2. The House on Mango Street
Author
Date of Birth
Childhood
Sandra Cisneros
1954
Led a somewhat migrant childhood moving back and forth between Chicago and Mexico City

3. The House on Mango Street
Focus of Works
Her works looked closely at the lives of Mexican-Americans living in America
Specifically her works look at the roles of Mexican-American women looking for a more independent role in the workplace and family

4. The House on Mango Street The book was received with critical fanfare
Background
The book was received with critical fanfare
Perhaps more notably it was a commercial success, a rare accomplishment for a Hispanic writer at the time of its release
Winner of “Before Columbus American Book Award”

5. The House on Mango Street
Highlighting the Novel
Chicano literature relates the values and traditions of Mexican-American values
The House on Mango Street is a collection of over 40 vignettes
These short stories give readers a true sense of what it is like to live in a Mexican-American neighborhood

6. The House on Mango Street
Overview
The story follows a year in the life of a young Mexican-American girl named Esperanza
Esperanza’s family has moved into a new house on Mango Street
Mango Street is populated by people with many different life stories, both stories of hope and despair.
The story focuses on the tiny, often overlooked details of a community
A kid’s first bicycle
A girl struggling to attend college and care for a family at the same time
The mysteries of hips and womanhood
Having a boyfriend or becoming interested in boys for the first time

7. Literary Focus Publication 1984 Type of Work Novella Setting (time)
Setting (place)
1984
Novella
1960s
Chicago (Mango Street)
A poor Hispanic neighborhood that would be a close reflection of the same types of place Cisneros would have lived in growing up

8. Literary Focus Point of View Conflict 1st Person
Allows the reader an intimate look at the thoughts and feelings of a girl that is seeing both her physical feelings about the world and her mental feelings changing
Varied-ranging from poverty, to sexual anxiety, to just general anxiety about growing up and maturing

9. Literary Focus
Symbols
Shoes
Are representative of both Esperanza’s financial position in society and her sexual place in society
When she is wearing her “poor” shoes she feels ugly and self-aware
When she wears her mother’s high heels she feels glamorous and sexual

10. Literary Focus
Symbols
Trees
Esperanza looks at the impossibility of trees: how they grow so tall, how their branches reach to the sky, how they grow despite concrete
The trees are representative of Esperanza’s own dreams
Despite the difficulties that surround her she can look to the trees for inspiration that the impossible can happen

11. Gender Roles in Society The American Dream Personal Identity
Literary Focus
Motifs and Conflicts
Maturity
Womanhood
Roles of Women
Sexuality
Gender Roles in Society
The American Dream
Personal Identity
Romance versus Humiliation
Beauty versus Integrity
Women and Power

12. Insightful and thoughtful Narrator who uses poetic descriptions
Characters
Esperanza
Insightful and thoughtful
Narrator who uses poetic descriptions
Feels shame over her family’s lack of wealth, especially the new neighborhood and house her family has moved into

13. Esperanza’s younger sister and closest companion
Characters
Nenny
Esperanza’s younger sister and closest companion
Some division with her sister because their separation in age prevents Nenny from knowing the physical and emotional changes her older sister is having to cope with in her life

14. Supporting Characters
Marin
Rachel and Lucy
Sally
Flirtatious and boy crazy; shares her knowledge about womanly things
Esperanza’s best friends who love words as much as she does
Sexually confident and someone that Esperanza admires