Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Book Reports Imprisoned Imprisoned “I am tired of looking at what we can’t have.” This particular quote explains that Esperanza desperately longs to leave Mango Street behind, but she also feels that she may be trapped forever. Esperanza is coming to realize she may never get out of Mango Street. Esperanza feels as though she is trapped many times. Three areas where Esperanza realizes just how trapped she is are a treasure in a furniture shop that they cannot have, Esperanza’s family making lies about when they will leave, and the past experiences of Esperanza’s family members. To begin, Esperanza first realizes how trapped she is in Mango Street in one of her routine visits to “Gil’s Furniture Bought & Sold.” Esperanza and Nenny discover a treasure in this odd place. It is a music box, and one of the most beautiful things either of them have heard. However, when they attempt to purchase it, they are turned away by the owner. Obviously, the music box brings hope and joy to Gil, the store owner. He wants to keep this old and beat up music box forever. It keeps him going in the different world of Mango Street. The fog begins to clear even more in Esperanza’s head once she has this picture and sound of the music box in her head. She has seen the way out, but she will never take it because it is not for sale. Furthermore, Esperanza’s family has much longing to get out. However, many of these wishes will not come true. Esperanza’s parents have told her their house on Mango Street is only temporary. In her heart, however, Esperanza knows how their stay in this house will really go. Before the family had moved onto Mango Street, they had moved every year. Esperanza’s parents had always told stories about how they will move into a house that is unlike the others. Esperanza knows she is stuck on Mango Street, and that there is little chance that she may leave someday because of the number of times that she is denied something, such as in the furniture store. Esperanza feels ashamed and unprivileged with her home. Her family, on the other hand, tries to escape Mango Street as often as possible and visit rich homes nearby, the homes that they see in their dreams. Esperanza has become more ashamed of her home because of the way the nun that walked by one day reacted to her house, and by the way everyone around her wants to move away. She does not enjoy looking at what she cannot have. All she can do is watch her father tell stories of the house they will have one day as he holds a lottery ticket Finally, many of Esperanza’s family have been trapped in places they do not belong or want to be in. Esperanza’s mother had a chance to get out. Instead, she dropped out of school. Esperanza’s mother did this because she was ashamed of herself. All she wanted were material things. Her mother was very intelligent when she left school. Esperanza, along with her great-grandmother, was born in the Chinese year of the horse. Being born female in this year brings bad luck. This surely gave bad luck to her great-grandmother who sat by the window and dreamt her whole life. This sounds similar to the way that Esperanza is living. She has dreamt to get out of Mango Street. However, she does not seem to try hard enough in school. All she cares about in school is to belong. She has no long hours of studying like Alicia. Esperanza wants to untie the anchor under her, but how will she do this if she has no brains or money to cut the rope? Esperanza wants to step away from the footsteps of her family, but doing so will be very hard. Those footsteps have been dug very deep by many generations of Esperanza’s family. In conclusion, Esperanza is trapped with little hope of leaving. By “Gil’s Furniture Bought & Sold,” Esperanza’s family desperate to leave, and the previous footsteps created by Esperanza’s family members, Esperanza may just sit by the window dreaming for the rest of her life like so many she has known. Bibliography: Word Count: 710
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