even nice to her. Despite Sally’s lack of friendship skills, Esperanza still cares for Sally. Once again, Sally proves her inability to be a good friend. “ I like to be with you, Sally,” Esperanza said, “You’re my friend. But that big boy, where did he take you? I waited such a long time” (99). Sally just left Esperanza alone. She allowed Esperanza to wait for her until she got into trouble. Sally was a bad friend while Esperanza was a great one. Their friendship was one-way, so it was a short friendship.

The thematic motif is expressed in the book in more places, but these quotes show friendship is fighting and working through it. Friendship is being there for each other. Friendship is two people working together to do what is best for each other, not just one person.