50 Fun Facts About The House on Mango Street

In The House on Mango Street, what does the man Sally marries before eighth grade sell for a living?

Marshmallows are his trade, and he has to take Sally to another state where the marriage is legal. Esperanza suspects her friend married mainly to escape her father's house.

In The House on Mango Street, which meal did Papa eat for three months because he knew no other English?

Ham and eggs, run together as "hamandeggs", was the only thing he could order when he first arrived. Esperanza tells the story to explain why a newly arrived neighbor is afraid to leave her apartment.

In The House on Mango Street, what does Esperanza's name mean in English, though she says in Spanish it means waiting?

Hope is the English meaning, but she says that in Spanish the name means too many letters and sadness as well. She would rather rename herself something like Zeze the X.

In The House on Mango Street, what does Mama's curly hair smell like when Esperanza sleeps beside her?

Bread is the smell Esperanza loves, and she likes to sleep close to Mama to breathe it in. Her own hair, by contrast, is lazy and never does what she wants.

In The House on Mango Street, Esperanza's neighbor Cathy claims to be related to the queen of which country?

France is where Cathy places her royal relative, a grand claim from a girl in a lopsided wooden house. Her family is moving away because, she says, the neighborhood is getting bad.

In The House on Mango Street's chapter The Family of Little Feet, which fairy-tale heroine do the girls say they are?

Cinderella is who they become when a bag of hand-me-down heels fits their feet. The fun ends when a man offers Rachel a dollar for a kiss, and the girls are glad once the shoes are thrown away.

In The House on Mango Street, what filling goes in the sandwich Esperanza takes to eat in the school canteen?

Rice is the filling, and Esperanza ends up eating it cold and in tears while other children watch. The Sister Superior doubted Mama's note and let her stay for that one day only.

In The House on Mango Street, what make of yellow car does Louie's cousin crash while fleeing the police?

Cadillac is the make, and the neighborhood kids pile in for lap after lap around the block before the sirens start. The driver hits a lamppost, and the children wave as he is taken away.

In The House on Mango Street, whom does Esperanza plan to let stay in the attic of her dream house?

Bums passing by will be offered the attic, because she knows how it is to be without a house. When guests hear squeaking overhead and guess rats, she will happily correct them.

In The House on Mango Street, which relative, forced into marriage, was Esperanza named after?

Her great-grandmother never forgave the husband she was made to marry and spent her life looking out a window. Esperanza has inherited the name but refuses to inherit the place by the window.

In The House on Mango Street, Esperanza was born in the Chinese year of which animal, said to bring women bad luck?

Horse years are supposed to be unlucky for girls, but Esperanza calls that a lie told by people who do not like their women strong. She shares the birth sign with the relative whose name she carries.

In The House on Mango Street, which animals does Esperanza's first friend Cathy keep in large numbers in her house?

Cats fill her house, which is how she earns the title of their queen in the chapter's name. She agrees to be Esperanza's friend, but only until her family moves away.

In The House on Mango Street, Cathy offers to be Esperanza's friend only until which day, when her family moves?

Tuesday is moving day, so the friendship comes with a built-in deadline. Cathy says the neighborhood is getting bad, forgetting that Esperanza's family has only just moved in.

In The House on Mango Street, what do Lucy and Rachel ask Esperanza to chip in five dollars to help buy?

A bike is the prize, and Esperanza raises her share from three saved dollars plus two of Nenny's. All three girls then ride it at once around the neighborhood.

In The House on Mango Street, which state does Esperanza's new friend Lucy say she comes from?

Texas is where Lucy was born, while her younger sister Rachel was born in the city where the story is set. The two win Esperanza over at once by not laughing at her name.

In The House on Mango Street, what does Cathy say Lucy and Rachel smell like when she warns Esperanza off them?

A broom is Cathy's sneer, but Esperanza feels drawn to the two sisters anyway. She gives up Cathy's friendship for theirs on the spot.

In The House on Mango Street, Esperanza says she and Nenny share a sudden laugh that sounds like what?

Dishes breaking is her image for it, loud and all at once. The sisters look nothing alike, yet only Nenny understands when Esperanza says a strange house reminds her of Mexico.

In The House on Mango Street, what does the junk store owner open for Nenny that leaves Esperanza deeply moved?

A music box starts to play, and Esperanza has to turn away so her sister will not see how it has affected her. Nenny wants to buy it, but the old man says it is not for sale.

