As humans, we are all expected of something, and we all deal with those expectations in our own ways. In The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros shows the expectations of Esperanza Cordero and explains how she deals with the difficulties of living in poverty in 1984.
One societal standard is the expectation that the oldest sibling is responsible for the younger siblings’. Being the oldest of the children in her family, Esperanza is responsible for her siblings. One morning Esperanza’s abuelito passes away. “Because I am the oldest, my father has told me first, and now it is my turn to tell the others. I will have to explain why we can’t play. I will have to tell them to be quiet today” (Cisneros 164).Aside from that, Esperanza doesn’t have friends. She has her sister, Nenny, instead:
Nenny is too young to be my friend. She’s just my sister and that was not my fault. You don’t pick your sisters, you just get them and sometimes they come like Nenny. She can’t play with those Vargas kids or…
My feet scuffed and round, and the heels all crooked that look dumb with this dress, so I just sit. (143-144)
Esperanza is not happy about the shoes. However, she is even more upset about The House on Mango Street. Esperanza had dreams about having a real house but sadly, The House on Mango Street required her to keep dreaming. “I knew then I had to have a house .A real house. One I could point to. But this wasn’t it. The House on Mango Street isn’t it. For the time being, Mama says. Temporary says Papa. But I know how those things go” (Cisneros 71). As made clear by Esperanza herself, she is not happy with how she is living but, her family expects her to be and so she continues to act happy even when she’s…
