Esperanza's Future

In The House on Mango Street, Esperanza is really Sandra Cisneros. The story by itself is simply realistic- if not Cisneros, then Esperanza may be someone that Cisneros once knew. However, there are to many key points that point towards it being Cisneros herself.


On page 109, it describes Esperanza as being a story teller. "I like to tell stories. I am going to tell you a story about a girl who didn't want to belong." This makes a strong connection between Esperanza and Cisneros. Cisneros has written countless other novels, and the book implies that Esperanza has done this as well. One of the most important parts of Cisneros being who she is has to do with her amazing writing skills; to say that Esperanza has also become a writer over time says that Esperanza is, in fact, Cisneros.

Another bit of evidence is on pages 10 and 11. Esperanza is describing just how much she hates her name, and how much she wants to change it. "I would like to baptize myself under a new name, a name more like the real me, the one nobody sees." So. Sandra Cisneros might not always have been Sandra. Perhaps she really did change her name, and marriage could explain the last name.

Now. The prompt for the assignment was, in a nutshell, to explain what Esperanza's future is. What will she do, who will she save? I believe that her way of saving these people. That Esperanza, now Sandra, wrote this novel as a way of helping the one's that "can't out".