House On Mango Street: Summary

Decent Essays
Esperanza has her first friend, Cathy, who is her new neighbor, and she owns many cats. Cathy tell many things to Esperanza about the other people who live on the Mango Street.
Esperanza finds two more friends, whose name is Lucy and Rachel. They decide to ride the bicycle all the way down the street, and laugh together.
Esperanza and her sister, Nenny, have many commons as Rachel and Lucy. Both Esperanza and Nenny have the same image about a house, which Rachel and Lucy do not have.
An old man opens a junk store in the neighborhood. Once Nenny and Esperanza go to ask this old man about a music box, which does not have a pretty outside, but it can make a beautiful

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In the story, “The House on Mango Street”, Sandra Cisneros discusses a child’s life about moving to a new house. The family is constantly moving, and now they have moved into a house on Mango Street. The house is better than the last place they lived in, which was an apartment on Loomis street in which the water pipes broke and they had no water. So the new house on Mango Street is an improvement, however it still isn’t the house the family talked about. The new house is small and worn down.…

    • 528 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cisernero's work centers on the coming of age in the life of the protagonist, Esperanza. The main theme of the work is the idea of maturation and emotional development. Told in a series of vignettes which help to build the bildungsroman notion in the work, much of what is explored is the idea of being born in both Hispanic and American settings. Given the idea of the emerging identity of being a woman coupled with the discussion of racial identity, one begins to see several complex themes develop throughout the course of the work. Along these lines, the primary purpose presented helps to bring forth the idea of representation in literature is a critical element.…

    • 138 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Though out the book esperanza has grown up to be a woman and to help other. One quote of this is “they will not know that i have gone away to come back for the ones i left behind for the ones who can not out pg110”. This quote shows that even though she will leave she will come back and help the ones who cant leave the way esperanza. Another quote is “sally you lied. It wasnt what you said at all what he did where he touched me .…

    • 188 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Although Esperanza only becomes more confused, she comes to realize that she cannot change where she has come from, where she has grown up, and where she has obtained valuable experiences that have shaped her character. No matter what, Mango Street will always be a part of her, whether she cherishes it or not. The three sisters go on to advise Esperanza that “[she] must remember to come back. For the ones who cannot leave as easily as [her]” (105). Esperanza later on grasps the wise meaning the three women spoke of, that she has to be the one to help other people on Mango Street, or no one else will.…

    • 1003 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the novel The House on Mango Street, protagonist Esperanza is discontented due to her unfulfilled expectations and her unwillingness to belong, but eventually learns to accept her place in Mango Street. Esperanza’s initial expectations for her new house were raised too high, and dealt a heavy blow to her morale when they went unfulfilled. When Esperanza recalls her parents saying that one day they would have a house with “at least three washrooms” and “a great big yard and grass growing without a fence” but then realizes that the house “is not the way they told it at all” (Cisneros 4). Esperanza's hopes were raised for nothing.…

    • 328 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Women in literature, like in real life, face adversity and through their journey, they find their identity while coming of age. They show the importance of women in society and the crucial role that they play. In both I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou and The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, the protagonists were required to overcome adversity as they each discovered a greater sense of self. By being able to overcome their certain situations, Marguerite Angelou and Esperanza became more aware of their place in the world and society.…

    • 1121 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    You live there? The way she said it made me feel like nothing.” Esperanza is embarrassed about her new home and wishes she didn’t live there. Later on in the book Esperanza starts to notice something she never used when she was a kid.…

    • 526 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    , she gets that people have a different perspective on where she lives than she does (Cisneros chapter 12 ). Esperanza growing up throughout the story shows the reader how a new scenery and different characters can affect a person’s perspective on their life and on other’s lives. Esperanza also notes the difference in class between those of rich and poor, stating that “People who live on hills sleep so close to the stars they forget those of us who live too much on earth. They don 't look down at all except to be content to live on hills. They have nothing to do with last week 's garbage or fear of rats.”…

    • 1264 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Nenny and Esperanza don’t seem very much alike, but their differences in age and sociability mask their fundamental similarities. Nenny and Esperanza laugh at the same things, even those things others don’t understand are funny. More important, Nenny and Esperanza are both dreamers. While Esperanza imagines a world outside the barrio, Nenny turns the outside world into the barrio by giving the clouds the same names as her neighbors. By doing so, she enlarges her world and makes it bearable.…

    • 204 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Esperanza's Journey

    • 137 Words
    • 1 Pages

    After years of moving to different domiciles annually, the family always has been longing to own their house of dream–a beautiful white house that only the rich can afford to buy–and the family has not yet given up the hope of owning such place. Subsequent to moving into a new neighborhood, Esperanza’s lack of friends leaves Esperanza feeling desolate and longing for a best friend to share everything of hers, but without such friend, she compares herself to a red balloon for standing out and not being able to blend in with the neighbors. After moving into the new neighborhood, Esperanza has not yet been successful in finding long-term friends, however when Lucy and Rachel offer to be Esperanza’s friend forever and that Esperanza can also…

    • 137 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Esperanza, the narrator, speaks concisely and simply, but powerfully. Each sentence is filled with emotion and meaning, and her accessible language allows the reader to experience the authentic emotion Cisneros was trying to convey. The themes of death, misogyny, poverty, racism and violence in the story are shown through Esperanza 's childlike eyes, and so her message is more impactful. Mango Street was a voice for those who wont or can 't advocate for their own hardships, and Cisneros delivered her message…

    • 1027 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Bricks are crumbling in places, and the front door is so swollen you have to push hard to get in"(Cisneros 4). They all share rooms: Esperanza’s Momma with her Papa, her younger brothers Kiki and Carlos, and Nenny with Esperanza's. The author states their front yard only consist of, “four Elms trees that are near the curb”(Cisneros 4). They own a garage but no car and have a incredibly small yard.…

    • 1072 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Esperanza lives in a small, rundown house on Mango Street. Throughout the story, Esperanza loses her innocence and matures. As the story begins, Esperanza is portrayed as innocent and young. She explains to the reader how the boys and the girls in her neighborhood seem to “live in separate worlds” (Cisneros 8). Esperanza does not seem to have an interest in the opposite sex.…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    After reading The House on Mango Street, I´ve encountered two characters that stood out to me the most. One of the characters that stood out to me was Esperanza the main character in the book. The other character was Esperanzas younger sister,¨nenny¨ whose real name was Magdalena. Throughtout the story a relationship was created between the two characters in the book. Within this writing, It includes the analyzation of the relationship between the two sisters.…

    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The best chapter of any chapter in the House on Mango street is Papa Who Wakes Up Tired in the Dark. It is the perfect blend of nearly every single literary device and it shows insight into life itself. It gives us the feeling we all had as we had to be the so called parent in the situation not knowing what to do not knoing what to say. The chapter not only gives us that but it masks the true meaning of the chapter in symbolism of what our parents do for us and what we all know what will happen eventually.…

    • 672 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays