The House on Mango Street

Sandra Cisneros

Get this SparkNote to go!

Study Questions and Essay Topics

Study Questions

1. What role does death play in The House on Mango Street? How do the many deaths in the novel relate to one another, and how do they influence Esperanza?


2. What role does magic or the supernatural play in The House on Mango Street? How does it affect and influence Esperanza?


3. Discuss the role of parents in the novel. How can Esperanza’s relationship with her parents be characterized? In what ways is it different or similar to other characters’ parent/child relationships in the novel?


Suggested Essay Topics

1. What is the purpose of the internal rhymes that appear in many vignettes? Provide a detailed reading of a section’s rhyming words, explaining how the rhymes contribute to the meaning of that section as a whole.

2. How do race and gender come into conflict in The House on Mango Street? Does one triumph as the more important concern, or do both issues receive equal consideration?

3. How are sex and violence linked in this novel? Why does Esperanza both seek and try to avoid sexual experiences?

4. In what ways does writing set Esperanza apart from her neighborhood? In what ways does it help her integrate into her neighborhood?

5. Why do you think Cisneros chooses not to try to represent dialect, slang, or accents? Is her language ever particularly “Chicano” or “Latino”?

There is a mistake

by laughoutloud00, August 20, 2012

Esperanza's name means hope in ENGLISH, not Spanish

48 out of 113 people found this helpful

3

More Help

Buy the ebook of this SparkNote on BN.com

Easy to view on your iPod, phone, or ereader.

EVEN MORE HELP! ↓

Take a Study Break

SparkLife

Star Trek gets SEXY

Chris Pine and Zoe Saldana heat up the red carpet!

SparkLife

Are you afraid of relationships?

Auntie SparkNotes can help!

SparkLife

Wanna get JLaw's gorgeous glow?

Click here for simple, sexy makeup tricks!

SparkLife

Sexy starlet style

See every single look from the Met Gala!

SparkLife

Who'd be on your zombie-apocalypse crew?

We already dib'sed Genghis Khan.

Geek out!

The MindHut

Geeky Actors: Then and Now

Travel back in time!

The MindHut

Villains We Want These Actresses to Play

From super cute to super bad!

The MindHut

10 Movies Better Than Their Books

What do you think?

The MindHut

How To Look Like J-Law...

When you don't look like J-Law.

The MindHut

12 Scientific Inaccuracies in Into Darkness

What did Star Trek get wrong?

The Book

Cover image

Order The House on Mango Street at BN.com

All the words, printed on paper. Classic!

Cover image

Read What You Love, Anywhere You Like

Get Our FREE NOOK Reading Apps