What does having “a place by the window” mean? Why does Esperanza use the word baptized instead of “change”? What other words do we associate with baptism? My Name by Sandra Cisneros

Having “a place by the window” means standing still while watching life go by.

The word "baptized" means that Esperanza would like to have the ability to change her name since birth and not change it now, after she has grown up.

We can associate the word "baptized", in this story, the word "reborn", "resurge".

Explanation:

In "My Name" by Sandra Cisneros we learn about Esperanza's thoughts on her name. She believes that her name does not have a good cootation, a good story and does not fit well among English speakers.

She recalls that she has the same name as her grandmother, who was a very strong woman, but who was trapped in an undesirable marriage, unable to experience life's opportunities and just watching life go by and time go by. Experanza does not want to have that destination, although she has the same name as Grandma.

Experanza wants to have a better life and believes that changing her name would be a good first step, but she didn't want to change her name now, she wanted to be baptized with another name, which indicates that she wanted to be reborn and have a different life.

its hard for me to see which word is supposed to be in bold. if i knew then i would be able to better.