Theme of Identity in “The House on Mango Street”

This work examines the story “The House on Mango Street” from the novel The House on Mango Street

Vintage Books published the book in 1991. The book was written by Sandra Cisneros. She is a 54-year-old Mexican American essayist who recalls a time in her twenties when success was far from assured. Cisneros wrote “The House on Mango Street” with the intention of making it accessible to all people, regardless of whether they were educated or not, and whether they were children or adults. Her intention was to write it in such a manner that no one might feel intimidated, but more welcomed.

Cisneros presents the storyteller

by having disclosed her story to us in her own particular voice, clarifying how her family moved around a considerable measure before coming to live on Mango Street. There are six individuals from the family – the storyteller, her Mama and Papa, her younger sister Nenny, and the younger siblings Carlos and Kiki.

The family had constantly longed for owning their own particular house

a white house with heaps of rooms and trees in the yard, yet the house on Mango Street is little and going into disrepair. It is true that it’s a change over their prior living arrangements, however, in any event, they own the house and so don’t need to manage the landlord. At their old flat, a nun from the storyteller’s school had seen the storyteller playing out front and made her feel embarrassed about where she lived. The storyteller’s folks guarantee her that the house on Mango Street is just temporary, however, the storyteller questions their word. Despite everything she sticks to the fantasy of having her own home, one she can be glad for, and she stays disappointed with the house on Mango Street.

This thesis seeks to display the theme of identity in the story

stating the fact that autonomy, economic status, and sense of belonging played a major role in forming the narrator’s identity.

Autonomy

The author’s basic objective is to become an autonomous individual who controls her own particular decisions, a longing driven by her perceptions of the many caught and powerless individuals of Mango Street. This craving is physically spoken to by her fantasy of another house in a better place. She additionally symbolizes her fantasy of organization by attempting to change her name to something that better demonstrates the “real me” (Cisneros, 1991). With the fantasy of a superior, more delightful, and more autonomous house, the writer, her family and neighbors are continually trusting and longing for something better. The pious devotee’s remark is the main case of society disgracing the author for her race and class. Some portion of the narrator sticking to the fantasy of her own home includes feeling like she doesn’t have a place on Mango Street. She states:

“I knew then I needed to have a house. A genuine house. One I could indicate. Be that as it may, this isn’t it. The house on Mango Street isn’t it. For the present, Mama says. Impermanent, says Papa. In any case, I know how those things go” (p. 5).

“The House on Mango Street” likewise displays autonomy as far as culture. The book story depicts the encounters of building a social character despite suffering and prejudice. The autonomy identity of the writer creates the theme of identity in this context.

Economic Status

The subject of the storyteller being embarrassed about her economic status is an unmistakable one in the book. The storyteller does not precisely feel embarrassed about her family. When she says, ”I knew then I needed to have a house“ (Cisneros, 1991, p. 5), the reader sees the primary case of her freedom: it appears that she needs her very own place, and is resolved to get one. She sees through her folks’ wishful thinking in a practically negative way (her dad discusses the house they will get as he holds a lottery ticket). She doesn’t appear to trust them to gain what the entire family needs: a roomy, lovely house. She compares her folks’ dreams with the truth they give her: a house that is too little, in an awful neighborhood. ”I know how these things go“ (Cisneros, 1991) she says admirably, when her folks demand that the house on Mango Street is temporary. Her folks are practically similar to children in her eyes: she appears to find out about existence than they do. It identifies the narrator in the above dimensions.

Sense of Belonging

The subject of having a place and dislodging is very clear in the story. The family had constantly longed for owning their own home so they don’t need to manage the issues of renting houses. Thus they didn’t need to pay lease to anyone, they wouldn’t impart the yard to the general population downstairs, or be mindful so as not to make excessively noise, and there wasn’t a landowner slamming into the roof with a broom.

At the point when the storyteller focuses on that she should have ”one I could point to“ (Cisneros,1991, p. 5) she is alluding to a character and identity of which she can be glad, as of her home, to call her own. The storyteller’s significant test in this novel is to defeat her sentiments of isolation and experience a feeling of having a place, which is another method for saying she needs to feel at home. For the storyteller, it’s vital both to have a home that she can indicate as a method for clarifying a past that she can be glad for, and to have a vision of a home in her future – something to rouse her. This story is as much about finding a place as it is about discovering one’s self.

Conclusion

The battle for self-definition is a typical subject in a transitioning novel in ”The House on Mango Street.” The storyteller’s battle to characterize her underscores her each activity and experience. The storyteller kid’s voice, conveying everything that needs to be expressed in short sentences and frequently rough parts, yet having a suspicion of mindfulness about the grown-up world. Through the writer’s autonomous nature, her stated economic status and her need for a sense of belong a reader tends to familiarize with the writer. It identifies the writer: the kind of situation she goes through, her desires alongside with the plans and hopes she has in mind. The signification of analysis is to view the various dimensions of identity and to bridge the gap of the classes and social background of the people. It is about bringing out the differences of various backgrounds and learning to appreciate the present states with plans of improving to a better position.

Reference

Cisneros, Sandra (1991). The house on Mango Street. New York: Vintage Books.