The House on Mango Street

A detailed Summary of The House on Mango Street

The novel The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros, is a compilation of several rich and fascinating stories. These stories compliment each other perfectly to construct an even richer and broader story. As Sandra Cisneros wrote, "to tell one big story, each story contributing to the whole-like beads in a necklace." It is the story of Esperanza. The character of Esperanza faces unimaginable struggle as well as moments of joy.

The form in which this novel was constructed works incredibly well. It is narrated in the voice of a young girl who is too young to know that no one may ever hear her, but whose voice is completely convincing. It is the creation of a mature and sophisticated writer. The novel seems to wander casually from subject to subject. It jumps from hair to hips, from clouds to feet, from an aunt to a girl named Sally, who has "eyes like Egypt" and whose father sometimes beats her. But this randomness disguises an artistic exploration of themes of individual identity, estrangement and loss, escape and return, romance, inequality, sexuality, repression and oppression. Although this book has only one hundred and ten pages, it is extremely rich in content. I feel that it has a lot of "flavor," like a hot

Another dominant feature in Esperanza's personality is the trust she has in others. I think this is one of Esperanza's weaknesses as an individual because it allows her to be gullible and vulnerable. In "Cathy Queen of Cats," Esperanza's gullibility is obvious when Cathy tells Esperanza "father will have to fly to France one day and find her...cousin...and inherit the family house. How do I know this is so? She told me so." Another error in trusting others is that Esperanza is susceptible to betrayal.

cup of imported coffee. It's moments are bitter and hot, yet have a smooth and sweet aftertaste.

Esperanza's identity, as revealed in the vignettes, is multifaceted. Her shyness is evident when she is around people who are unfamiliar to her. This is most likely due to the intimidation these people pose. For example, in the vignettes "The First Job" and "A Rice Sandwich" Esperanza is too shy to eat with her other co-workers and peers, as shown in the following quotation from "The First Job." She says, "When lunch time came I was scared to eat alone in the company lunchroom." These timid feelings are strangely those of which I can relate to having felt at one point.

Esperanza's desire to baptize herself under a new name indicates her desire to escape the history of hope unfulfilled into which she was born. This desire is linked to that of defeating poverty with a house of her own. Just as she feels she does not belong in t

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Approximate Word count = 970
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English