I'm halfway done with The House on Mango Street. This book is extremely thought-provoking and passionate. As I read the book, I notice the idea of coming of age, the main points and the inner struggles. I notice the main character, Esperanza's childhood and eventually will notice her adulthood as well.
In the beginning of the book, Esperanza is very self conscious and has high dreams, but doesn't have enough support to reach them. In some of the vignettes such as My Name and Born Bad, she has very low confidence in herself, and she also doesn't have much courage. In My Name, she thinks her name doesn't fit who she really is, and it doesn't let anyone know who she really is. She says she wants to baptize herself under a new name, a name more like the real her. She doesn't realize that her name is beautiful in it's own way and she doesn't realize how unique it is. In Born Bad, she says that she deserves to be in hell, and says she will most likely end up there as well. But in this one vignette, there's a sign of adulthood. Esperanza says; "And then she died, my aunt who listened to my poems. And then we began to dream the dreams." This shows coming of age, because it shows how she learns from her mistakes when there's a deep loss in her heart. She feels the wrong in her heart, when something very wrong happens to her personally.
As I said, in the vignette My Name, Esperanza is very uncomfortable with her name. This is one of her outer struggles. One of her inner struggles is her being deprived of the attention she receives from her parents at home. Her friends, mainly Rachel and Lucy are big roles in her life. Instead of just dealing with being the oldest and not getting enough attention at home, Rachel and Lucy give Esperanza somewhat of what she needs. Attention. Instead of being ignored, she is now noticed. Rachel and Lucy are very important to Esperanza. They are the 2 of the few people who don't judge her for being in poverty. They don't care, and know it would not affect their friendship in anyway.
As I finish the book, I am going to try to find how Esperanza changes, and what makes her change. What makes her come of age. I really want to know if she will reach her high hopes and dreams, living in her own home, a house she deserves. I bet she will.
