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Maria F. Chavez
Mr.Bigelow
English10
7 October 2014
The House on Mango Street Essay
There are many different types of writing where authors make a character change or grow
throughout a story. These changes can help move a story along and develop the plot. Authors can
also use this character development to help bring to light several important subjects to the reader.
In Sandra Cisneros The House on Mango Street, an example of character development can be
seen in the main character, Esperanza. The changes that she goes through throughout the book
can be heavily represented by how she becomes more mature and how she realizes that she wants
to help others on Mango Street instead of being selfish. This is significant to the book because it
helps her realize that she has to be mature in the world she lives in and help others that are
trapped on Mango Street.
Esperanza starts to lose her innocence at one point in the story mentally. In the chapter
Hips she realizes that her younger sister Nenny has a different mindset than she and her friends
do. She says that She is in a world we dont belong to anymore (52). What the author tries to
show in this, is that Esperanza and her friends think a bit differently than her sister because they
are becoming more mature. While Nennys character still has very childish thoughts, the others
are shown to have passed on in that point in their lives. They are maturing and arent stuck
thinking like that anymore. This is a change which allows Esperanzas character not only become

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more aware of herself, but also gives her stronger opinions. These stronger opinions then let her
see the reality of the world that she lives in, making her not be as innocent as she was when she
was a child. She also loses her childlike mentality when she runs away to cry after she sees that
one of her friends, Sally, focuses on more mature things rather than what they used to: I looked
at my feet in their white socks and ugly round shoes. They seemed far away. They didnt seem to
be my feet anymore. And the garden that had been such a good place to play didnt seem mine
either (98). By this, the author tries to show how the character looks at herself and doesnt see
the same person anymore. The shoes seeming far away are being used to show that she is far
away from that childhood that she remembers. How the shoes dont seem familiar to her is also
used by the author as a way to tell the reader that Esperanza isnt familiar to this way of thinking
and that she sees herself differently. Esperanzas perspective on life was influenced by the
actions of another character and with this she realizes that she really cant think the same childish
way anymore if she wants to be able to live in the world that she was put into.
The main character also changes when she realizes that she must help others on Mango
Street, and not only herself. When three mysterious women tell Esperanza about her future and
ask about her wishes, she is surprised by what they say: When you leave you must remember
always to come back (105). This is a huge realization that the author gives the character. The
three women were used as a way for Esperanza to get this message. At first she only cared about
escaping the street herself and not ever coming back. The change that she went through, when
she was given this message was the realization that she should also help others. This realization
then significantly becomes something that the character promises to do. It is now the very end of
the book, and Esperanza is ready to leave Mango Street, but with intent of returning: They will
know I have gone away to come back. For the ones I left behind. For the ones who cannot out

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(110). This shows that over the course of the book the author has developed the character from
being a selfish little girl to a very thoughtful woman. Coming back for the people that are trapped
on Mango Street is a show of abnegation that the author tries to insert into the characters new
reformed state. This change has created a goal for the character which the author also uses to
shed light on the theme of reality. This goal can then be seen at the end of the story.
Throughout the course of this book the main character, Esperanza, has changed. These
changes have been represented by how Esperanza loses her childhood innocence and how she
now wants to help others instead of just herself. This is very important to the story because it
helps her realize that in the world she lives in she needs to be mature and help others who are
also trapped in her street. In Sandra Cisneros book The House on Mango Street, these changes
can be observed. The main character has become more mature and now has a more considerate
mindset.