No, this isn’t my house I say and shake my head as if shaking could undo the year I’ve lived here. I don’t belong. I don’t ever want to come from here.
This is Esperanza’s reply to Alicia
in “Alicia & I Talking on Edna’s Steps” after Alicia insists
that Esperanza does have a house, and that it is right there on
Mango Street. This exchange occurs near the end of the novel, when
Esperanza is realizing she does indeed belong on Mango Street. Instead
of insisting that she does not belong, here she says she doesn’t