The Author
“Sandra Cisneros was born in Chicago in 1954. She has worked as a teacher to high school dropouts, a poet-in-the-schools, a college recruiter, and an arts administrator. Internationally acclaimed for her poetry and fiction, and the recipient of numerous awards, Cisneros is also the author of Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories, My Wicked Ways, and Loose Woman”(p.111).
“The daughter of a Mexican father and a Mexican-American mother, and sister to six brothers, she is nobody’s mother and nobody’s wife. She lives in San Antonio, Texas, and a currently at work on a novel” (p.111).
“The daughter of a Mexican father and a Mexican-American mother, and sister to six brothers, she is nobody’s mother and nobody’s wife. She lives in San Antonio, Texas, and a currently at work on a novel” (p.111).
The Author's dream House
She has been living in Chicago for many years. The purple and red house are same but she changed the purple color into red color.
Book History
The book first published in 1984, but after the book has been published many years. The book is designed by Cathryn S. Aison and hand letter by Henry Sene Yee. The book has many small chapters and different characters which are 44 short character sketches, or stories, called vignettes.
Issues Covered in the book.
This book covers many different issues such as age, relationship between people and society, religion, and immigration. This book shows how people act, stay, and live in poor society. This book also shows relationship between father and daughter, wife and husband, mother and children, husband and his work, girls and old men, boys and girls, girls and society.
Themes: The House on Mango Street
The House on Mango Street Theme of Identity
The House on Mango Street revolves around one girl and her struggle to fit the puzzle pieces of her identity – ethnicity, gender, cultural inheritance, sexuality, and economic status, to name a few examples – into a coherent whole. All of these facets come into play as Esperanza learns that, more than anything else, what defines her is her ability to tell stories. Her writing allows her to reconcile herself to those aspects of her background that made her feel uncomfortably different from her peers, and she emerges a confident writer with ambitious plans
The House on Mango Street Theme of Dreams, Hopes, and Plans
The dreams, hopes and plans of the characters in The House on Mango Street are often symbolized by a house – check out our discussion of houses in this novel in the "Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory" section for more on this. For Esperanza's Mama and Papa, the idea of happiness and security is summed up in the image of a white house, big enough for their whole family. They pass this dream down to their children, but Esperanza takes it and makes it her own – her dream becomes having a house all to herself, in which she can be free to write.
The House on Mango Street Theme of Society and Class
Like many of the issues that come up in The House on Mango Street, social and class distinctions are discussed in a sort of oblique way. They're never given a name. Our protagonist, Esperanza, never comes out and says, "Hey, my family is poor!" No. That would be way too easy (and way too boring). Instead, we figure out that poverty and class distinctions are an issue by pulling clues from the text. The residents of Mango Street live in crumbling, run-down apartments and houses. They envy the beautiful, well-kept houses in nice neighborhoods of the city. And no one, not even the mayor, seems to want to help them resolve their problems.
The House on Mango Street Theme of Innocence
The House on Mango Street is a coming-of-age story about a young girl named Esperanza. Like many coming-of-age stories, this one deals with Esperanza's loss of innocence and familiarization with sex. Tragically, her education in these matters isn't voluntary – while Esperanza tries to cling to a childhood that she's not really ready to leave behind, she's threatened by sexual violence as soon as she enters adolescence. Esperanza is forcibly initiated into the world of sex when a group of boys rapes her at a carnival.
The House on Mango Street Theme of Gender
Esperanza is not a big fan of the gender roles that keep women in her community oppressed. Men on Mango Street beat their wives and daughters and confine them to the home. Just being a women is sometimes cause enough for abuse – a fact that we observe in the beatings that Sally constantly receives, and in Esperanza's rape. Esperanza offers us a critique of the way men and women relate to one another, and refuses to conform to the expectations placed on her sex by getting married or even acting in a feminine way. For our protagonist, defying gender roles and remaining independent is an act of rebellion, and a source of power.
The House on Mango Street Theme of Women and Femininity
Women occupy a central role in The House on Mango Street. Almost all of the major characters are women, and the protagonist's understanding of her own femininity motivates much of the story. Esperanza perceives beauty to be a major source of feminine power, and she admires and envies beauty in her female relatives and friends. But she also notices that beauty is not an infallible weapon, and that it can backfire – the beautiful women in the novel are often the ones who suffer the most at the hands of men. In her struggle to define her own femininity in a society that is often oppressive to women, Esperanza seeks new forms of feminine power – ones that will allow her to maintain her independence.
The House on Mango Street Theme of Foreignness and 'The Other'
Set in a Latino community in Chicago, The House on Mango Street contains many characters who are or have been foreigners in some way. The novel explores the feelings associated with foreignness and exile, like loneliness, isolation, shame, and a sense of not belonging. It also describes some of the social attitudes towards foreignness, from fear on the part of white people who venture into the Latino neighborhood by mistake, to apathy on the part of hospital workers called on to tend to a dying Mexican man, to condescension on the part of neighbors like Cathy who are eager to make themselves look superior in some way.
