1. THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET
By Sandra Cisneros
LITERARY DEVICES

2. SYMBOLS
Definition: objects, characters, figures or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts
Examples:
Shoes
Where they appear: “The Family of Little Feet”, “Chanclas”
What they represent: conflict between emerging sexual attractiveness and her desire for independence
Trees
Where they appear: “Four Skinny Trees”, “Meme Ortiz”
What it represents: Esperanza
Poetry
Where they appear: throughout the story
What they represent: the importance of language to Esperanza and her neighbors

3. Motifs
Definition: recurring structures, contrasts or other literary devices that can help develop and inform the text’s major themes
Examples:
Names
How they occur throughout story: Esperanza is one of the only characters with just one name. They emphasize the mix of cultures. They transform and empower their owner.
Falling
How it occurs throughout story: Angel and Meme both fall; Marin wants a falling star to change her life; Esperanza calls herself a balloon and hopes to float away
Women by windows
How they occur throughout story: E.’s great-grandmother, Mamacita, Rafaela, Minerva, Sally. They are trapped by their houses, husbands, children and circumstances

4. repetition
Definition: repeats the same words or phrases a few times to make an idea clearer
Example:
“Papa Who Wakes Up Tired in the Dark”
“I hold and hold and hold him.”
She is soothing him and not letting him go because she doesn’t want him to die like her abuelito.

5. Simile
Definition: makes a comparison, showing similarities between two different things. Unlike a metaphor, a simile draws resemblance with the help of the words “like” or “as”. Therefore, it is a direct comparison.
Examples:
“And Some More”:
They describe the clouds that look “like shaving cream,” “like big fields of sheep,” “like your face when you wake up”.
“Laughter”
Their laughter “surprised like a pile of dishes breaking”.

6. personification
Definition: figure of speech in which a thing, an idea or an animal is given human attributes.
Examples:
“Four Skinny Trees”
The trees “grab the earth between their hairy toes and bite the sky with violent teeth and never quit their anger”.
“The Monkey Garden”
“Before you knew it, the monkey garden became filled with sleepy cars”.

7. metaphor
Definition: a meaning or identity ascribed to one subject by way of another. One subject is implied to be another so as to draw a comparison between their similarities and shared traits.
Examples:
“Boy and Girls”
“Until then I am a red balloon, a balloon tied to an anchor”.

8. Social commentary
Definition: the act of expressing an opinion on the nature of society. It may be obvious, or it may be a hidden message (subtext).
Examples:
“Geraldo No Last Name”, “Those Who Don’t”
Those who are judged by others are often guilty of judging others.
Geraldo has no home and American society doesn’t assign him any value

9. Feminism (Third wave)
Definition (early 1990s to present): focuses more on marginalized population’s experiences
Examples:
“Marin” & “Alicia Who Sees Mice”
Women in these chapters struggling to find their identities outside of what others perceive them as

10. juxtaposition
Definition: the arrangements of two or more ideas, characters, actions, settings, phrases or words side-by-side or in similar narrative moments
Example:
“Hips”
Used for the purpose of comparison, contrast, rhetorical effect, suspense, or character development