The House On Mango Street Chapter Summaries

Day One:

Summary

The House on Mango Street is made up of 44 short stories. They were told by Esperanza, who just recently moved with her family to Mango Street, in a run down neighborhood. Esperanza hates their house on Mango Street and is ashamed of it because it is not a “real” house, like the ones she’s seen on TV.

Esperanza, whose name means “hope,” soon meets Lucy and Rachel, who she likes because they, too, are poor. She also meets Marin, who is wise about “women things” but is always stuck inside babysitting her cousins. She discovers the fear that outsiders have of her neighborhood, the fear that keeps their neighborhood “brown.” She becomes friends with Alicia, who goes to college at night so she will not be stuck “behind a rolling

At first they feel beautiful and powerful, but soon they discover that the shoes are “dangerous.” At school, Esperanza is humiliated by the Sister Superior, who assumes Esperanza lives in the worst house in the neighborhood.

Esperanza’s Aunt Lala gets her a job at a photo store, where an old man gives her a lewd kiss. Esperanza feels bad because she and her friends, in a game, made fun of her invalid Aunt Lupe, who died shortly thereafter. Aunt Lupe had listened to Esperanza’s poems and encouraged Esperanza to write.

Later, Esperanza has her fortune told by Elenita, the “witch woman.” Elenita tells Esperanza that she will have “a home in the heart.” Esperanza, who wants a “real” house, is disappointed by this fortune. Meanwhile, Sire, a boy in the neighborhood, awakens Esperanza’s sexuality: She knows he is looking at her, and she dares to look

Esperanza learns that her mother “could’ve been somebody,” but she didn’t finish school because she was ashamed of her clothes. Esperanza also learns that Sally’s father often beats her. When Esperanza tries to protect Sally from the boys who are making her kiss them, Sally and the boys tell Esperanza to go away. Esperanza wants to die because she can’t understand the game they’re playing. Later, while waiting for Sally, who had run off with a boy, Esperanza is raped. Soon after, Sally gets married.

Then Esperanza meets the Three Sisters, Rachel and Lucy’s aunts. They read Esperanza’s palm and tell her that life is a circle; that she does belong to Mango Street, forever; and that if she leaves, she must return. Later, Alicia also tells Esperanza that she belongs to Mango Street and that she must come back. Finally, Esperanza begins to tell a story “about a little girl who didn’t want to belong,” the story of Mango