The House on Mango Street Theme of The Home
The idea of home and houses are central to The House on Mango Street, as you may have noticed when you read the section "What's Up With the Title?" and our discussion of houses under "Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory." Esperanza's major challenge in this novel is to overcome her feelings of isolation and experience a sense of belonging, which is another way of saying she needs to feel at home. For Esperanza, it's important both to have a home that she can point to as a way of explaining a past that she can be proud of, and to have a vision of a home in her future – something to inspire her.
The House on Mango Street Theme of Family
Esperanza's relationship with her family provides her with a sense of belonging – even when she does her best to deny it. Like a lot of adolescents, Esperanza doesn't always feel close to her family. She thinks her little sister Nenny is a drag, she rolls her eyes at her parents' long-shot dreams of winning the lottery, and part of her hates going to visit her sick aunt in her smelly old apartment. But every once in a while, Esperanza betrays her feelings of love and connectedness to the people she's related to. Esperanza's connection to her family is a major reason she ends up feeling like she does – at least part of the time – belong to the house on Mango Street.
The House on Mango Street Theme of Friendship
For a girl who feels as isolated as Esperanza does, making friends becomes an urgent and persistent goal. The House on Mango Street deals with the theme of friendship as Esperanza struggles to form connections with her peers and thinks about what her relationships mean. Esperanza experiences a wide variety of friendships over the course of the novel that seem to increase in intensity and meaning. From the obligatory time spent babysitting her little sister, to the spontaneous connections made with neighborhood girls over a shared bicycle, to the empathy and advice offered to her by Alicia, Esperanza grows more and more mature in her friendships.
The House on Mango Street revolves around one girl and her struggle to fit the puzzle pieces of her identity – ethnicity, gender, cultural inheritance, sexuality, and economic status, to name a few examples – into a coherent whole. All of these facets come into play as Esperanza learns that, more than anything else, what defines her is her ability to tell stories. Her writing allows her to reconcile herself to those aspects of her background that made her feel uncomfortably different from her peers, and she emerges a confident writer with ambitious plans
The House on Mango Street Theme of Dreams, Hopes, and Plans
The dreams, hopes and plans of the characters in The House on Mango Street are often symbolized by a house – check out our discussion of houses in this novel in the "Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory" section for more on this. For Esperanza's Mama and Papa, the idea of happiness and security is summed up in the image of a white house, big enough for their whole family. They pass this dream down to their children, but Esperanza takes it and makes it her own – her dream becomes having a house all to herself, in which she can be free to write.
The House on Mango Street Theme of Society and Class
Like many of the issues that come up in The House on Mango Street, social and class distinctions are discussed in a sort of oblique way. They're never given a name. Our protagonist, Esperanza, never comes out and says, "Hey, my family is poor!" No. That would be way too easy (and way too boring). Instead, we figure out that poverty and class distinctions are an issue by pulling clues from the text. The residents of Mango Street live in crumbling, run-down apartments and houses. They envy the beautiful, well-kept houses in nice neighborhoods of the city. And no one, not even the mayor, seems to want to help them resolve their problems.
The House on Mango Street Theme of Innocence
The House on Mango Street is a coming-of-age story about a young girl named Esperanza. Like many coming-of-age stories, this one deals with Esperanza's loss of innocence and familiarization with sex. Tragically, her education in these matters isn't voluntary – while Esperanza tries to cling to a childhood that she's not really ready to leave behind, she's threatened by sexual violence as soon as she enters adolescence. Esperanza is forcibly initiated into the world of sex when a group of boys rapes her at a carnival.
The House on Mango Street Theme of Gender
Esperanza is not a big fan of the gender roles that keep women in her community oppressed. Men on Mango Street beat their wives and daughters and confine them to the home. Just being a women is sometimes cause enough for abuse – a fact that we observe in the beatings that Sally constantly receives, and in Esperanza's rape. Esperanza offers us a critique of the way men and women relate to one another, and refuses to conform to the expectations placed on her sex by getting married or even acting in a feminine way. For our protagonist, defying gender roles and remaining independent is an act of rebellion, and a source of power.
The House on Mango Street Theme of Women and Femininity
Women occupy a central role in The House on Mango Street. Almost all of the major characters are women, and the protagonist's understanding of her own femininity motivates much of the story. Esperanza perceives beauty to be a major source of feminine power, and she admires and envies beauty in her female relatives and friends. But she also notices that beauty is not an infallible weapon, and that it can backfire – the beautiful women in the novel are often the ones who suffer the most at the hands of men. In her struggle to define her own femininity in a society that is often oppressive to women, Esperanza seeks new forms of feminine power – ones that will allow her to maintain her independence.
