In the short novel The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros employs Esperanza’s run-down house as a symbol of both confinement and later empowerment in order to convey Ezperanza’s transformation from feeling trapped by her environment into embracing her identity, ultimately illustrating an oppressive background can either define or empower a person. 

Society often oppresses people based on their demographics, and Esperanza is no exception. As a young Latina girl, who comes from an impoverished family in the Chicago suburbs, she consistently faces oppression for her socioeconomic status and gender. From the beginning the Esperanza views her small, run-down house as a symbol of confinement and limitation. At school, she sees other kids, who live far away in fancy neighborhoods, stay at school to eat lunch. Yet when Ezperana gets permission to stay for lunch like the other kids, a nun points to her home from the school window and makes a judgmental remark. Because Esperanza associates her house on Mango Street with her family’s struggles, she feels exposed and embarrassed when others comment on it. This moment solidifies her belief that her home is not just a physical structure, but a reflection of her value as a person. For Esperanza, her home symbolizes the limitations society has placed on her identity. Consequently, she struggles to accept her identity, believing that escaping her home is the only way to define herself on her own terms. Therefore, through the house, Cisernos is able to symbolize the embarrassment of feeling trapped by circumstances beyond one’s control. Esperanza’s sense of confinement deepens as she compares her house to the others around her. Esperanza had described how people who aren't from her area would quickly drive through, lock their car doors, and speed away believing they could get hurt on Mango Street. When people saw Esperanza by her home, they immediately would believe she was a criminal. Because Esperanza is painfully aware of people’s perception of her home, she realizes how her home and community are treated unfairly. Being associated with her home caused her to imediately lose all societal value she may have had. Consequently, she begins to stray away from her identity and background, believing that abandoning it will give her the freedom she deserves. Her shame is not about her home itself, but what it represents: poverty, exclusion, lack of control over her own situation. Thus, through using Esperanza’s home as an image of oppression, Cisneros is able to symbolize the frustration and struggle of wanting to escape from the circumstances one was born into. 

Yet, as Ezperanza gets older, she begins to see what her home symbolizes in a new light. Rather than focusing on how it represents her limitations, she begins to view it as a part of her journey towards empowerment. Esperanza envisions a future in which she owns her own home, separate from the confinements of her house on Mango Street.  She dreams of owning a house that is much better than her current home, however she also imagines how she will invite “bums” to live in the attic of her home. Because Esperanza abandons her mindset of shutting out her background, she synonymously abandons her hatred towards the image her home’s puts across. Consequently, she begins to embrace her home as an outlet of empowerment. Ezperansa’s dream represents her maturing, as she recognizes that her background will always be a part of her and she must use it as a foundation for better good. Thus, the symbol of the house shifts into one of self-realization, showing how one must first accept their background and identity in order to find their own meaning. With time, as Esperanza gets ready to leave her home as an adult, she embraces her home symbolism fully. At the very end of the novel, before she moves out Esperanza promises herself how she will make sure to support her family. Esperanza acknowledges that even though she plans on permanently leaving her home on Mango Street, she will return– not to live in the same conditions, but to help support those who she left behind. Because Esperanza grew into accepting the identity that her home gave her, she began to use it to find her own meaning and place in the world. Through her shift in perspective she is able to overcome her shame and find meaning instead. As a result, she is able to use the impact her home had on her to motivate her to help others who go through the same struggles she had. Therefore, through shifting the home’s symbolism from oppression into empowerment, Ciseros demonstrates how resilience and determination is often created from hardship.

Ultimately,  Sandra Ciseros ultilizes Ezperanza’s home as a beautiful symbol of the duality of one’s background– both as a symbol of confinement and strength. Through changing what the home symbolizes, Cisneros reflects Esperanza's growth and transformation in accepting her identity. Initially the house represents the limitations imposed by society, filling Esperanza with shame. However, as she matures, her house evolves into a symbol of aspiration, representing her desire to create a future of her own and her ability to accept her background. Through Esperanza's transformation the novel explores the universal experience of trying to find one’s identity in the face of societal oppression. The shift in symbolism illustrates that confidence and strength does not always come from escape, but rather from understanding and accepting one’s roots. It ultimately relies on the person whether they use thier background to define or empower themselves. 

