A response essay for the House on Mango Street

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Harold Sowards
Dr. Fischer
Texting the World 4 pm class
11 September 2013
“The American Dream”
The American Dream has many aspects that are included into it, but they usually end up
with a strong sense of pride in the country. There is a sense of happiness in owning things and in
being able to relate to others. Esperanza and the other characters in The House on Mango Street
demonstrate the American Dream in every aspect from the good to the bad.
From the opening chapter, “House on Mango Street”, you can see that Esperanza feels
ashamed about her old home only when a member of a higher class called her out on it. She
worries about what people think about her houses from then on and wants to live in one that she
can be proud to tell others about. It is a common case of what happens in America, people see
something that others have and then they want something like that item or maybe even better
than that item.
A bad part of the American Dream that shows up in this book is in “Cathy Queen of
Cats”. This is the fact that the upper white class look down on immigrants and poorer classes.
This is in large part that the people of the upper class think that poorer classes should not
associate with them unless they are helping them. This relates to the fact that Cathy’s family isn’t
happy with the influx of Mexican families moving into their neighborhood, because they make
the neighborhood look poor and isn’t a suitable place for her family to be seen in.

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In the story “Our Good Day”, the buying of the bike relates to the fact that rich kids can
buy their friends. All of the extravagant parties they throw and the amount of stuff in their house
helps attract people over to their house. The people aren’t real friends, but users. However, in
this story, the bike helps provide the little kids with a sense of ownership to them, which helps
them become friends and for a little bit gets to experience the adult life.
In the chapter, “Marin”, there comes a very important aspect of the immigrants who come
to America, want to bring their loved ones over to America has well. When Marin wants to bring
her boyfriend over to America, she is living two parts of the American Dream: having a family
and being able to mix together different cultures. The family thing isn’t for sure, because she just
wants him over here because she misses him, but the fact that she is trying symbolizes that she is
trying to be like the other older women and start a committed relationship. The blending of
cultures is more of the “melting pot” idea that America has, so she is doing her part by
introducing another minority.
“Those Who Don’t”, shows how society has become accustomed to a certain way of
living. The people who lived in the community that was Mango Street felt safe with the other
people and how their street was. However, people from other streets might not exactly think of it
the same way, because they see it has a sense of danger and a different lifestyle. This is how all
communities build trust through the time they spend together as a whole, which helps make it a
stronger society, because the distrust is at a low level. This plays in part to a stronger country
unity which is part of the American Dream.
In “Alicia Who Sees Mice”, the fact that Alicia is trying to improve her life by getting a
college degree shows that she is living another aspect of the American Dream. In today’s world,
it is important for someone to have a college degree in order to get a good job. Back in the time

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when the book was written, however, it a college degree was a way to help make your family
look better, and nobody wanted to disappoint their family. The fact that Alicia is doing this, in
spite of her father, shows that she is doing it to make a better future for herself and that helps
translate well into Esperanza’s life has she too began to strive to better herself and move on with
her life.
In “The Family of Little Feet”, the fact that the girls kept talking about trading their shoes
for different colored ones or prettier ones, made a slim part of the American Dream come to
light. Everybody is always in the process of moving up, whether it be getting the new IPhone or
a bigger house, the better item the better the chance of moving up in life. Even if what the
person has is in good condition, if there is a chance trade it for something better and newer, most
people always take the chance. For most part it is the classic view of “Keeping up with the
Jones”.
“The First Job” shares with the readers a rather bad side of the American Dream. The
fact that Esperanza had to get a job in order to pay for the private school instead of going to the
public school shows that to some people free things isn’t good enough for them. In order for the
payoff to be worthwhile, the person must have worked in order to obtain it.
In conclusion, the characters’ stories show a lot of symbolism that relate back to the
American Dream. The good and the bad aspects are all shown and it helps gain a better
understanding of why certain people do what they do and why others want to come and be a part
of what the people who live in America know has Home.