The House on Mango Street Theme of Foreignness and 'The Other'
Set in a Latino community in Chicago, The House on Mango Street contains many characters who are or have been foreigners in some way. The novel explores the feelings associated with foreignness and exile, like loneliness, isolation, shame, and a sense of not belonging. It also describes some of the social attitudes towards foreignness, from fear on the part of white people who venture into the Latino neighborhood by mistake, to apathy on the part of hospital workers called on to tend to a dying Mexican man, to condescension on the part of neighbors like Cathy who are eager to make themselves look superior in some way.
The House on Mango Street Theme of The Home
The idea of home and houses are central to The House on Mango Street, as you may have noticed when you read the section "What's Up With the Title?" and our discussion of houses under "Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory." Esperanza's major challenge in this novel is to overcome her feelings of isolation and experience a sense of belonging, which is another way of saying she needs to feel at home. For Esperanza, it's important both to have a home that she can point to as a way of explaining a past that she can be proud of, and to have a vision of a home in her future – something to inspire her.
The House on Mango Street Theme of Family
Esperanza's relationship with her family provides her with a sense of belonging – even when she does her best to deny it. Like a lot of adolescents, Esperanza doesn't always feel close to her family. She thinks her little sister Nenny is a drag, she rolls her eyes at her parents' long-shot dreams of winning the lottery, and part of her hates going to visit her sick aunt in her smelly old apartment. But every once in a while, Esperanza betrays her feelings of love and connectedness to the people she's related to. Esperanza's connection to her family is a major reason she ends up feeling like she does – at least part of the time – belong to the house on Mango Street.
The House on Mango Street Theme of Friendship
For a girl who feels as isolated as Esperanza does, making friends becomes an urgent and persistent goal. The House on Mango Street deals with the theme of friendship as Esperanza struggles to form connections with her peers and thinks about what her relationships mean. Esperanza experiences a wide variety of friendships over the course of the novel that seem to increase in intensity and meaning. From the obligatory time spent babysitting her little sister, to the spontaneous connections made with neighborhood girls over a shared bicycle, to the empathy and advice offered to her by Alicia, Esperanza grows more and more mature in her friendships.
Why should people read this book?
Children always want to improve and learn English so they can get good grade in their classes. Reading books is the key to improving and learning everything. Reading can expand children’s mind, thinking and help to learn new things in their life. Children want to learn about literary devices such as denotation, connotation, cliché, irony, metaphor, simile, onomatopoeia, personification, hyperbole. Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street book is one of them. This book has many things such as literary devices that children can learn from it such as Simile and Metaphor. Simile and Metaphor are playing important parts in reading, writing and listening parts.
Simile is a noun and its pronunciation is ˈsɪm·ə·liː. Simile means an expression including the words "like" or "as" to compare one thing with another. For example, She was good at capturing a passing figure with an apt simile or comparison. Simile is important to learn to improve English. “The snoring, the rain, and Mama’s hair that smells like bread” (p.7). “The grandmother’s feet were lovely as pearls and dressed in velvety high heels” (p.39). “The taxi door opened like a waiter’s arm” (p.76). “One with laughter like tin and one with eyes of a cat and one with hands like porcelain” (p.104).
Metaphor is a noun; Metaphorical is adjective form for metaphor and its pronunciation is mt-fôr, -fr. Metaphor means an expression that describes a person or object by referring to something that is considered to possess similar characteristics. For example, "A heart of stone" is a metaphor. Metaphor also plays significant part in reading. “Nenny is too young to be my friend” (p.8). “Mother’s feet, plump and polite” (p.40). “She is too many light-years away” (p.52).
The books are most helpful and important part in children life to make them successful in their life. Children can learn literary devices from these books. Reading books in English language has good influence on children. By reading English books, they can improve vocabulary, reading power, pronunciations, grammar, and writing.
Simile is a noun and its pronunciation is ˈsɪm·ə·liː. Simile means an expression including the words "like" or "as" to compare one thing with another. For example, She was good at capturing a passing figure with an apt simile or comparison. Simile is important to learn to improve English. “The snoring, the rain, and Mama’s hair that smells like bread” (p.7). “The grandmother’s feet were lovely as pearls and dressed in velvety high heels” (p.39). “The taxi door opened like a waiter’s arm” (p.76). “One with laughter like tin and one with eyes of a cat and one with hands like porcelain” (p.104).
Metaphor is a noun; Metaphorical is adjective form for metaphor and its pronunciation is mt-fôr, -fr. Metaphor means an expression that describes a person or object by referring to something that is considered to possess similar characteristics. For example, "A heart of stone" is a metaphor. Metaphor also plays significant part in reading. “Nenny is too young to be my friend” (p.8). “Mother’s feet, plump and polite” (p.40). “She is too many light-years away” (p.52).
The books are most helpful and important part in children life to make them successful in their life. Children can learn literary devices from these books. Reading books in English language has good influence on children. By reading English books, they can improve vocabulary, reading power, pronunciations, grammar, and writing.
Characters in the Book
Sandra Cisneros introduce many characters in the book The House on Mango Street. These characters play a good role in this book and society.
Author Poems
Author wrote books and poems in English and Spanish. The picture has one of her poems which are really popular.
