House on Mango Street

House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros demonstrates that we will always have emotional ties to where we grew up and this “home” has a heavy influence on how we become ourselves.

The book tells about Esperanza, a Hispanic girl, through little windows of her life. Esperanza grows up in a poor family of six in a one room, one bathroom house on Mango Street. Esperanza has always had the dream of owning her own house. She dreams of owning a nice fancy white house unlike the one story brick house on Mango Street. The house represents the desire Esperanza has to get away from the neighborhood where she lives. As the book develops and Esperanza matures, she realizes her escape is through her writing.

The style of Sandra Cisneros can be very confusing. Each chapter is like a short story with Esperanza, the main charter, being the centerpiece. There is no set setting; she just jumps from place to place, depending on the particular instant of the short story. This style is good if readers like to have a good stopping point in the book. I find this, however, to be frustrating because there is no flow to the story. I prefer the story to be connected together.