House on Mango Street Symbolism: Trees

The House on Mango Street,  by Sandra Cisneros, is a collection of vignettes told through the eyes of an adolescent girl. There is a lot of symbolism in this book including trees, which are very symbolic. In the book, Esperanza expresses admiration for trees and how they “work together”. In the vignette, “Skinny Trees” Esperanza compares herself to the trees. “They are the only ones who understand me. I am the only one who understands them. Four skinny trees with skinny necks and pointy elbows like mine. Four who do not belong but are here... But Nenny just sleeps and doesn’t appreciate these things”(page 74). In this quote, Esperanza is comparing herself with the trees when she says that they both don’t belong here. By saying this, I think that she is admiring them because, like her, the trees are surviving hardship and staying in a bad place even though they don't belong.

The tree in Meme Ortiz’s backyard is a symbol to Esperanza that even though she is in a bad neighborhood now, she can still grow up and have a life. “ Around the back is a yard, mostly dirt, and a greasy bunch of boards that used to be a garage. But what you remember most is this tree, huge, with fat arms and mighty... higher branches.”(page 22) In this quote Esperanza is admiring the strong tree that grew from almost nothing in the bad part of her town. I think that she want to be like this tree and grow up against the hardships that are put against her by society.

I think that Esperanza personifies the trees to make them seem human. When she personifies, she gives them the aspect of sympathy. She shows this when she says, “I had to hide myself at the other end of the garden, in the jungle part, under a tree that wouldn't mind if I lay down and cried a long time.”(page 97) In this quote, she is very upset and she needs to find a place to let out her emotions. Since the trees are something that she has a lot in common with, that is the first place she goes to find shelter. Trees represent a big part of Esperanza’s life because they share many of the same feelings.