In one of Sandra Cisnero’s pieces in her book, The House on Mango Street, Cisnero uses symbolism as a striking device in order to reveal her evident theme in this book. The entry “Hips” reveals Cisnero’s thematic motif of growth and self-identity as Esperanza and her friends discuss matters of adulthood. Ironically, as the children continue to play jump rope, which is a child’s game, the wanna-be-women begin to discuss “hips.” Claiming that these are necessary for “holding a baby,”  the girls, with their adolescent talk, provide a juxtaposition between the subject at hand, and the playground game. By using the hips as a symbolic item of Esperanza’s life, it reveals her desire to mature and grow older, but also her content with childish things. As her friends continue listing off the many reasons why “hips” are such a necessity, and how they are so important, such as a statement of “they are scientific,” the girls allow the thematic motif to have a strong underlying significance. As the children play and speak of “dancing” with their womanly hips that are sure to be the reason you know you are woman, Esperanza dreams up the hips she desires. Though the young girl knows nothing of the heavy responsibilities of these grown-up hips, Esperanza does not understand the power that accompanies such items. With a twelve years old desire to mature quickly in order to be beautiful, Esperanza and her friends continue to play their silly games and dream of the many things that these incoming hips will do for them. As a result, by using the symbolism of the hips to portray the childlike desire to grow and mature but the incapability due to an evident youth, Cisnero develops the theme of this vignette series very early and efficiently.