Recommended by Shelley

The House On Mango Street

I. Sandra Cisneros
A. Born, 1954 Chicago, Illinois. Cisneros currently resides in San Antonio, Texas.
B. The third of seven children and the only girl born to an immigrant father and American-born mother, both of Mexican ancestry.
C. Cisneros spent time migrating between Chicago and Mexico City throughout her childhood.
D. Obtained a BA in English and a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing
E. Spent a number of years in the education sector before publishing her first work in 1980.
F. Writer in Residence for Our Lady of the Lake University.
G. Established the Macondo Foundation for writers
H. Strong social activist leanings and supports numerous.
I. Notable works of Sandra Cisneros
1. Poetry collections:
a) My Wicked, Wicked Ways, Third Woman Press, Bloomington, IN, November, 1, 1987.
b) Loose Woman, Alfred A. Knopf, Distributed by Random House, April 26, 1994, New York City, NY, April, 26, 1994.
2. Books:
a) The House on Mango Street, Arte Publico Press, Houston, TX, January, 1, 19848.
b) Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories, Random House; 1st ed edition, New York City, NY, April, 3, 1991.
c) Caramelo, or, Puro Cuento, Alfred A. Knopf, New York City, NY, January, 1, 2002.
J. Childhood in the inner city of Chicago and role in teaching
II. Brief Plot Summary
A. Move into home on Mango Street.
B. Esperanza makes friends with Lucy and Rachel; introduce us to her other neighbors.
C. Experiences with coming-of-age issues cause Esperanza and her friends to mature.
D. Esperanza has a tragic sexual encounter.
E. Makes plans to leave her neighborhood and become a writer; vows to come back.
III. Characters
A. Relationships
1. Esperanza’s relationship with her parents has little relevance. Busy mother, concerned for her father.
2. Friends develop her self-image by acting as a sounding-board; provide a cautionary tale.
3. Interactions with women she admires give her hope. Alicia inspiring to her; commitment to college.
B. Through interactions with their environment and each other, Cisneros develops her characters’ importance in the novel.
1. Growing divide between Esperanza and her younger sister Nenny.
2. Esperanza, Rachel and Lucy become more mature through their budding womanhood.
3. Consequences of Sally’s behavior and decisions.
IV. Setting
A. One year period in the late 1970’s
B. Latino section of a Chicago neighborhood
V. Esperanza’s dissatisfaction with the social issues create her desire for a house. Representative of her desire to be free to write and herself.
VI. Resolution – Only hints at future resolution of her predicament.
VII. Vocabulary:
A. Comadres
1. Hispanic: godmother or close female friend
2. “Esperanza, you go to school. Study hard… Look at my comadres. She means Izaura whose husband left and Yolanda whose husband is dead. Got to take care all your own, she says shaking her head” (House, 91).
B. Neighborhood
1. The people living near one another; a section lived in by people who consider themselves neighbors.
2. “Those who don’t know any better come into our neighborhood scared. The think we’re dangerous. They think we will attack them with shiny knives. They are stupid people who are lost and got here by mistake... All brown all around, we are safe. But watch us drive into a neighborhood of another color and our knees go shakity-shake and our car windows get rolled up tight and our eyes look straight.” (House, 28)
C. House
1. A building in which one or more families live.
2. “The house on Mango Street is ours, and we don’t have to pay rent to anybody, or share the yard with the people downstairs, or be careful not to make too much noise, and there isn’t a landlord banging on the ceiling with a broom. But even so, it’s not the house we’d thought we’d get.” (House, 3)
D. Home
1. The house in which a person or family lives; a family living together in one dwelling; the place where something is usually or naturally found; the goal in some games, especially: home plate.
2. “But today she is listening to my sadness because I don’t have a house. You live right here, 4006 Mango, Alicia says and points to the house I’m ashamed of. No, this isn’t my house I say and shake my head as if shaking could undo the year I’ve lived here. I don’t belong. I don’t ever want to come from here. You have a home, Alicia, and one day you’ll go there, to a town you remember, but me I never had a house, not even a photograph… only one I dream of.” (House, 106)
E. Shoes
1. An outer covering for the human foot usually having a thick and somewhat stiff sole and heel and a lighter upper part; another's place or point of view.
2. “Today we are Cinderella… and we laugh at Rachel’s one foot with a girl’s grey sock and a lady’s high heel… But the truth is it is scary to look down at your foot that is no longer yours and see attached a long long leg… Mr. Benny at the corner grocery puts down his important cigar: Your mother know you got shoes like that? Who give you those? Nobody. Them are dangerous, he says. You girls too young to be wearing shoes like that.” (House, 40-41).
VIII. Personal criticism & recommendation
A. Criticism
1. Cisneros employed symbolism in the story to relate key concepts:
a) Trees: represent the four girls (Esperanza, Nenny, Rachel and Lucy) who grow tall despite the inner city surroundings.
b) Windows: symbolize imprisonment and lack of freedom. Mamacita, Rafaela, Minerva, and Sally spend time looking out their apartment windows while experiencing restrictions on their liberty.
c) Shoes: signify adult femininity, sexual feelings and identity.
2. Characters central to the plot
a) Alicia – most like Esperanza; instead of marrying or having a baby, she goes to college, works hard and utilizes her intelligence to escape the neighborhood.
b) Sally – most unlike Esperanza; relies heavily on her sexual power with men to get what she wants and exemplifies what Esperanza is trying to get away from in the neighborhood.
c) The Three Sisters: The weird sisters (fortune tellers) from Macbeth or the Three Fates of Greek mythology. Give Esperanza hope for her future but admonish her to help those she is leaving behind.
3. The story was very effectively written by the use of several devices:
a) Language: Esperanza narrates the story with the puerile speech patterns of a pre-pubescent girl. The words have an uncomplicated, rhyming quality reminiscent of the chants the girls use in jump rope games.
b) The author employs symbolism of simple, everyday objects that evoke childlike images of a primer: houses, trees, windows, shoes, etc.
B. Recommendation
1. I would recommend this novel based on its cultural and gender views, although it is best appreciated by a much younger audience.
2. The book provides a rare view of inner-city life of children and Chicanas.
a) First-person view of life in the barrio from the unbiased view of a child.
b) “No Speak English” describes Mamacita; language barrier.
c) “Geraldo No Last Name,” sacrifice and loneliness of immigrants.
d) “Hips” reflects on the girls’ wish to become physically desirable to boys.
e) Women and girls struggle against men’s and even other women’s oppressive attitudes in their families and communities to find happiness in life.