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IVONNE CHABA KALACH

THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET

!   Esperanza Cordero and her family have moved uncountable times, she is now living the house on Mango street. It is not the dream house they always wanted, she shares room with her little sister Nenny and her brothers and her parents share another two bedrooms.

HAIRS

!   Esperanza cuts the hair of all the members in her family; it reminds her of her mother and how she used to do it.

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BOYS & GIRLS

!   Esperanza’s biggest wish is to have a best girl friend; she thinks that Nenny her sister is two young to be best friends as Kiki and Carlos are. She looks at Nenny as her responsibility. She really misses her best friend; she misses telling her every secret of hers.

MY NAME !  Esperanza discovers that the meaning of

her name is ¨hope¨. She mas named after her grandmother that was also born during the Chinese year of the Horse, Esperanza never got to meet her grandmother.

CATHY QUEEN OF CATS

!   Cathy becomes the new first friend in her new neighborhood. They make a weird deal that they were only going to be friends for a week, she offends Esperanza telling her that the neighborhood is getting bad because of families like Esperanza´s. Cathy claims to be related to the queen of France and hopes to go to France someday to inherit the family house.

OUR GOOD DAY

!   Cathy is acting very rude towards Esperanza being friends with other two new girl friends named Lucy and Rachel. Cathy tells Esperanza that they ¨smell like a broom¨. The three girls ride their bike that Esperanza just bought with Nenny’s help. Rachel and Lucy are Chicana sisters and their family is from Texas.

LAUGHTER !   Esperanza explains that she and Nenny have

a lot of things in common, they laugh and think the same. Nenny and Esperanza suddenly see some houses that remind them both of Mexico, they don’t really know why.

GIL’S FURNITURE BOUGHT & SOLD

!   There is a store that is managed and owned by an old black man in the neighborhood. This store is full of strange stuff, broken televisions and articles. Esperanza is very intimidated by the man, but Nenny isn’t so. Nenny sees a wooden box that plays music, she tries to buy it but the owner says it is not for sale.

MEME ORTIZ

!  Meme and his dog moves in the house that used to be Cathy’s house. This house is wooden and Esperanza knew that Cathy’s father built this house. After a while they had a Tarzan jumping contest and Meme (Juan) broke his both arms.

LOUIE, HIS COUSIN & HIS OTHER COUSIN

!   A Puerto Rican family rents Meme’s basement apartment. In this family there’s a boy named Louie that is Esperanza’s brother friend and his cousin named Marin that also lives with the Ortiz family. One day another cousin of Louie rides in the neighborhood with a new brand Cadillac and takes all the kids for a ride, suddenly they crash into a streetlight and he was arrested.

MARIN

!  Marin has a boyfriend in Puerto Rico whom she plans to marry when she goes back. She hopes to meet a rich man on the subway who will marry her and take her to live outside the barrio. Marin talks to the girls about some other stuff that she thinks it will help them in the future.

THOSE WHO DON’T

!   Esperanza says that people “who don’t know any better” think her neighborhood is dangerous, Esperanza is scared that people get stabbed and she is very scared. A man with a crooked eye intimidates her. She was never scared before.

There Was an Old Woman She Had So Many Children She Didn’t Know What to Do !   Esperanza says that the Vargas kids are just

bad, and they are all only with a single mom called Rosa. Their father had abandoned them and she had received non of his help. Her multiple children didn’t care about anyone or anything. Angel had fell and died and this didn’t even made them change.

Alicia Who Sees Mice

!   Alicia is a girl that also lives in this neighborhood, her mother died, so this left her responsible for the cleaning and cooking to serve his dad. Alicia has the dream to go to college, even dough her father doesn’t want her to go to college. The father says that women are not made to study and get a job.

Darius and the Clouds

!   Esperanza hates living in the inner city, she says that there are not enough nature of flowers and that the sky is not very “puffy”. And suddenly a boy named Darius, that Esperanza doesn’t like, says something that surprises Esperanza. He points at a cloud and names it G’d.

And Some More

!  A conversation about clouds between Esperanza, Nenny, Lucy, and Rachel turns into a fight. Esperanza knows two names: cumulus and nimbus. One of the girls says Esperanza has an ugly fat face, and after this the girls insult each other.

The Family of Little Feet

!   Esperanza imagines a family of people with tiny, plump feet. Her description of the fairy-tale family merges into an account of a day when a woman gives her, Nenny, Rachel, and Lucy some old pairs of high-heeled shoes that happen to fit their small feet perfectly. He asks her to kiss him for a dollar.

A Rice Sandwich

!   Esperanza envies the kids who get to eat lunch in the canteen at school instead of having to go home for lunch. At school, Sister Superior does not accept Esperanza’s mother’s note, saying that Esperanza lives too close to school and must go home to eat. Esperanza is embarrassed and nods her head.

Chanclas

!  For Esperanza’s cousin’s baptism, Esperanza’s mother buys her a beautiful new outfit but forgets to buy the shoes that go with it. Esperanza is proud that one particular boy watches her dance.

HIPS

!   Esperanza, Nenny, Lucy, and Rachel jump rope and discuss the meaning of the hips they are beginning to develop. Esperanza begins to believe hips have a musical quality. Rachel, Lucy, and Esperanza make up original chants about hips while dancing and jumping rope.

The fist job

!   Esperanza’s family wants her to get a summer job, since she hasn’t done much lately. One day she gets home and discovers that her aunt had got her a job; matching pictures with negatives at the local photofinishing store. Esperanza is very lonely until he meets an Oriental guy that asks Esperanza to give him a big kiss because of his birthday.

