My Name

By Sandra Cisneros 

In the beginning Esperanza connects her sense of lose; emotions between the generations; whatever the lose is, it’s deep however we are only able to hear about it, we never really had the opportunity to experience it first hand, that is where the frustration of misunderstanding comes about.

“The Chinese, like the Mexicans, don’t like their women strong”: Esperanza doesn’t want to be boxed in as a typical Mexican woman, this restrains her ability to be strong. Mexican woman are controlled by “macho” men, woman like Esperanza don’t want to be kept within limits." Esperanza fears being downgraded for being a female (like in the Mexican society)and viewed as a weak woman, so much so that she fears the simple representation of a name holding her back from escaping her great-grandmothers' fate. 

As Esperanza wonders for her great-grandmother, I feel as if she is afraid that she could one day find herself feeling sorry for not being all the things that she has the potential of being. This fear drives her to yearn for the freedom that her great-grandmother didn’t get. Breaking free from the normal Mexican culture is one of Esperanza's goals in life. 

The frustration that one feels when the name that is used to not only identify oneself but also differentiate one from the other, is something you can’t just let go easily. Sometimes Americans tend to mispronounce hispanic names carelessly, and I can speak for myself as a hispanic, that we get offended when our names are chopped up, sounding completely unfamiliar and in a sense as if mocking the name itself for being so unfamiliar to Americans or to foreigners of the culture.

 

Towards the end of the poem not only is it obvious that Esperanza wants to change her name to something that represents something completely different than what her original name represents, but what might not be so obvious is that her new preferred name, Zeze the X, not only does it have a name but it is also followed by a description identified as the letter X, in a sense when saying her name, not only are you stating a name but you are following it up with a description. As if you didn't know already her name is Zeze, you must also know she is the X. Esperanza feels the need to not only declare herself but also describe herself all under one breath, “Zeze the X.”