The House on Mango Street - Fantasy vs. Reality :: House Mango Street

The House on Mango Street - Fantasy vs. Reality         Sometime in our lives, we have wished for things we dont have.  Nomatter how hard we wished on the star or a understructuredle, our wishes never seemed to beanswered.  We have all felt that bitter mortification on Christmas cockcrow whenwe finally realized that we were never going to be able to have what we want.This is the same exact feelings that the characters in Cisneros The House onMango Street.  Unlike us, the disappointment for these characters lastthroughout their childhood.  Esperanza, Rachel, Nenny, Sally, and Lucy are amongthe kids growing up on Mango Street.  They all long for confederateship, love, and abetter life, but all these kids face are the harsh reality of the real world.In the society that Esperanza and her friends live in, love takes a back seatwhen it comes to relationships.         Someday, I will have a beaver fri end all my own. One I can tell mysecrets to.  One who will agnize my jokes without my having to explainthem.  These are the longing words of Esperanza.  While growing up on MangoStreet, Esperanza finds herself in a community that she feels she doesnt belongto.  With all her heart, she longs for a true friend that she can tell herdreams to and will understand her for it.  These wishes seem easy enough togrant, but Esperanza soon finds out that there is more to friendship.  If yougive me five dollars, I will be your friend forever.  Esperanza discovers thatshe can not have anything for nothing.  Rachel and Lucy sure enough become herfriends, but besides after she helped them pay for the bike.  Esperanza never doestruly find a real friend who shares the same goal as she does because all thefriends she has have more problems than her.  For instance, Sally was a friendfor whom Esperanza cared for.   When Esperanza was raped, Sally was not there tohelp her and when Esperanza tried to retain Sally from making a mistake, Sallytold her to leave.  All Esperanza wanted was a friendship that would help herescape her life, but all she ended up with were friendships that reminded her ofher scattered dreams because in her society nothing was given for free and thepeople she was associated with didnt have the same goals as she did.         Another one of those broken dreams was the concept of love.  Esperanzawas not the only one who longed for a mans endless love.