The Color Red Analysis

In the book "The House on Mango Street", Sandra Cisneros puts in many symbols. The symbols come in a variety of things such as colors, objects, body parts and much more. The one that was rather appealing to me and interested me right off the bat was how the colors red and pink were symbosl. Now usually, you will not see that but the fact that Cisneros was able to do that was interesting.

The color red pops up on several pages and four, the color red is symbolized.
"It's small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you'd think they were holding their breath."
This symbolizes that she is somewhere that she does not want to be. Esperanza obviously does not like her house and she is explaining how there is something wrong with her house. The tone she has here seems to be that she is unhappy and is not feeling the house at all and obviously, the color red was involved. This leads to the next vignette.

The color pink pops up and essentially represents the same idea of in a way, being uncomfortable or going against your will. This vignette is particularly different because it involves not wanting to do something or maybe even just going against your will. On page 46, it says,
"I open up and she's there with bags and big boxes, the new clothes and, yes, she's got the socks and a new slip with a little rose on it and a pink-and-white striped dress."
In this vignette, the idea is that she is insecure and does not want to do what she is asked to do. Her cousin by first communion wants to dance with her but she does not want to and she has pink on. It proves that she is not comfortable and does not want to be there. Again, that ties into not wanting to do something or just going against you own will.

The third vignette is about red. This one is really intense and explains a great and horrific story. Something is being done to someone and this time it is most definitely against their will.
"I was waiting by those red clowns. I was standing by a tilt-a-whirl where you said.... Why didn't you tell them to leave me alone? The one who grabbed me by the arm, he wouldn't let me go. He said I love you, Spanish girl, I love you and pressed his sour mouth to mine."
Proof of discomfort, loneliness, and of course, not wanting to be somewhere. In this scene, it is not clear who is talking, however it is about being violated. The reason the color red ties into this is because the red clowns were there while everything was happening. She was surrounded by red which comes to prove that red and pink symbolizes not wanting to be somewhere or doing something against your own will.