The Courage to Change

There are several aspects of The House on Mango Street which I feel qualify it as a Bildingsroman. First of all, it is certainly a "coming of age" novel, as Esperanza has to grow up during the scope of the book in many ways, including emotionally, physically, and sexually. She goes from simply wanting a bike to ride to loving the notion of traipsing about in high heels and getting the fellows to notice her. She is faced with severe desperation and disaster in her everyday existence, and she must find her own identity within it all. She sees all around her women who are subjected to abuse and discrimination, and she makes an important decision that she will not be like her grandmother who simply sat at the window and accomplished nothing, she will not be like Sally who marries an abusive man and isn't even allowed to look out of the window. She will take her mother's family values and her father's culural pride; these she will choose to carry onward. But she will leave Mango Street and go out into the world and fin her true idenity. She will do it alone, not because some man comes and recues her. And then, maybe someday, she can come back to Mango Street and be an encouragement to others who are in the same plight. Although the novel ends before we are sure that Esperanza is going to fulfill these dreams and goals, it is still a Bildingsroman because she makes some big decisions among others who have not the courage.