SOURCE: Olivares, Julian. “Entering The House on Mango Street (Sandra Cisneros).” In Teaching American Ethnic Literatures: Nineteen Essays, edited by John R. Maitino and David R. Peck, pp. 209-35. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996.

In the following essay, Olivares provides analysis of central themes within The House on Mango Street, and suggests some possible approaches to teaching the work.

A. Analysis of Themes and Forms

Sandra Cisneros's The House on Mango Street¹ is a book about Esperanza Cordero, a Chicana girl who lives in the barrio, or ghetto, of a large city.² Through forty-four brief lyrical narratives, or vignettes, as Cisneros has called them (“Softly Insistent Voice,” 14-15), ranging from one-half to three pages, the girl recounts her growth from puberty to adolescence within the sociopolitical frame of poverty, racial discrimination, and gender subjugation. The book's action is propelled by three major themes: the girl's desire to...