The Real Life Appreciating (The House on Mango Street)

When most people grew up, they decided to escape their identities and pretended not knowing their families on the street. They thought that the superficial appearances of their identities and roots are too embarrassed to be shown. When they had bad experiences through their growing up process, that was where they learned their lessons. Those lessons had come out from a very suffering and pain stage. This is familiar to Esperanza in The House on Mango Street as she grew up; she experienced the same circumstance that teaches us to appreciate our life with what we have and what we don’t.

Through the novel, appreciating what we do not have will make our life more valuable. Esperanza learned that most women on Mango Street were either trapped in their marriages or tied down by their children. For example, Sally, Esperanza’s grandmother, Rosa Vargas, Rafaela and Minerva. Rafaela was “still young but getting old from leaning out the window so much,” (79) and “wishes there were sweeter drinks, not bitter like an empty room” (80). Because of the poor neighborhood she lived in, these were the people she could only hang out with. This was a place where she was envious because of the others’ beauties. Freedom and independence is what she gets right at this point. She would not think positively, but rather to get jealous on what every woman on this street has, but not herself. This is an enormous mistake that people usually make when their life is changing. They would never appreciate what they do not have, because they don’t know that what they don’t have will never cause any harms, but less worries, too.

Secondly, friends and family is one of the important factors for appreciating our life. The people who would always give straight forward but good advices are relatives and true friends. Even though sometimes advices can be hurtful, but they are helpful and also the truth. For examples, Papa said, “he’s a punk,” (73), and his mother told her, “not to talk to him” (73). This was all advises to a boy called Sire, and they are trying to tell that it is dangerous to be around him. People rather get hurt to get the advices that they want. It does not sound very nice, but it is better than a long and annoying advices from parents who like to go around in a maze. Although, neighbors is neither friends nor family but they are still people who can outcomes very outstanding advices. Like “It’ll come true” (105), that advice was from three sisters, it was only three words, but it would help by someone just giving a positive saying to the people that are very stressful. Advices are important to life but it could sometimes include something that a person own.

Apprehending your life is including in appreciating what you have. Esperanza never appreciated things that are around her, and this is one of the examples, “I am a red balloon, a balloon tied to an anchor” (9). It took her years to realize that having a responsibility like Nenny is important to her, because if her family that she had then is now gone, she would not be who she is. Without family is like without educations, which is almost very important. After what she had been through, she knew that it is important to not forget about the family, because it is a very tough for those to raise her up when she couldn’t do it on her own, and that taught her a big life lessons. Another example would be “You live right here, 4006 Mango,” (106). Alicia said that is to wake Esperanza up and to realize that if she did not live here, she would also not be herself, but some stubborn spoiled girl in the country. She would keep being sad, because of her family situation, poverty. All this mean is just appreciating by hearts that kept everything together will shape who they are automatically.

At the end of the novel, The House on Mango Street teaches us to appreciate what we have and do not have. Life is hard and it would never follows the directions we wanted it to be. But appreciating what you have will help you have a brighter perspective of life, a positive one for ninety-nine percent sure. Compare it with just a word ‘oh,’ when people are in deep sadness because they thinks that they do not have everything to satisfy their high quality life, their ‘oh’ would be very short and low. On the other hand, when people learn something unexpectedly that teaches them a life lesson, their ‘oh’ would be a lot happy, also long and high. So start thinking on appreciating, rather than sitting there letting ones’ sorrows to follow ones everywhere as ones grow up.