The House on Mango Street

The House on Mango Street

By Sandra Cisneros

Born in 1954, Sandra Cisneros moved back and forth between Chicago and Mexico City throughout her childhood. Her father was Mexican and had close ties to his family, while her mother was Mexican-American and had lived her life in Chicago. Cisneros was the youngest child of seven, and the only daughter. She was lonely for much of her childhood because her family rarely stayed in one place long enough for her to make friends. She attended Loyola University in Chicago and then the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. It was at this workshop that she got the idea for "The House on Mango Street," perhaps her most famous book. The class was studying the poetics of space, and reading an essay on the metaphor of the mind as a house with many rooms. Cisneros realized that everyone in her class could relate to this idea except her. She assumed that those who understood this metaphor had never had to clean someone else’s house for a living, or get evicted. Previously, Cisneros had tried to copy established writers, who were usually white and male. Slowly, she began to realize that what she had to offer literature was exactly what made her different from these writers: she was Latina, and female.

On the strength of relatively few books of poems and stories, Cisneros has built a considerable reputation. Her other books include "Woman Hollering Creek," a collection of stories about the Mexican-American experience, and "Loose Woman," poems celebrating the strength of Mexican-American women. She has also contributed many essays on race, gender and politics to different anthologies. Her work is sometimes upstaged by her biography: articles about her work often discuss the fact that she is unmarried, though she "likes men a lot." It has been suggested that the literary world is more comfortable viewing her as a political activist than as a serious writer apart from her political affiliations. However, she herself at times brings her personal views into the spotlight: the 1994 edition of "Mango" lists the author as "nobody’s mother and nobody’s wife." Her persona is deceiving: she has a soft voice and appears to be very sweet and submissive. She says she used to hate this about herself, but is now grateful for it: she says it helps her confuse people and take them by surprise.

Though she did not write very frequently when she was young, and in fact did not begin writing seriously until she was an adult, she says that now that people expect her to write, she is much more inspired and does not expect to stop writing any time soon. She has won numerous awards, grants and fellowships, including two from the National Endowment for the Arts. She looks forward, she says, to the books she will write when she is sixty.

Activities:

The main theme of House on Mango Street is home and identity.

Have students research their family history. Have them go back as far as they can! They may need to interview family members or friends.

· Where is their mother/father from?

· Where is their grandmother from?

· How did their family end up where they are now? (home town)

Have students write about their findings and share with the class.

Minor Characters

Nenny Esperanza’s younger sister. Esperanza cares for Nenny, though she also finds her annoying because of her dreamy, childish attitude. They often play together, and are, in some ways, closer to each other than to any other character.

Lucy and Rachel Sisters who always appear together, they are mischievous and brash, and don’t care much what other people think of them, which is why Esperanza likes them. Together, the girls have many adventures.

Mrs. Cordero An intelligent and caring homemaker, Esperanza’s mother is disappointed in herself for not continuing with her education, because she feels she could have made more of her life. She tries to make sure her daughter does not make the same mistake.

Sally Esperanza greatly admires her friend Sally, who is beautiful and knows how to control boys, and seems too exotic for Mango Street. But gradually, Esperanza realizes that Sally is not as independent as she pretends to be.

CONFLICT

Protagonist / Antagonist

Esperanza, the protagonist, has no real antagonist except, perhaps, herself. The story concerns her journey to maturity. Conflicts in the story often arise because of Esperanza’s misunderstanding of herself. For example, she makes fun of her sick aunt, then realizes how much she values her aunt’s friendship, and feels terrible about what she has done. Her shyness is another aspect of her immaturity that forces conflict upon her: she wants to be like bolder girls she knows, who have secret meetings with boys, but does not have the courage. Additionally, Esperanza must mature enough to discover her own identity, and understand how the Mango Street she hates so much fits into her life.

Climax

The climax comes toward the end of the book, when Esperanza realizes she does not want to imitate any of her friends, opting instead to be her own person. At the same time, she meets the Three Sisters, mysterious aunts of her friends Lucy and Rachel, who tell Esperanza that she is special, and that she must return to Mango Street for the people she leaves behind once she gets out.

Resolution

The resolution occurs in the very last chapter, when Esperanza internalizes the words of the Sisters and decides once and for all that she will finally find her way out of Mango Street, energized by her writing, as she has always wanted. Perhaps more significantly, she now understands the importance of returning, as a way of acknowledging her strength, and the part Mango Street plays in her identity.

STUDY QUESTIONS - BOOK REPORT TOPICS

1. What does Esperanza like about Sally? What does she dislike?

2. How does Esperanza feel about her family?

3. Does Esperanza want a boyfriend?

4. Why does Esperanza want to leave Mango Street?

5. How is Esperanza different from the women she knows?

6. What does Esperanza think about her grandmother?

7. What is the meaning of the shoes Esperanza and her friends wear in "The Family of Little Feet"?

8. What does Esperanza think about Mexico?

9. Why does Esperanza want her own house?

10. What is the meaning of Esperanza’s conversation with the Three Sisters?

11. Why does Esperanza write?

12. Why is the book called "The House on Mango Street?"

POINT OF VIEW

The story is told exclusively from Esperanza’s point of view. For the most part, this offers the reader an intimacy that would be unavailable if the book were written about Esperanza--since it is, in a sense, by her, we have a much greater insight not only into what she thinks but also the way she thinks. For example, when she describes her encounter with Sire and his friends, she says, "They didn’t scare me. They did, but I wouldn’t let them know." She at first tries to be confident with the reader, the same way she does with Sire, but then admits her fear and her desire to keep it hidden. Perhaps she is even trying, at first, to fool herself into thinking she is brave. Thus, when she lets us know her true feelings, it is more significant to the reader.

The reader also is able to witness Esperanza’s many little worries and insecurities, which would probably be missing if the book were not so focused on her state of mind. We observe her nervousness when she first meets Lucy and Rachel: she chips in for a bike, frantically borrowing some of Nenny’s money but not telling them because "it’s too complicated." She tells them her name, petrified that they will laugh. They don’t, of course, and her happiness is made all the more poignant when the reader knows how desperate for friends she has been.