Papa Who Wakes Up Tired in the Dark !   Esperanza’s grandfather dies; his father will

have to go to Mexico for the funeral. Esperanza now have the responsibility to tell her younger siblings and explain what has happened. Esperanza hugs his father and she tries to be strong in front of him.

Born Bad !   Esperanza and her friends start playing a game

imitating and reading to dead people, this time they played with Aunt Lupe that had died because of a disease. Aunt Lupe told Esperanza that she should keep writing because it would keep her free. Esperanza and her friends took turns imitating Lupe.

Elenita, Cards, Palm, Water ! Elenita a witch woman have Esperanza her

fortune. Elenita tries to show Esperanza a spirit in a glass full of water, but Esperanza doesn’t believe in this stuff. Esperanza just wants to hear about a house in her future, but that didn’t came out.

Geraldo No Last Name !   Marin goes to a dance and meets a guy named

Geraldo, they start dancing and they start bonding, until they decide to leave. When they step out a car hits Geraldo and they go directly to the hospital. Geraldo dies in the emergency room because no doctor would pay attention to him. The police asks some questions to Marin before she leaves the hospital.

Edna’s Ruthie !   Ruthie is being introduced into the story, she has

an apartment next to Esperanza’s. Ruthie shows Angel Vegas and the other how beautiful she whistles. The chapter tells us that she Ruthie is a very talented person and she got married instead of getting a job. Ruthie has a difficult time expressing herself, she stays all day long in her mother house until her husband comes for her.

“The Earl of Tennessee” !   Earl is another neighbor of Esperanza’s and he

is a jukebox repairman. Earl supposedly has a wife and he has two beautiful dogs. And it is said that he brings random woman.

“Sire” !   Esperanza is a guy that has a huge crush on

Sire, he also lives in the neighborhood. Lois has a girlfriend called Lois and they take walks every day as Esperanza stares at them. Esperanza is very curious about how would it be to have a boyfriend like Sire.

“Four Skinny Trees” !   Esperanza compares herself with some trees

that she has outside her house. She thinks that the trees shouldn’t be in the barrio and she fined a very important meaning to the trees. She says the trees represent her reason of being.

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“No Speak English” ! Mamacita is introduced, she is a woman that

comes from Mexico and she refuses to assimilate to other people in the neighborhood. She is very sad that she has left Mexico. Esperanza finds her very beautiful, even dough she is very fat.

“Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut & Papaya Juice on Tuesdays” !   Rafaela is a very beautiful woman that is being

locked down by his husband because he is afraid she will leave him for someone else. She drops a dollar to Esperanza so she and her friends can buy her coconut of papaya juice at the store, since she can’t leave her apartment.

“Sally” !   Sally is also very beautiful, she looks like a

classy girls that really takes care of her. Sally is also being locked down in her house because her father thinks her beauty is dangerous. Esperanza admires her because of her beauty.

“Minerva Writes Poems” !   Minerva is being introduced and she is only two

years older than Esperanza, the only difference is that Minerva is married and has two children. Minerva loves to write poems even dough her husband beats her, she is okay with it.

“Bums in the Attic” !   Esperanza dreams of a nice suburban house

with a huge garden in the back, she wants it were her father works. But she knows that she can’t have any of these houses. She want to work and have one of these houses when she grows up.

“Beautiful & Cruel” !   Esperanza starts worrying about her physical

aspect, she thinks she will stay at home for the rest of her life. Esperanza’s mom conforts her and tells her she is beautiful and that she will be even more when she grows up. She doesn’t want

“A Smart Cookie” !   Esperanza´s mom is complaining bout her life,

she says she would have liked to do something with the skills she has. She gives an important lecture to Esperanza about how she has to take care of herself and not relay on men. Esperanza´s mother tells a story about when she was young.

“What Sally Said”

!   Sally´s father beats her, and he beats her badly. Sally decides to move in with Esperanza to feel safe, until the father comes and apologizes to Sally. Sally comes back and the father beats her again, she misses school for two days.

“The Monkey Garden” !   Esperanza tries to save Sally from some boys

that took her keys and told her that she would have to kiss them to get them back. Esperanza comes in with a brick to confront the boys when and they start laughing at them, Sally laughed to.

“Red Clowns” !   Esperanza is very scared because she was

sexually abused, Esperanza and Sally goes to a Carnival and have a good time. Esperanza is attacked by a group of boys and she is traumatized.

“Linoleum Roses” !   Sally gets married with an older man; he takes

her to another state, out of Mango Street. This man is a little bit crazy because he doesn´t let Sally do anything. She isn´t allowed to go out of the house, to see through the window nor talk on the phone.

“The Three Sisters” !   A tragedy happens when Lucy and Rachel´s

sister dies, the whole neighborhood gathers in Lucy and Rachel´s house. Some aunts call Esperanza and tells her that her name is fascinated; Esperanza is fascinated by them as well.

“Alicia & I Talking on Edna’s Steps” !   Esperanza is jealous of Alicia because she lives

in Guadalajara, and as we all know Esperanza hates Mango street. Esperanza refuses to tell Alicia which is her house because she hates it. Esperanza does not want to come back to Mango Street until it gets better.

“A House of My Own” !   Esperanza describes her ideal and dream

house. She says she doesn´t want a man living with her, she wants her house to be her own paradise, perfect and peaceful.

“Mango Says Goodbye Sometimes” !   Esperanza recognizes she wants to be a

storyteller, and she says that she loves to talk about the house on Mango street because she feels free. She likes to talk about a girl who did not want to belong. She knows one day she will get out of that house, when she is older.

The end!