Characters
Characters #2
Culture
Plot
Quotes
100
Wants to escape, but knows she will return.
Esperanza
100
Brings home different girls and confuses Esperanza
Earl
100
Esperanza's nationality
Mexican American
100
The style House on Mango Street is written.
Vignette
100
Explain the significance of the following quote: "For the time being, Mama says. Temporary, says Papa. But I know how these things go."
They move often.
200
Told Esperanza to return to Mango Street
Three sisters
200
Loving, safe, but living with regrets
Mama
200
Last name of Esperanza's family
Cordero
200
What happened when Louie's other cousin visited?
He gave the kids a ride in a stole car and was arrested
200
Explain the significance of the following quote: "I would like to baptize myself under a new name, a name more like the real me, the one nobody sees."
Esperanza finding her identity.
300
Sang Pepsi commercials
Baby boy
300
Obedient daughter and university student
Alicia
300
Marin's nationality
Puerto Rican
300
What does Esperanza say the Vargas kids don't have?
Respect for living things or themselves.
300
Explain the significance of the following quote: "They will not know I have gone away to come back. For the ones I left behind. For the ones I cannot out."
She'll always find herself back there at Mango Street
400
Kissed boys in the Monkey Garden
Sally
400
Died at the hospital without surgical attention
Geraldo
400
Why doesn't Esperanza go out with her family on Sundays anymore?
She is ashamed of the way they stare out the window at things they can't have.
400
What happened at Esperanza's job?
An older oriental man grabbed her face and kissed her.
400
Explain the significance of the following quote: "Who was it that said I was getting too old to play the games? Who was it I didn't listen to? I only remember that when the others ran, I wanted to run, too, up and down and through the monkey garden, fast as the boys, not like Sally who screamed if she got her stockings muddy."
In some ways, Esperanza still considers herself a kid – she still feels like she belongs to a realm in which gender doesn't matter very much. She wants to run and play "fast as the boys." Sally serves as a foil to Esperanza here. By contrast, she seems grown up and fully integrated into the gendered world of adulthood.
500
Nenny's real name
Magdalena
500
Convinced Esperanza to dance at the baptism party
Uncle Nacho
500
What is symbolic to Esperanza and her culture?
Trees
500
Why does Rafaela's husband lock her in the apartment?
He thinks she will run away because she is so beautiful
500
Explain the significance of the following quote: "One day you wake up and they are there. Ready and waiting like a new Buick with the keys in the ignition. Ready to take you where?"
Esperanza is referring to her hips. She is transitioning into adolescence and noticing her body changing. It is also a sexual reference.
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