This isn’t my first time reading The House on Mango Street; I read it for an English class in my junior year of high school. However, it’s interesting how our talking points on the novel differ from, and work with, the topics discussed in my high school class. During our time reading the vignette-compilation in high school, we focused largely on how Esperanza’s particular experience fits into the greater narrative of the “American dream.” On one hand, she fits perfectly into the archetype of the ‘dreamer,’ as she desperately wants a house that’s “white with trees around it, a great big yard and grass growing without a fence” (4). However, in that class, we argued that this tangible commodity of a house was really just a physical manifestation of what she truly wanted: a home. She wants a place where she can feel free, with room to roam without feeling trapped like she (and most other women) does at Mango Street. The American dream, as we learned about as a greater curriculum in that high school class, is much more about an escape from current situations rather than tangible luxuries that dreamers pine for: the white-picket fenced home, the sports car, expensive vacations, etc. I think this is an interesting addition to our current discussion of Esperanza’s quest and motivations. She really just wants to get out, and all the extraneous aspirations are just manifestations of that desire. Additionally, this concept fits well with the idea that high heels are desirable to men because it means women are hobbled and unable to leave. Esperanza, through her own American dream to make it out as a writer, will make it that she never has to wear high heels, that she will never be hobbled by a man, that she will never be held back by Mango Street.