Esperanza
The translation of the protagonist's name, Esperanza.
Hope
Esperanza's little sister
Nenny
Esperanza's best friends
Rachel and Lucy
What the Vargas kids don't have.
A father
The heritage (ethnicity) of the author, Sandra Cisneros.
Latina
What Esperanza wishes for above all else
A house
The names of each person in Esperanza's family
Papa, Mama, Carlos, Kiki, Esperanza and Nenny
What Rachel, Lucy, and Esperanza purchased together
A bike
The character who does not speak English
Mamacita
The city this story is set in.
Chicago
Esperanza's first job
Peter Pan's Photo Finishers
Where Esperanza's family is from
Mexico
What Esperanza and her friends do when they are looking at the sky?
The character who is described as beautiful (with eyes like Egypt)
Sally
The person in Esperanza's family who dies
Abuelito/grandfather
When she gets a house of her own, who or what Esperanza says she would let sleep in her attic
Bums (homeless)
What was in Esperanza's sandwich the day she ate in the canteen at school
Rice
A place that becomes a symbol of magic and freedom for the neighborhood children
The Monkey Garden
How the girls in Esperanza's neighborhood often try to escape their lives, or escape Mango Street.
By getting married
The name of the owner of a junk store.
Gil
Esperanza does not seem to like Nenny. How does she describe her feelings towards her sister?
"I am a red balloon, a balloon tied to an anchor."
Who in Esperanza's family cried?
Her father.
Esperanza's friend who writes poetry
Minerva
Two characters that are imprisoned by the men in their lives.
Sally and Rafaela
Esperanza's older friend who values education because she "doesn't want to spend her whole life in a factory or behind a rolling pin"
Alicia