The House on Mango Street

Cisneros, Sandra. (1984). The House on Mango Street. New York: Vintage Books. 978-0-679-73477-2

Written in vignette style, The House on Mango Street captures the story of Esperanza Cordero as she experiences life from childhood through her adolescent years. Each vignette is centered on a specific experience in Esperanza’s life allowing the reader to gain a clear understanding of Esperanza as a character. As the book continues to progress, Esperanza continues to age and is faced with many difficult issues.

Each vignette introduces the reader to a different neighbor that lives on Mango Street and provides the reader with the relationship that Esperanza has with each of them. These neighbors are her role models - good or bad. She opens the book by sharing that she hasn’t always lived on Mango Street, and she allows the reader to understand that she hopes to not live there forever. Set in Chicago, in what seems to be a poor, rough area of the city, we begin to have compassion for Esperanza as she struggles through daily life.

The reader is introduced to the other characters in the book through Esperanza’s observations. She tells about the different neighbors who lurk in the windows or who have guests coming and going from their homes. She uses small experiences to create larger messages. An example is when she, her sister, and their friends are given hand-me-down shoes from a neighbor. They try them on and strut up and down the street saying, “Today we are Cinderella because our feet fit exactly.” Their appearance draws the attention of men in the street and they get comments aimed at them. It is in these life experiences that she begins to learn the greater lessons of life.

Esperanza is determined to persevere and overcome the dilemmas that she is faced with. She encounters sensitive topics like bullying and rape in this book; however, Cisneros does a fabulous job of addressing these difficult messages across with grace. The House on Mango Street is written in a very poetic style with many examples of figurative language that flow eloquently throughout the novel.

The House on Mango Street acts as a character study of Esperanza. Cisneros uses statements like, “Home is a house in a photograph” or “Like it or not, you are Mango Street.” The reader learns that life is what you make it. It is who you are and where you live. It is who you spend it with. It is your home.