In the novel Caramelo, author Sandra Cisneros employee's Lala’s idealized view of assimilation as a Mexican-American in order to demonstrate her struggle to embrace her cultural identity, ultimately illustraighting the idealization of merging two cultures can create emotional conflict and an over simplified understanding of one's reality. 

Initially, Lala idealizes the simplicity of her life in Mexico. In Caramelo, Lala, the narrator, is raised in a Mexican American family. The novel explore’s Lalas evolving sense of identity as she grows up, with her family often bouncing back and forth between Chicago and Mexico. As a young girl Lala romanticized the idea of life in Mexico, seeing it as a place where she can fully embrace her cultural identity as a Latina.  When she reflects on the trips her family takes to Mexico, she views them as escapes– chances to connect with herself without the pressure of assimilation. Because Lala idealises her memories of Mexico she begins to subconsciously use them as an escape. She believes that those visits offer a simpler, more authentic version of her identity. However, when her family returns to Mexico, her romatized perception is shattered. Suddenly, she has to face the complexities and contradictions of the place she once saw as an ideal refuge.  Consequently, this disillusionment forces Lala to question their identity. Thus, through showing how Lala’s initial idealization of her hispanic side was crushed, Cisneros is able to show how idealism can distort one’s understanding of identity and culture. After this, Lala begins to reject her Hispanic identity, believing it held her back, and starts to idealize assimilation instead. Throughout Caramelo Lala looks to her family for guidance in navigating her cultural identity. Now, she begins to glorify her father who represented the Americanized side of her life and had completely assimilated away from his hispanic culture and connections. He now becomes the poster child of success for Lala. However, when the family reunites in Mexico, Lala notices the toll that her father’s assimilation had taken on him. Sitting at the dinner table she notices that he looks discomfortable and hollow among the vibrant demeanor of her hispanic family. Once again, her idealization crumbles. Because Lala sees how her fathers path has left him emotionally hollow, she is left questioning her mentality. Consequently, she begins to reconsider abandoning one's roots in order to “fit-in” with a different culture. Thus, through Lala’s changing perception, Cisenros demonstrates how idealization often is misleading and superficial. 

As Lala continues to fight with the complexities of her identity, she begins to realize how her understanding of assimilation was glorified. As Lala matures, she begins to see that it often comes with many contradictions and caveats. Her growth as an individual becomes clear when Lala begins to confront emotional differences between those in her family who embrace thier culture and those who integrate themselves into the American lifestyle . Layal reflects on the contrast between her grandmother, who unwaveringly maintains Mexican traditions, and her father, who had embraced American values. Because Lala had once idealized her father’s assimilation, she had struggled to relate to her grandmother's Mexican values.  While Lala had once perceived her grandmother's persistence as “uncool” and outdated, she slowly begins to understand the depth and importance of her commitment to her heritage. Consequently, Lala begins to see the tensions between her two worlds. While she had once idealized these tensions to be gone, she now begins to see how they are a vital part of her identity. Thus, through Lalas growth in understanding her cultural identity through her family’s dynamic, Cisneros is able to show how oversimplified an idealized image can be.  This leads Lala to a deeper realization that her identity is shaped by both of her cultural roots and not just one or the other. By the end, Lala had come to accept that her cultural identity cannot be reduced to be solely American or mexican. She no longer yearns to blend her two identities together into one into an “ideal” mix, and rather embraces the unrefined flaws of both sides. Because Lala realizes how misleading her idealization had been, she is finally able to embrace both sides of her identity. Consequently, this acceptance helps Lala reconcile the internal conflict he once felt about her cultural identity. Thus, Lalas growth illustrates the broader idea that cultural assimilation is much more rocky and self-contradicting that its idealized image may entail

In Caramelo, Sandra Cisneros explores the complexities of cultural identity, through Lala’s view on combining her two cultural identities to ultimately illustrate how idealized perceptions on assimilation are often misleading. Lala’s desire to blend her two cultures together reflect her own inner struggle of accepting each of her cultures' individual implications head on. Rather than facing her true self she aimed to change it to resemble the image of someone else who didn't have the same struggles as her. As Lala matures, she comes to accept the fluidity and complexity of her identity, outside of the idealized version she once held. Thus, through ala’s growth into understanding what assimilation meant to her, Cisneros shows how idealism often creates faulty and non-realistic expectation.