Marin
She is the young woman who tells stories about makeup, clothes, and boys while waiting for her boyfriend to send for her.
Who is Marin?
These outsiders are described as coming into Mango Street, scared, thinking the residents are dangerous.
Who are people from outside the neighborhood?
She is the mother who “had so many children she didn’t know what to do.”
Who is Rosa Vargas?
Alicia takes on the duties of this family member after her mother dies.
What is a mother?
This is Meme Ortiz’s real name.
What is Juan Ortiz?
Marin lives with this family member, who makes her stay home in the evenings.
Who is her cousin’s family (or Louie’s family)?
Esperanza explains that people think the neighborhood is “bad,” but residents know it as this.
What is home?
Neighbors describe Rosa Vargas’s children as being like this, because they are wild, loud, and uncontrollable.
What are “animals”?
Alicia studies hard at this place, even though she’s tired from her chores.
What is the university?
Meme moved into the house that used to belong to this character.
Who is Cathy, Queen of Cats?
Marin dreams of escaping Mango Street by meeting one of these people, who she imagines will take her away.
Who is a man in a car (or a rich man)?
When Esperanza goes into a “nice” neighborhood, she admits she feels this same emotion outsiders feel on Mango Street.
What is fear?
This tragic event happens to Angel Vargas, one of Rosa’s children.
What is falling from a roof and dying?
Alicia’s father tells her that a woman’s job is this, even though Alicia wants to study.
What is “to get up early and make tortillas”?
Meme’s house is described as wooden and full of these, which make it look like it is “lopsided.”
What are floors with slanting walls/stairs?
This activity—done under the streetlight while boys watch—symbolizes Marin’s small grasp at freedom.
What is dancing?
This word describes how the people on Mango Street are unfairly judged by outsiders based on stereotypes.
What is dangerous (or threatening)?
This phrase shows how neighbors respond to the children’s behavior—tired of helping, they give up.
What is “no one looked up”?
Alicia sees these in the night, which symbolize fear, poverty, and the struggles of her environment.
What are mice?
Meme’s backyard has a giant tree that becomes the site of this kind of neighborhood competition.
What is a climbing contest?
Through Marin’s hopes for escape and reliance on men, Cisneros critiques these limiting forces on women’s independence.
What are gender roles (or societal expectations for women)?
This vignette shows how fear and prejudice go both ways, revealing that communities misunderstand each other.
What is “Those Who Don’t”?
The Vargas children symbolize this larger theme in The House on Mango Street about neglect and cycles of poverty in the neighborhood.
What is the lack of opportunity and care for marginalized families?
Despite her fears and exhaustion, Alicia represents this broader theme in the novel—one of breaking free from tradition through education.
What is female independence (or empowerment through education)?
Meme wins the climbing contest, but he pays the price when this happens.
What is he breaks both arms?