My Life

My entire childhood I was trapped
I was trapped with my name
With my sister
With my house
I was trapped on Mango Street.

I wanted to escape
I wanted to leave it all
I wanted to have a best friend
I wanted a new name
I wanted a new house.

My life was hard
People take advantage
People make fun
People are mean.

But I am able to escape from it all
I can escape from the name
From Mango Street
From people
From my life
I can escape from everything
Simply by the power of the pen.

-Esperanza

“Hi. What’s your name?”

“My name is Andrew Wiggin, but most people call me Ender. And what is yours?”

“My name is Esperanza. I hate my name so just call me Rachel. I like it better”

“Well okay then Rachel. Thank you for lending me your attic for the night. I would have had to sleep outside if you didn’t offer”

“It’s no problem Ender, I was really poor growing up, so I like to let poor people come to my house and stay. It makes me feel grateful that I was able to escape poverty, and I like giving back to the community”

“Well actually I’m not poor Esper… I mean Rachel”

“Why were you gonna have to sleep outside then?”

“Well my brother Peter blew up my house while I was at the grocery store. He’s a terrible person and I hate him and he hates me”

“Oh that’s terrible. You can stay as long as you need to Ender”

“Well actually I have somebody coming to get me tomorrow morning. But thank you”

“It’s no problem. Have a good night, I hope the attic isn’t too creepy”

“I don’t think that will be a problem Rachel. I’ve slept in a lot creepier places. Like in the middle of space and on an alien planet”

“Wow! that sounds exciting, When did you do that Ender?”

“Well when I was a child I went through a recruiting program for the Imperial Fleet, and I eventually saved all of mankind”

“Wow, well then it’s the least I can do to lend you my attic for the night. Have a goodnight. I’m making a special breakfast in the morning so be ready!”

“I can’t wait! Thanks again Rachel”

During the novel, Esperanza meets many people who are trapped. For example, her great-grandmother who, “looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow. I wonder if she made the best with what she got or was she sorry because she couldn’t be all the things she wanted to be. Esperanza. I have inherited her name, but I don’t want to inherit her place by the window” (Cisneros 11). This is an important quote, because it is one of the first characters in the book who is trapped. Esperanza currently feels like she is tapped on Mango Street, just like her great-grandmother is trapped by the window. Esperanza wonders if her great-grandmother made the best of her situation, or if instead she turned her anger at her husband inward, and therefore hurt herself more than her husband could have. Esperanza feels that if her great-grandmother made the best of her situation, she could feel pity for her, but if she didn’t, then it was somewhat her fault as well. Esperanza tells herself that she doesn’t want to stay trapped, and she wants to work hard to be able to leave the poverty-ridden Mango Street. The concept of being trapped also shows up more in the book, through characters like Mamacita, Rafaela, Minerva, and Sally. All of those characters are tapped and hope for a better life, just like Esperanza.

Dear Esperanza,

Hi, it’s Sally. It’s been 20 years since I’ve last talked to you, and I was wondering how you were doing. I hope you were able to escape Mango street, and reach your dream of living in a nice house that is all your own. My life is pretty crappy. My husband is at work right now, and that is the only way I am able to write this letter to you. My husband actually works pretty much all the time. I’m glad he works so often because I hate it when he is at home. He is always mean to me and forcing me to do everything he wants. I am very lonely when he is at work though because I’m not allowed to leave. He actually locks the doors from the outside, so I can’t get out. I haven’t left the apartment in over 10 years. I don’t get to eat much either. All this time alone made me think about how crappy of a friend I was to you when we were growing up as children. You looked up to me as a role model, and treated me as a friend, but most of the time I ignored you and abused your time. you always showed kindness for me, but I never returned it. I would ditch you to go hang out with boys. I’ve realized this through my husband, who keeps me in this apartment. I am honestly sorry, and I hope you will be able to forgive me.

Your dear friend,
Sally

P.S. Do not write back please. My husband will see it and I will get in a lot of trouble, and I will never get to read your response.

1. In “The House on Mango Street”, a narrative by Sandra Cisneros, a theme of freedom and entrapment is revealed through the use of metaphors. In the vignette “Boys & Girls”, Esperanza craves for a friend to play and have fun with, but feels she is stuck with Nenny for now. She then uses the metaphor, “Until then I am a red balloon, a balloon tied to an anchor” (Cisneros 9). This metaphor helps reveal a theme of freedom and entrapment. Esperanza wants to be free to make friends as she pleases, but at this time, she feels like her younger sister Nenny is her responsibility, saying “Since she comes right after me, she is my responsibility” (8). This is where the metaphor and the theme come in. Esperanza wants to have freedom, like a balloon would have freedom to float away in the wind, but she is entrapped by her sister, who functions as the anchor. This anchor holds Esperanza, the balloon, from floating away as she pleases, but instead, she must stay grounded with Nenny, because she has a responsibility to her and her family. Later in the book, Esperanza reads one of her poems that says, “One day I’ll jump out of my own skin” (Cisneros 60). This metaphor also gives insight to the theme of freedom and entrapment. Esperanza feels that she is held back by prejudices and poverty, so one day she wants to jump out of her skin, leaving her race and poverty behind, and be free to live up to her full potential.

We’ve always had good Christmas’s at my grandparents house, except for one year. Its a yearly tradition, that my family would meet my cousins, aunts, and uncles at my grandparents house. We would always have our Christmas celebration in the living room at my grandparents, and it was a little different this year because they were remodeling their house, and their carpet floors had been pulled out, but no floors had been put in yet; so we were having our Christmas celebration on the bare concrete floor. Our tradition was that we played bingo, and if you won a game, you got to open one of your Christmas presents that night, Christmas Eve. This specific year, none of the younger children won any games, so they started having fits while the older cousins got to open their gifts early. The threats started coming, specifically to me and my younger cousin Zach, that we would have to go to the infamous “punishment room”. Nobody ever wanted to go in their because their was a scary plastic goose that grandma kept in their to scare the children. Nobody knew why she had it or where she got it, but it was the reason all the kids stayed out of that room. Of course Zach and I didn’t stop crying, because we didn’t get to open any presents, so obviously we had to go to the “punishment room”. My aunt put the scary goose right in front of the door, so we were scared to try and leave the room. Eventually, we ended up crying until we were so tired that we fell asleep and didn’t wake up until the next morning.

My most prized possession is a football receiver glove. For my 12th birthday, my parents and my grandpa took me to a New York Giants vs Dallas Cowboy game, because my favorite team, the Giants, were playing in Dallas. It was a Monday night game, so after my mom picked me up for school, she surprised me and told me we were going. So my mom, my dad, my grandpa and I headed towards Dallas. We got to the stadium, and went to our seats on the 7th row. It was a type of game that I liked because my team, the Giants, were completely dominating the Cowboys, which I hated. Because the margin was so large at halftime, most of the Cowboy fans had gone home, so we were able to move to the front row. We sat next to another Giants fan who was wearing a US Army uniform. We talked to him a lot and he was very nice. But during the second half of the game, the Cowboys came back and nearly won, so it ended up being an exciting game. I also enjoyed that Tony Romo hurt his shoulder while I was their. After the Giants ended up winning, we went and stood by the tunnel that the players walked into after the game. One of the Giants receivers, Mario Manningham, tossed his gloves up to the stands, and the army guy caught it. As we were leaving, he ran me down and told me he wanted me to have one of them. Its a 4XL size red glove with black stripes and a NFL logo on it. It’s not only my prized possession because it’s a glove used from a player from my favorite team, but its a reminder of my grandfather. The last time I ever saw him, besides when he was in the hospital, was when he went to the game with me.