The different homes represent their lack of money. It represents the instability Esperanza feels in her life. It represents her not having a true childhood, where she met the other kids and got to know them. When the nun had asked her where she lived, and reacted as though with a negative connotation, she learned to feel ashamed of where she lived. She learned that she didn’t like others looking down on her or her condition. The wish for a “real house” is her want of security, and her want to be stable financially and socially. When we’re younger, our upbringing dictates how we will interact socially. When you are brought up moving from home to home, you learn to not get comfortable where you are. When I was younger, and we moved for the last time, I actually refused to unpack for a week. Seeing as to how we kept moving, there was no point. I imagine that Esperanza didn’t feel the same way I did, because she actually kept making an attempt. She held out hope for the real home; I only unpacked because my mom pink promised we wouldn’t move for a while.
Professor Laura Westengard
Email: lwestengard@citytech.cuny.edu
Office Hours: Mondays and Wednesdays from 10:30-11:30 am and by appointment
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I agree with you Lynn, I remember when I also moved I didn’t want to unpack but thinking back on it now, the apartment we used to live in was not a comfortable as the house I’m in now, Esperanza must have been really fed up with all the movings since she mentioned they were in bad neighborhoods.
Clearly, I’m not the only one- so in a terrible sense awesome 😀
But I can see where you’re coming from- the whole bad neighborhoods making one feel uncomfortable. But at the same time, I feel like when I was younger, I was less aware of the safety of things and more aware of the comfortability of them. I remember I went from a two bedroom house to a 3 bedroom apartment, and I still didn’t approve because the bathroom wasn’t big enough anymore, the rooms weren’t as private, and I didn’t really pay any mind to the fact that now I could be sent outside by myself without my mom catching a panic attack or something. Even though in my old neighborhood, I had to be escorted absolutely everywhere.
I also moved around a couple of times in my life as well, and sometimes as a child you need the “ignorance” to just make your situation livable. That hope of something better can just make you sleep better at night and help you set real goals for your future.
I agree with both of you. Well for my case i got kicked out from my own house and now i am living in this small apartment! It was hard at first but now i am OK, i guess? lol