Characters
The protagonist and narrator of the novel. A young girl growing up in Chicago, trying to find her place and identify.
Esperanza
The city in which the novel takes place.
Chicago
The individuals of a novel.
Characters
"The student in the hall walked as slow as a sloth"
Simile
The street that Esperanza lives on.
Mango Street
The little sister of the novel, who follows the older girls around but is oblivious to their conversations.
Nenny
Due to traditional gender roles, these two characters try to control Esperanza's life.
Her two brothers
The struggles that a character faces.
Conflict
"The tree invited us to play"
Personification
The subject that the girls talk about while jump roping showing that they cannot wait to grow up.
Hips
An older girl who Esperanza looks up to. She is eccentric and loves attention from boys.
Marin
The item that Esperanza paid $5 to Lucy and Rachel so that they all could share.
Bike
Tone
"We were Cinderella. And I was trying to find my prince charming."
The name of the girl that used to live in Esperanza's neighborhood but moved away because the neighborhood was "getting bad".
Cathy
Sisters that live in Esperanza's neighborhood. Esperanza becomes their friend as they remind her of herself.
Lucy and Rachel
The reason Esperanza needs a job.
To help pay for Catholic school
The central message or lessons of a text that the author wants to reader to understand.
Theme
"She swam to the shore to swim away from the shark."
Alliteration
The 3 words that the Nun spoke to Esperanza when asked where she lived.
"You live there?"
Esperanza's aunt who was severely ill and passed away.
Guadalupe (Lupe)
The name of the girl who decides to live with her mom on Mango Street even though she has a home elsewhere. Esperanza is amazed at her for choosing to live on Mango.
Ruthie
The specific word choice of the author. Helps to develop the tone of a text.
Diction
"Break a leg!"
"Kill two birds with one stone"
Idiom
The brothers that Nenny is not allowed to hang out with because they are too disrespectful to all living things.
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