Romeo and Juliet is famous for its dramatic love story and dramatic ending. House on Mango Street is known for its impressionistic writing style and its tale of a girl learning to be a woman. However, it is not the love story of Romeo and Juliet or Esperanza's search for self-identity in which I draw my thesis, it is the comparison of Esperanza and Juliet.

In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Juliet, a young girl, is desperate to escape the boredom of sheltered life. She wants only a fairy tale and is willing to accept nothing else. One day at a party she meets the man, who is really still a boy, in which she trusts her fairy tale. “Juliet :What's he that follows there, that would not dance? Nurse: I know not. Juliet: Go ask his name; if he be married. My grave is like to be my wedding bed. (gesturing towards Romeo)”(Act1, scene 5). They get married, and plan to run away together, but Romeo's banishment and Juliet's desperation for love leads the couple to die at their own hands.

Why did Juliet kill herself? Juliet was from a wealthy family, she was never in need for anything. When she was given a taste of what a true hardship was, she couldn't handle it. She refused to give up her happily ever after and therefor took her only way out. Death.

Esperanza is quite different. In the book House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, a young girl dreams of a house; she dreams of grass and freedom from her neighborhood. She dreams of a place where there is nothing to be afraid of, but she does not dream of a prince charming. “They always told us that one day we would move into a house, a real house that would be ours for always so we wouldn't have to move each year" (chap.1 paragraph 4). Esperanza stands from the outside looking in. Because she wasn't born into class, she understands far more than what Juliet does about hardships and understands she must make a name for herself. Because she is at the bottom, she can trust in better days.

Although Juliet and Esperanza come from different walks of life, they are more similar then one might think. Though Juliet is wealthy and Esperanza is poor, they both wish for freedom. They both wish for change and both desire a feeling of self-worth. However they are devided by one major difference. Juliet trusts with her heart and Esperanza trusts her mind.