House on Mango Street: Symbolism Thesis

The frequency of window imagery in the novel highlights both the importance of expectancy ("Esperanza) and houses. Esperanza's namesake was said to always be looking out of a window, after she was 'carried off' by a man, symbolizing Esperanza's fears of maturity. Esperanza is ashamed when people point to her house through windows, like the nun at her school points at the house from a window to indicate why Esperanza cannot eat her rice sandwich with the 'special students' who do not live nearby. The first chapter of the novel chronicles all of the many problems with the house she lives in, from the crumbling steps to the leaky plumbing, and worst of all the fact that it, just like all of the houses Esperanza has lived in her life, is leased.A window is something both 'of' a house, but also allows an individual to look away and beyond a house. It can anchor someone to a house, as the person is 'framed' in the picture of the house, like a woman who is seen only as an image, but it can also open up the sights of a new world. This is the new world Esperanza is looking toward, throughout her struggles to become an….....