CHAPTER SUMMARIES WITH NOTES

CHAPTER 1: The House on Mango Street

Summary

Esperanza Cordero is a young girl growing up in a Hispanic family in Chicago. Poverty forces them to move more times than she can count. By the time they move to the Mango Street house, there are six of them: "Mama, Papa, Carlos, Kiki, my sister Nenny and me." Esperanza likes the new house because it belongs to them. They donÂ’t have to worry about landlord problems, like broken water pipes that donÂ’t get fixed. Esperanza has always felt ashamed of living in apartment buildings, and was happy to move into a house. However, the house isnÂ’t exactly the fantasy that Mama and Papa have always promised their children: thereÂ’s no yard, the front door sticks, the windows are tiny, and there are only three bedrooms. Her parents tell her the house is temporary, but Esperanza doesnÂ’t believe them.

Notes

The theme of Esperanza being ashamed of her economic status is a prominent one in the book. Esperanza does not exactly feel ashamed of her family; in fact, the family is generally close- knit and happy, but she is keenly aware of the disadvantages of being poor, and has dreamt of prosperity from a very young age. When she says, "I knew then I had to have a house," the reader sees the first example of her independence: it seems that she wants a house of her own, and is determined to get one.

She sees through her parents' wishful thinking in an almost cynical way (her father talks about the house they will get as he holds a lottery ticket). She doesnÂ’t seem to trust them to acquire what the whole family wants: a spacious, beautiful house. She juxtaposes her parents' fantasies with the reality they provide her with: a house that is too small, in a bad neighborhood. "I know how these things go," she says wisely, when her parents insist that the house on Mango is not permanent. Her parents are almost like children in her eyes: she seems to know more about life than they do.

CHAPTER 2: Hairs

Summary

Esperanza describes the hair of each of her family members: Carlos' is thick and straight, KickÂ’s is like fur, her father's is like a broom, her own is lazy and wonÂ’t obey pins, and her mother's hair is "like little rosettes." Based on the highly specific and artful descriptions (Nenny's hair is "slippery-- slides out of your hand"), the family is clearly very close and Esperanza feels attached to each of them, especially her mother. She remembers lying in bed with Mama, feeling safe and smelling her skin and her hair.

Notes

Esperanza reveals herself here as a thoughtful, sensitive, literate girl, who is deeply attuned to the world around her. She uses the type of hair each member of her family has to symbolize something about their personalities. Kiki, the baby of the family, has hair like fur, which makes him seem cute and babyish. Papa's hair is "like a broom, all up in the air," which seems to say something about his role as a kind, fatherly figure, harried but still in control. Most significant are Esperanza's descriptions of her own hair and her motherÂ’s hair. EsperanzaÂ’s hair never obeys barrettes or braids, which suggests her wildness and her inability to be feminine and alluring in the way that she wants to be. She describes her hair as "lazy," (rather than, say, free-spirited): she seems to blame herself and find fault with her hair, rather than accepting it the way it is. Her own hair is directly contrasted with that of her mother, which is extremely delicate, "like little rosettes, like little candy circles all curly and pretty" Her mother is girlish in the way Esperanza would like to be. Clearly, Mrs. Cordero pays attention to her appearance: she keeps her hair in pincurls all day. However, when she lets her hair down at night, she becomes a strong maternal figure for Esperanza, caring for her and comforting her. Esperanza specifically remembers smelling her motherÂ’s hair when her mother lets her into her bed. It smells like baking bread, a smell that calls to mind the comforts of food and home. In this remembered scene, Papa is asleep when Mama lets Esperanza into their bed, and his snoring fills their ears. The sound comforts Esperanza, but is almost background noise: the scene is between mother and daughter.

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