Through most of history, names have had the power to determine the identity of a person, place, or object. For instance, the narrator in the excerpt of The House on Mango Street has an internal struggle concerning her identity because of her complex attitude towards her name. In Cisernos’ excerpt My Name, she utilizes literary devices such as attitude and, diction, and figurative language to convey that a name and its origin do not dictate a person’s future.
The Cisneros manipulates diction and figurative language to convey Esperanza’s attitude toward her name. In particular, Cisneros starts the excerpt with positive connotation, “In English my name means hope,” however, she switches to negative connotation in the next sentence in order to criticize her name, “In Spanish it means …show more content…
Esperanza expresses her disdain of society’s unequal treatment of women when she states “my great-grandmother. I would’ve liked to have known her, a wild horse of a woman, so wild she wouldn’t marry. Until my great-grandfather threw a sack over her head and carried her off. Just like that, as if she were a fancy chandelier.” Esperanza has a positive attitude towards her great-grandmother and does not resent her. Her great-grandmother did not have a choice in her future because society restricted and objectified her. While Esperanza may be conflicted about her attitude regarding her name, she knows she does not want to end up looking “out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow.” Esperanza reveals the Mexican culture’s unequal treatment of women by having them arranged into marriages they did not want. Since Esperanza sees herself in her grandmother, she does not want to eventually become like her great-grandmother, where she would not be able to fully experience