Reading Response: The House on Mango Street



The House on Mango Street cover lets you know that this book is supposed to be for the women.



              I am reading The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. My old English teacher Mrs. Mann recommended this book to me. As I was reading this book, I realized that a passage seemed very familiar. It was the passage about her family’s hair. In our Grammar and Composition Class, we read a passage from this same book so we could write a poem in Sandra Cisneros style. I named my poem Smiles. The book is about a young Hispanic girl named Esperanza. She hates her name, because in Spanish her name means sadness and waiting. This book follows her through the random events in her life.

            Sandra Cisneros writes very different, but everything flows so well. I love how she wrote this book through a child’s actual voice. Deep down I really feel like the author is Esperanza. A lot of authors only include the child’s voice and not how they may really write or say certain things. There is no punctuation, except periods. When Esperanza is talking with her friends, you can only tell who is saying what if you are actually into the book and connecting with the characters as if you were in their discussion. Esperanza is also very relatable. I understand every feeling she has and her thoughts. She is a lot younger than I am, but she symbolizes a lot of girls.

            For some reason, every time we have an essay due I am reading a book that has a relevant topic. Esperanza is Hispanic and only lives around Hispanics. In the chapter Those Who Don’t, she is describing instances where someone of another race entered her neighborhood and judged them like she goes in their neighborhoods with caution. “All brown around here, we are safe. But watch us drive into a neighborhood of another color and our knees go shakity-shake and our car windows get rolled up tight and our eyes look straight. Yeah. That is how it goes and goes.” Esperanza is very open about how she feels. I laughed at this passage, because what she said was so true and I could clearly visualize her facial expressions. I look at Esperanza as a little sister for some reason. She gets involved in some things she shouldn’t and sometimes doesn’t understand where others are coming from. She needs a little guidance, but I am really enjoying reading this book.



Sandra Cisneros