What does Esperanza realize about the importance of needing to accept oneself in order to

feel a true sense of belonging?

Through Esperanza’s character development, Cisneros conveys that one can only truly
belong when one has accepting themself for who they are. During Esperanza’s exposition, she
states that her “name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it
means waiting.” Her own view on her name conveys that she is not happy with her life, since
your name is such an important part of your life, so not liking your name would mean that you
truly despise your life. In addition, she states the positive aspect of her name first but then is too
focused on the cons to recognize the pros. She also states that “at school they say my name
funny as if the syllables were made out of tin and hurt the roof of your mouth”. This imagery is
very vivid and provides insight on how others make her feel about her name. Because of her low
self-worth, she does not feel like she belongs, as shown later in the book. She compares herself
to “four [trees] who do not belong here but are here”. Her statement quite literally says that she
does not belong, and this is due to her negative self-image. However, this self-image is
improving, because she starts to describe the trees as “Four who grew despite concrete. Four
who reach and do not forget to reach.” This statement is especially powerful since she compares
her to the trees, listing their attributes, and saying that they are “like me”. This is a sign of
growing self-image, since she is recognizing her own struggle, and since the struggle of the trees
is described using positive connotation, Esperanza is thinking well of her past and is closer to
accepting herself. We see the results of this in the conclusion of the novella, where Esperanza
declares that “I like to tell stories. I am going to tell you are the story of a girl who didn’t
belong”. Her use of past tense suggests that now, she feels like she does belong. Her also
somewhat sudden mention of stories contrasts with the other chapters, where everything was
real and saddening. Her improved self worth and therefore increased sense of belonging is
explicitly presented when she announces that “one day I will say goodbye to Mango. I am too
strong for her to keep me here forever”. Here she is expressing confidence like never before, in
the story, she has almost never expressed a desire for anything. She has similarly also not
expressed strength before. She now has so much confidence and comfort in her own skin that
she feels like she can do anything. She is finally doing what her name tells her to do—hope.
This change in mindset is attributed to her increased self-worth. All in all, Esperanza learns that
how much self-confidence one has is directly correlated to one’s sense of belonging, due to the
fact that if one feels comfortable in their own shoes, they will be more accepting of themselves
in the presence of others and will feel a sense of belonging.