Motifs in The House on Mango Street.

What makes a story into a great novel? There are many different factors that go into a story to turn it into a well known novel. One of these factors are motifs. A motif is a reoccuring theme throughout the story. The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros, had many different motifs that helped to make it a very popular story today. These motifs helped to give the reader a better sense of what was going on in the story and a better view of how the characters in the story felt. These are the reasons that motifs are important in any story; without them, it just wouldn’t be nearly as good. The three motifs that have the most significance in The House on Mango Street are shoes and feet, houses and homes, and names.
The first significant motif is shoes and feet. Throughout the story, shoes or feet are described to show someone's status in the neighborhood. Two examples of this are when Esperanza is describing her family members’ feet. “His feet were fat and doughy like thick ...