The Home and Family in The House on Mango Street and Cry, the Beloved Country Tad Mehringer

The House on Mango Street and Cry, the Beloved Country both involve themes emphasizing the home and family. From the old umfundisi seeking for his prodigal son to Esperanza searching and wanting a place of her own, both of these prolific stories involve how one reacts to the attraction of home and family. These novels have different writing styles and different ideas about the home as a place of refuge and belonging and these ideas are shown throughout each story. Over all, it is the main characters who show through their experiences why they desire to come back to a place they call home.

In The House on Mango Street, Esperanza communicates through her experiences that "home" is a dream that looks bleak from the poverty of Mango Street. For example, she says, "I knew then I had to have a real house. A real house. One I could point to. But this isn't it. The House on Mango Street isn't it. For the time being, Mama says. Temporary says Papa. But I know how those things go" (Cisneros, 5). For Esperanza, a real home is something distant and cloudy, something she can only look forward to in her dreams. Esperanza really desires a home where she can feel like she belongs, a home not just solid on the...