Identity is defined as the character as to who a person is; the qualities, beliefs, etc., that distinguish or identify a person (dictionary.com). In The House on Mango Street Sandra Cisneros describes a coming of age story about Esperanza who, through examples of women she sees where she is growing up, develops who she aspires to be and identifies the kind of person she does not want to become. Cisneros establishes the roles of women have on Mango Street and describes how Esperanza grows from watching them and learns to not follow the same path by Minerva showing her that women have limited strength and depend heavily on a man, by Marin showing her that women typically follow the same path of prostitution and things associated along with it, and by her mother showing her how having a family to take care of can tie you down due to lack of education. …show more content…
She learns from Minerva about the typical relationships women have on Mango Street, “One day she is through and let’s him know enough is enough… Then he is sorry and she opens the door again” (Cisneros 85). Esperanza learns that the women on Mango Street have limited strength in themselves because they depend so heavily on a man. She also sees that the women have the potential strength within themselves, but just not enough. These qualities that Minerva has motivate Esperanza to keep her independence that she has. Esperanza sees the ways that the women are on Mango street and she knows that she does not want to follow in their footsteps. “Marin… dancing by herself… is waiting for a car to stop, a star to fall, someone to change her life” (27). She wants to be able to get herself off of Mango Street, and Esperanza now sees one way that she could get off of it. Esperanza wants to be successful and she knows that this is not the pattern that she wants to