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Irony
Definition of Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor can be stated explicitly, as... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other... read full definition
Chapter 3: Boys & Girls
Explanation and Analysis—Balloon:
As Esperanza wishes for a best friend, she metaphorically refers to herself as a red balloon tied to an anchor:
Someday I will have a best friend all my own. One I can tell my secrets to. One who will understand my jokes without my having to explain them. Until then I am a red balloon, a balloon tied to an anchor.
Esperanza is a red balloon tied to an anchor in that she is visually striking yet held back by a force she can not overcome on her own. By using a metaphor as opposed to a simile, Cisneros makes the comparison between Esperanza and the balloon that much stronger. This metaphor speaks to the need for people in life who uplift each other, who can free each other from the worries and burdens that weigh them down. Esperanza, in desiring a best friend, wants someone who can help lighten her emotional load: someone she can offload her secrets on to, who will understand her without explanation. While she feels destined to float away, she needs help to do so.
Considering the importance of physical location throughout The House on Mango Street, the fact that Esperanza feels stuck in place as if rooted by an anchor is particularly significant. While she is physically stuck in her neighborhood as a child in Chicago, over the course of the novel, readers see Esperanza change and grow; she is not emotionally and mentally stuck. The reader, then, is witness to Esperanza's growth over the course of the novel, which includes new friendships that develop into close ones just as Esperanza hopes for in this chapter.
Related Themes:
Chapter 4: My Name
Explanation and Analysis—Esperanza:
Esperanza explains both what her name literally means—hope—as well as what it figuratively means, making use of both metaphor and simile to do so:
In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting. It is like the number nine. A muddy color. It is the Mexican records my father plays on Sunday mornings when he is shaving, songs like sobbing.
The fact that Esperanza's name means hope aligns with the overarching theme of the novel, which centers around her hope: hope for a better life, for her own home, for friends, and for the ability to fit in. By juxtaposing what her name means in English with what it means to her, Esperanza's complicated and out-of-place feelings about her own culture and heritage are revealed. When she metaphorically suggests that the name means "sadness" and "waiting," it becomes clear that her relationship with her name—and, perhaps, with the concept of hope itself—is more complicated than it might seem at first. Hope, after all, requires a certain kind of patience, as one waits for whatever it is they hope for. In a way, Esperanza shows that she embodies her name, hoping for a future that is better than her present. Her name, like something that is "muddy," may only be temporarily undesirable, and with time might be something she views more favorably.
Related Themes:
