The House on Mango Street Review

Book Information: Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. New York: Vintage Books, 1984.

This book was inspired from different childhood experiences that was made visible to Cisneros through one of her graduate classes that she took. She was told to write about the house that she grew up in. She thought to herself, and realized that she has never lived in a house. Her family never really owned a house or stayed in one for too long. This is the inspiration of the book. Sandra realized that most people in her class were white, middle-upper class people who all had a childhood house that they grew up in. Cisneros did not, and so is the inspiration for the book, which is a unique form of vignettes in which the book can be seen as a mix of short, progressive stories, poetic nuances, and intense imagery. Each short story can be viewed as a larger "chapter" in this book which each have poetic literary qualities.

The House on Mango Street is about a young girl named Esperanza, who lives in a worn-down red house on Mango Street. Each story tells about something particular in Esperanza's life, and all of these short stories, or chapters, are put together gives the reader a sense of Esperanza's identity. Throughout the book Esperanza's friends, family, and neighbors wander in and out of her stories; through them all Esperanza sees, learns, loves, and dreams of the house she will someday have, her own house, not on Mango Street. At the same time, she grows up and starts to leave her childhood, while learning about the fears and dangers of the world she never knew of before. Becoming an adult turns out to be a hard challenge. The first vignette called "House On Mango Street" is meant to describe the setting. The second "Hairs" describes the looks and characteristics of the characters. The third called "Boys and Girls" tells the difference between genders, which is important because the story deals with men and women. The following vignette called "My Name" paints the image of self and the feelings of hope and the future. This format follows throughout the book. Therefore, these vignettes are not mere collections of random thoughts and uneducated language, but a poetic story with a well drawn setting, characterization, and tone.

My particular favorite vignette, which conveniently describes Esperanza's situation, is Four Skinny Trees. In this vignette, Esperanza describes four trees that were planted despite the conditions. The trees beat all odds as they grow down through the soil, and become rooted to where they are from, while at the same time growing up to the sky, where literally the sky is the limit. This observation of Esperanza inspires her, "When I am too sad and too skinny to keep keeping, when I am a tiny thing against so many bricks, than it is I look at trees. When there is nothing left to look at on this street. Four who grew despite concrete. Four who reach and do not forget to reach. Four whose only reason is to be and be" (75). I think the trees serve as a metaphor for Esperanza in the fact that despite how much Esperanza wants to grow up and have a house of her own, she knows that her past will always be with her and a part of her. By the end of the book, Esperanza realizes that her dreams are hard, but possible, and that rather than shun and despise her roots and where she is from, to embrace it and make it a part of herself.

Sandra Cisneros is an insider author.