Making a place called home

   I’m a big fan of The House on Mango Street (《芒果街上的小屋》). The book is about a girl named Esperanza and her family after they moved into a house on Mango Street in Chicago, US. 
　While everyone is excited, Esperanza isn’t. She calls it “the house I belong but do not belong to”, meaning she lives in the house but doesn’t feel at home. The book is all about finding yourself, which can be quite hard when you’re a teenager. The author, Sandra Cisneros, wrote the story based on her own experiences as a Mexican American woman.
　Esperanza’s name is the Spanish word for hope, but she thinks it has too many letters. She is afraid others will make fun of it. Later, she renames herself “X”. “X” is the unknown, waiting to be found out, which is quite right for someone still on their journey of self-discovery(自我发现).
　Esperanza sees how men and women are treated differently. The men own all the houses, while the women are confined(受限制的) to them. They spend their lives there, like they are in prison, and they sit and watch the world go by. Her friends think growing up and getting married is finally getting freedom. She dreams of getting away and getting her own house someday which she can call home.

　The book shows the hardship of growing up and fitting in. These are things everyone goes through.