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Chelce Hessler

Studies in Ethnic Literature

Winter 2014

Short Essay 1

2014.01.02

When cultures converge they create something greater than

the sum of their parts, giving rise to a new set of values and mores

unique to the desires and challenges of the members of the newly

formed society. This metamorphic, sometimes painful process of

acclamation and identification is the backbone of The House on

Mango Street. Esperanzas stories center around the people in her

Chicago neighborhood seeking to find their place amidst the haze

of assimilation. Their attempts to integrate their inherited

Mexican-American values such as pride in succeeding at

achieving the American Dream (and, conversely, shame in

being unable to do so) and community as a means of cultural

comfort and endurance serve as the lens through which the

reader comes to know some of their greatest social and personal

hardships.

One of the first things Esperanza says about the house on

Mango Street is that its not the house wed thought wed get

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The want to integrate oneself so wholly into American

culture is not universally shared, however. Among immigrants,

particularly those who have spent the majority of their life in

their native country, there is a persistent anxiety that future

generations will forget their roots, abandoning their heritage.

This fear, ultimately stemmingfrom passion for ones own

indigenous culture, manifests in the congregation of communities

consisting of immigrants with similar ethnic backgrounds,

particularly in major cities such as Chicago. There is a comfort in

commonality, in fictive kinship; as Esperanza says All brown

all around, we are safe (17).Aside from the implications of

racial prejudice that are inherent to this idea, there is a certain

level of innate community that allows for a more comfortable

dualism between the country of origin and the new land.

Sadly, for much of the novel Esperanza seems to be instilled

with the notion that she must somehow transcend her Mexican

heritage to genuinely become American. As such, she becomes

fixated on doing what she must to fulfill her vision of success,

including both literally and symbolically leaving Mango Street,

which, in her mind, is a community of people who have

permanently settled together and in doing so, exhausted their

opportunities for achieving Americanism. It is not until she does

finally leave that that she is able to truly realize her

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neighborhoodsindispensable, inherent value as a formative a

part of a burgeoning rich new culture as Mexican-Americans.