Relationship Between Socioeconomic Status And Success

The discussion on whether or not a person’s socioeconomic status is indicative of their future has no simple answer. In both House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros and A Contract Overseas by Mia Alvar, both Cisneros and Alvar make the outcome of people with a lower socioeconomic status very prominent. Esperanza and the narrator from A Contract Overseas want a better life for themselves no matter their socioeconomic status. They both have been able to see what the people around them have to do to make ends meet, which helps them decide what they may want. Slowly taking action on bettering themselves for the better shows that one’s socioeconomic status is not indicative of their future. The narrator from A Contract Overseas is planning on going to college even though it would be a bit harder due to her family’s economic status. 

The narrator wants to go to college, which her brother would pay for, but for him to pay for her school, he would have to work overseas, which the narrator doesn’t want. The narrator tried to convince her brother not to leave, “ But I’ll apply for scholarships''(Alvar10). The narrator wants to go to college but she would much rather herself pay for it rather than having to lose her brother. Her wanting to go to college is an example of someone breaking through the socioeconomic norms as stereotypically, people who do not have as much do not always wind up going to college. By her doing this, it further separates her from the average success of her socioeconomic status since scholarships can relate to your grades. The narrator began to watch Ligaya and her mother, “After that, I had a terror of becoming her, the multipurpose servant a few lucky scraps away from living on the street.”(Alvar 18). The narrator is furthermore separating herself from the norm of her social status as she does not want to become what a woman in her socioeconomic class is supposed to do. She notices that she does not want what she is meant to have. This causes her to push through a lot of her challenges because she knows who she wants to become, showing that one's socioeconomic status is not indicative of their future. Some people may go to college while others are finally able to leave their past.

In House on Mango Street, Esperanza was constantly complaining about where she lived or how she was going to have a life of her own pointing out the obvious difference between her and the women around her. She always has the same mindset,  “One day, I’ll have my own house, but I won’t forget who I am or where I came from”(Cisneros 87).  Esperanza wants her own house rather than relying on someone else to get her one which is different from the people around her. They tend to wait for a man to come and take them away to a beautiful house or they would go back and live with their parents because they do not believe that they can do much due to their socioeconomic status. She does not want this which would make you speculate that she would have a stable job and be independent as she grows older which not a lot of the people in her community have. Espeanza states, “One day I will say goodbye to Mango. I am too strong for her to keep me forever. I will go away”(Cisneros 110). Esperanza wants the house that everyone else wants, but she is willing to work for it. She has continuously stated that she wants her own life rather than a  married one. This puts her a step closer to moving away from the success of her socioeconomic status that she is faced with every day. With this being said, both Cisneros and Alvar do an adequate job of demonstrating that socioeconomic status is not emblematic of their subsequent.

Someone’s socioeconomic status may or may not have a role to play in their success. In House on Mango Street and A Contract Overseas, the main characters set this aspect of their lives aside and make the best out of what they have and push for better as they grow up. Both of these characters want better even though they do not come from a place where that may seem possible. However, they push to a point where they can show that one’s socioeconomic status is not indicative of their future. Esperanza was able to get out of Mango Street and have the life she wanted back home, and the narrator in A Contract Overseas was able to go to college.  Furthermore, proving that one’s status is not the only role in their success and future.