In Sandra Cisneros “The House on Mango Street,” symbolism helps enforce identity. Symbolism is found throughout the book but mainly when Esperanza is focusing on feet.  In “The Family of Little Feet,” and “The Monkey Garden,” Esperanza notices feet rather than any other feature, because in her eyes, it identifies things about the person.

In “The Family of Little Feet,” Esperanza imagines feet for each member of a family. She describes the grandmother’s feet as “lovely as pink pearls and dress in velvety high heels that made her walk with a wobble, but she wore them anyway because they were pretty” (Cisnero 39). Because Esperanza finds identification in feet, she thinks the grandmother would have had an unstable, rough life, but continues to go through life with her head held high. Also in “A Family of Little Feet,” Esperanza and her friends get high heels to put on their feet. Esperanza finds identification in her feet, so when she puts on high heels, she is a beautiful adult, who is finally getting noticed. Esperanza uses other’s feet and her’s to symbolize identification.

In “The Monkey Garden,” we can clearly see how Esperanza identifies herself. After she tries to save Sally, who quickly betrays her, she runs into the garden to cry. “I looked at my feet in their white socks and ugly round shoes. They seemed so far away” (98). Her feelings are hurt because Sally ditched her. She feels like she isn’t pretty enough. She feels isolated. The symbolism of her feet reveals her self identification.

Symbolism of the feet displays identification. For Esperanza, feet are the markings of who a person is. Therefore, symbolism portrays the theme of identification.