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.

“Don’t judge a book by its cover,” a common saying that applies when talking about books or people or objects. My prized possessions cover has a red background with 7 letters placed in the middle. The letters are written in white and outlined in black. The possession comes in various shapes and sizes, from the iPhone screen, to the biggest television that money can buy. While the image I painted may appear simple, it is actually complex, because behind the red background, over ten thousand movies and television shows are held. To an oblivious adult, my Netflix account appears to be movies and television shows that are wasting time, but Netflix is actually a distraction from the real world. Netflix is kind of like books. It allows an escape into another world, minus the headaches that books occasionally give me. This is why my Netflix account has recently become something very important to me and is now my most prized possession.
Netflix was given to me by my mother, who thought at such a cheap price, 7.99 a month to be exact, it would be fun to try. Little did she know, Netflix would be very valuable to her teenage daughter. Two weeks later, my unfinished homework was strewn across the unmade bed. My chemistry book opened to last weeks lesson. My planner colored with important activities. My pencils, pens, and highlighters, all signed with bite marks, surrounded me, a young procrastinator, while I focused very hard on the laptop screen streaming the last season of Gossip Girl. My droopy, blood shot eyes said I was exhausted. “This is the last one, I promise,” I whispered, clicking next episode, even though I knew it wasn’t.
While Netflix is addicting, it brings me relief when I’m stressed. It takes my mind off important things in life and allows me to get away. That is very valuable in today’s society. Technically, I’m stating that Netflix is most prized possession. Netflix carries the relief that teenagers desperately want. The simple Netflix account is valuable, but if you open up the book and look past the cover, the relief is the value I desperately cling to.

I spun in circles, soaking in the warm sun. The humid atmosphere causing sweat drops to trickle down my glistening wings. The trees around me towered over my head, but then again most things did. I stepped off the yellow leaf and flapped my wings so I could hover over the bird’s nest, getting a closer listen at their beautiful melodies. The wind whipped through my hair and flapped my blue, silky dress. It was very peaceful until suddenly, my wings disappeared. I bounced off the nest and plunged towards the earth. My bare back slammed into the mattress and the breath was knocked out of me. I opened my eyes and stared at the white, popcorn ceiling that enclosed the room where my imagination sprouted. My imagination was always hidden until I strutted into my sister’s bedroom. It was the one place where we could be whatever we wanted. The only problem with her room was that it wasn’t mine. I had bunk beds, which made jumping difficult. Being the older sister, I took over her room and she just let me walk all over her.

“Mackenzie, why did you trip me?” I questioned my younger sister, who still had a tight grip on my ankle, “I was about to feed the birds.”

“You can’t have all the fun parts! I want to fly and play with the birds too.” Mackenzie pouted.

“You are too young. Your wings haven’t fully developed,” I argued,” Maybe in a few years you can fly high like me. Now, throw some pixie dust on me.” I handed her a bag of gold glitter, stood back up, and began to bounce on the bed again.

I looked down at my pitiful sister stirring her pointer finger in the zip lock bag full of gold glitter. For a quick moment, I felt sorry for my manipulative sister. She looked innocent and helpless. My sister needed me to be her friend, not a bully. I was a guest in her room, even though I felt superior.
“Fine,” I mumbled softly, “Come be a fire fairy. I’ll teach you how, if you promise to be nice.” Mackenzie smirked, hopped up on the bed, and wrapped her arms around my waist. Her room was the place where we bonded and grew an important sister relationship.