1) The novel The House on Mango Streets talks about a twelve year old, Chicana girl named Esperanza. It tells a series of short stories about her neighborhood and the people in it. The novel covers about a time period of one year. In the beginning Esperanza tells the readers about her move from her old crummy apartment to this new house, a house they can call their actual home. Esperanza lets us know she isn’t exactly thrilled about the house because it’s still pretty beat up, and to make matters worse it right in the center of her neighborhood. Throughout the whole novel she expresses her strong desires to escape this racially segregated neighborhood and get her own home.
Over the time period of the novel, Esperanza matures both physically and mentally. She gets a job, develops crushes, learns to stand up for her little sister, Nenny, and even experiences a sexual assault. This novel is very descriptive about its characters and location. The audience gets a clear picture of what type of people live in the neighborhood and their interactions with Esperanza.
2) The theme of this novel is racial tension. It exist throughout the whole novel and in most of the characters’ lives. An example would be when the nuns wouldn’t let Esperanza eat in the cafeteria and made her go home for lunch. Also when Esperanza tells the audience that the people of the neighborhood see brown skin and feel comfortable, but when they see light colored skin, their knees start to shake. They fear those who are not the same race and are afraid to try and interact with each other.
3) The author’s tone in this novel is hopeful and passionate. Esperanza is hopeful that she will one day leave her neighborhood and find a new and better home for herself. It is also very passionate because Esperanza has strong emotions and thoughts throughout the entire novel about her strong disapproval of the neighborhood.
* “No, this isn’t my house I say and shake my head as if shaking could undo the year I’ve lived here. I don’t belong. I don’t ever want to come from here.”
* “In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting.”
* “One day I’ll own my own house, but I won’t forget who I am or where I came from.”
4) Sandra Cisneros used many literary elements to make her theme obvious to the reader. She used understandable diction. “All brown all around, we are safe. But watch us drive into a neighborhood of another color and our knees go shakity-shake and our car windows get rolled up tight and our eyes look straight.” Cisneros also used imagery to help the audience visualize the appearances and actions in the novel. “At school they say my name funny as if the syllables were made out of tin and hurt the roof of your mouth.” Another helpful technique was her structure. She wrote in chronological order and made it easy to follow along. “In the meantime they’ll just have to move a little farther north from Mango Street, a little farther away every time people like us keep moving in.” Another great literary element used is symbolism. “I am the only one who understands them. Four skinny trees with skinny necks and pointy elbows like mine. Four who do not belong here but are here.” The most helpful literary element used was foreshadowing.
