The House on Mango Street

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The House on Mango Street
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Sandra Cisneros
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• Sandra Cisneros was born in Chicago in 1954, the
  only daughter in a family with six sons.
• While she was growing up, her family moved often
  between Chicago and Mexico City, where her
  fathers family lived.

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• Because she never lived in one place long enough
  to make friends, Cisneros turned to reading and
  then to writing as a refuge.
• During college, Cisneros began to write about the
  lives of Mexican-Americans in the United States,
  drawing upon her own life experiences as
  inspiration.

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• In 1984, she published The House on Mango Street,
  her best known work.

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The House on Mango Street is comprised of 44
short character sketches, or stories, called
vignettes.
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They are narrated by Esperanza, a 14 year old
Mexican-American girl, who just moved with her
family to Mango Street, in the barrio
(neighborhood).
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Esperanza hates their house on Mango Street
because it is not a real house, like the ones
shes seen on TV.
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SPANISH TERMS

• A las Mujeres To the women
• Abuelito grandfather
• Chanclas old shoes good for nothing
• Comadres female friend
• Esta muerto He is dead.

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• Frijoles kidney beans
• Los espiritus the spirits, ghosts
• Machismo male chauvinism
• Mamacitalittle mama

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• Merengue weak person type of dance
• Tembleque variation of trembler, which means to
  tremble or shake by adding que to the end,
  Rachel makes the name of a dance, like meringue