Sandra Cisneros, "My Name"

Sandra Cisneros “My Name” is an excerpt from her novel The House on Mango Street, published in 1984.  This novel has received enormous amounts of recognition over the years and from reading just a small portion of it I can understand why.  The book put Cisneros on the map as one of the first Latina-American writers to achieve widespread commercial success.  It has sold over two million copies and was made a required read in many schools across the country.  Cisneros work illustrates the Latina experience in America. Her work deals with themes such as coming of age, alienation, self identity, and gender roles.  The most important aspect of her writing is that she gives a voice to Chicana women.  She does this by drawing on her own experiences growing up in a Mexican family in America. 

The title, “My Name”, by itself speaks volumes.  It got the wheels in my head spinning.  The first thing that popped into my head was that portion of any application or grade school worksheet where it reads “Name __________________” , and you fill in the blank.  It reminds me that in this world we have this urge to classify and label things.  That by giving a name to something we places owner and power.  When you fill in that blank that white sheet of 8x10 is no longer paper its Lindsey’s paper.  It becomes defined.  Taking on an entire new identity that is link to me, to whatever impression my name holds.  It is impossible to live in a world with no names or labels. There would be no language! But maybe there is a possibility to separate the name from a definition.  But then again my name Lindsey has a totally different meaning to me then to someone else who shares my name, so the definition of words especially names are never ending.  I find it interesting that Cisneros choose to class this selection “My Name” and not Esperanza (the characters name).  I mean if she did call it Esperanza the reader would still get that the piece as about this girl and her name.  What the title “My Name” gives us is that the narrator is unsettled with her name.  She has a hard time identifying with it and feels disconnected.  Another part of this work that exemplifies the disconnect is that the narrators actual name “Esperanza” is not mentioned until the end of the fourth stanza and there is only six in the entire piece.  This shows how she is uncomfortable in labeling herself.  She wants to be as far from her name as possible.

There are numerous metaphors and symbols that run through the entire selection.  In the first stanza the narrator describes her name.  In English which represents American it has a pleasant mean of “hope”.  Hope is a positive and desirable word.  In Spanish which represents her Mexican heritage her name has a negative interpretation of “too many letters”.  It is just letters not a word.  Letters are disjointed and come together to become harmonious words.  By labeling her name as letters to shows the disconnection the narrator has with her name in the context of her Mexican heritage.  This comparison between American and Mexican show the conflict between cultures.  This relates to Sandra Cisneros because she has expressed difficulty in identifying herself as American and Mexican.  There is a tug of war that goes on between the two.  She also calls herself the number nine which represents that she is just short of being perfect.  A ten is perfection and by labeling herself as a nine she expressed that she is flawed.  She also compares her name to her father’s Mexican record as “songs like sobbing”.  This expresses a sense of lose and creates an emotional divide between her father and her.  There is a generation gap which breeds frustration in the narrator.  She will never the lose her father has as an immigrant because she never will have firsthand experience.  All she has to go by is what she hears. 

In the next three stanzas the narrator tells the story of her great-grandmother which is who she inherited the name from.  Esperanza is afraid that inheriting the name she also inherits the fate her great-grandmother faced.  She does not want that!  The horse is introduced as symbol.  She makes refers to the Chinese calendar and says that women born in the year of the horse are unlucky.  The meaning of the year of the horse is happy, popularity, and intelligence.  A horse is a majestic and wild creature.  They represent power, strength, and freewill.  Mexican women are not supposed to be wild horses but tamed.  So if you are born a Mexican women in the year of the horse you are screwed because your culture is not accepting of what you are.  Women cannot be powerful that is the job of the men.  Sandra Cisneros relates to this notion because she grew up the only girl of seven children. In the Mexican culture women take care of the men.  They cook, clean, and take care of the house.  Cisneros did not want that for herself.  She wanted to be more and found a conflict in her cultures definition of what being a woman is all about.  They narrator saw more for herself like Cisneros than just hanging like a “fancy chandelier”.  The name Esperanza carries a sadness and fate that the narrator wants to run from.

In the next stanza the narrator compares her name to her sisters.  Even though Magdalena is worse than Esperanza her sisters gets a nickname and she doesn’t.  This expresses that Magdalena has option while Esperanza does not.  Her name is what it is while Magdalena has Nenny to fall back on and mold her name or self into whatever she wants.  Nicknames are normally used when two people are very close.  It’s a comfort thing.  The fact that Esperanza does not have a nickname expressed the discomfort she has with her name.  Because she is not close with her own name she is nickname-less.

The narrator expresses the need to “baptize” herself in the final stanza.  Baptize is used as a symbol here.  In baptism a child is welcomed into the church.  They are pure, untouched, and free from sin.  Esperanza wants to purify herself and start over with a new name.  She want to rename herself she it fits her like Zeze or X.  These sound like superhero names.  There is something powerful in having a name with one letter.  For sure it is much different then Esperanza previous nine letter name.  It is the one letter that kept her from being truly perfect before (9+1=10).  She is desperate to be individual or “one” of a kind.  She wants a name with no history so she can make her own.