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.

Set the scene: It is a sunny day. Children are outside playing tag and their mothers are laying on lawn chairs sipping on iced tea.

(Kids run and fall into a pile of marshmallows.)

“Those silly kids,” Mom 1 says.

“It’s a good thing they had Jay and J’s Marshmallows to break their fall,” Mom 2 says.

“It’s almost as if if they fell onto a cloud,” Mom 1 says.

(Moms look at each other and laugh)

(Mom 3 turns around and sees all the marshmallows are gone)

“Wow, Jay and J’s marshmallows must be pretty tasty,” Mom 3 says.

http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/describing-and-comparing-slideshow/21577807/?s=zrjKvB&ref=link

I stared intensely at the back of my eyelids for the first half of the flight. The black emptiness calmed my nerves, but was no where close to extinguishing them. My stomach felt like it was resting in my toes. I couldn’t shake the fear that I would never place my feet on the ground again.

“Excuse me?” an overly eager flight attendant tapped my nearly white fingers. I jolted then opened my eyes for the first time since I had eased into the scratchy blue seat. The flight attendant looked at me with his nurturing brown eyes. “Are you going to be okay?” His australian accent was intriguing. “Um yeah, I think I’ll be okay,” I stuttered. As he walked down the aisle, I looked past him at the two nonchalant, young girls across from me, sipping on juice boxes. Their full attention belonged to the crayolas in their dainty fingers and the Hello Kitty coloring books. They weren’t worried that we were 35,000 feet above the ground. They were ignorant, but I was not.

“The water should help,” the same flight attendant urged, setting it on the table I had pulled out in front of me. “I brought pretzels as well. I heard snacking rids women of nerves.” I pried my hands off the armrest to take the pretzels from his smooth hands. The plane jumped and the pretzels slipped from my grip. I clutched onto the arm rest again and tightened my eyes. “That’s normal,” he laughed. The plane jumped a few more times and I started feeling a little nauseous. A woman’s voice calmy commanded everyone to return to the closest seat, put on the seat belts, and look for the closest exit. I felt as if I was at the top of a roller coaster, waiting for the fall. Suddenly, the plane hobbled like an old man who has spent his life walking, but is getting a little shaky. “That’s not normal,” The australian flight attendant stuttered as he slid into the seat next to me. The oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling and panic mode set in. The flight attendant tried to calm me by making small talk. “I’m Callum. Nice weather today, huh?” He pointed at the window and the dark clouds surrounding us. I screamed. Callum slipped his hand into mine. “It’s going to be o-” he stopped himself because he felt the nose of our plane tilt forward and he knew that it was not going to be okay.

The definition of a best friend is the one friend who is closest to you, but I think a best friend is more than just a close friend. A best friend is supportive and loving. Best friends have a good time together and can work through every fight. The best way to describe a best friend is to describe my best friend, who happens to be my beautiful mother.
My mother has always been there for me and loved me though every mistake I made. I must admit that I have done things that I thought she would never know about, and after she found out, she loved me just the same. For example, in fourth grade I was playing basketball in the house after she specifically told me not to, and broke off the end of our blinds. I assumed clear tape would hide the fact that I broke her blinds, but tape only holds up for so long. She found out and punished me, but quickly forgave and forgot.
My mom legitimately cares about me. Every day after school, my mom asks me how my day was. She doesn’t ask to get a yes or no answer. She wants to know every good and bad part of my day because she wants to know my thoughts, my feelings, and what my life is like.
Usually, I’m attached to her right hip. We are always together, except when I’m a school. Her job is babysitting babies during the day, so as soon as school is over, she can focus on me and my sister. My best friend spends most of her time focusing on her family and friends, which goes to show how amazing she is.
My friendship between me and my mom is so strong because we love each other no matter what, we are quick to forgive, and we care. My mother goes above and beyond the expectations of being my best friend, while still being a responsible mother.