In The House on Mango Street, what does Meme Ortiz break while winning the Tarzan Jumping Contest in his back yard?

Both arms are the price of victory in the leap from the huge tree behind his house. Meme, whose real name is Juan, lives in the house that Cathy's family left behind.

The House on Mango Street is set in a Latino neighborhood of which city, the birthplace of Sandra Cisneros?

Chicago holds the Hispanic quarter where Esperanza grows up, though the novel never specifies when its events take place. Cisneros drew partly on her own childhood in the city.

The House on Mango Street is built from 44 short, loosely linked pieces of prose known by which literary term?

Vignettes range from a paragraph or two to several pages, with Esperanza as the narrator throughout. Together they follow her as she matures on Mango Street.

In The House on Mango Street, what color is the roomy house Esperanza's family had always dreamed of owning?

White with lots of rooms was the dream, but the real house on Mango Street is small and falling apart. The family does at least own it, so there is no landlord to deal with.

In The House on Mango Street, which creatures does Alicia see at night when she stays up late studying?

Mice appear only to Alicia, and her father insists they do not exist. Since her mother died she has done all the chores for him and her younger siblings.

In The House on Mango Street, Louie's cousin Marin has a boyfriend she secretly plans to marry back in which place?

Puerto Rico is also where Marin is going to be sent back, because Louie's parents say she is too much trouble. She babysits all day and may only stand on the front porch at night.

In The House on Mango Street, the tough-acting schoolboy Darius points at a fluffy cloud and says it is what?

God, says Darius, a boy Esperanza dislikes because he torments girls, and for once she finds him wise. She loves the sky and feels her neighborhood never has enough of it.

In The House on Mango Street, which family event's party does Esperanza attend in a new outfit but old saddle shoes?

A baptism for her cousin is the occasion, and Mama forgets to buy shoes to match. Esperanza turns one boy down, then forgets her feet once Uncle Nacho coaxes her onto the floor.

In The House on Mango Street, Esperanza, longing for a best friend, calls herself which red object tied to an anchor?

A balloon is how she pictures herself, held down by having to look after Nenny. Her brothers Carlos and Kiki will not speak to her outside the house because she is a girl.

In The House on Mango Street, whose death does Papa tell Esperanza about one morning before he starts to cry?

Her grandfather, her abuelito, has died, and Papa must fly to Mexico for the funeral. Esperanza is left to tell her younger siblings and keep them quiet for the day.

In The House on Mango Street, Marin, who babysits all day and waits for boys at night, sells makeup for which company?

Avon is her line, and Marin also teaches Esperanza and her friends about the world of boys. She dreams of a real job and of meeting a rich man on the subway who will take her away.

In The House on Mango Street, which blind, bedridden relative tells Esperanza to keep writing to stay free?

Aunt Lupe was a beautiful swimmer in her youth, and she dies on the very day the girls play at imitating her. They pray afterwards, sure they are going to hell for it.

In The House on Mango Street, what does the fortune-teller Elenita see when Esperanza asks about a house?

A home in the heart is all Elenita can find, which leaves Esperanza feeling she has wasted her five dollars. The reading happens at the kitchen table while a Bugs Bunny cartoon plays in the next room.

In The House on Mango Street, what does Earl, the neighbor with a Southern accent, repair on the night shift?

Jukeboxes are his trade, which is why Earl sometimes hands the children old records. He keeps two black dogs that Esperanza says leap like an apostrophe and a comma.

In The House on Mango Street, what does Mamacita's baby boy start singing in English, bringing her to tears?

A Pepsi commercial is the tune, and it crushes her because she refuses to learn the language herself. She sits by the window all day, homesick for the pink house she left behind.

In The House on Mango Street, what do the children send up on a clothesline to the locked-in Rafaela?

Coconut or papaya juice is what she asks for, throwing a crumpled dollar down from her window to pay for it. Her husband locks her in on the nights he goes out to play dominoes.

In The House on Mango Street, what does Minerva, a young mother of two, write on scraps of paper at night?

Poems are what she writes, folding each one over and over until it is tiny. She and Esperanza read each other's work, though Minerva's husband keeps leaving and coming back.

In The House on Mango Street, why does Esperanza's mother say she quit school despite being smart enough?

She lacked nice clothes and was ashamed, so she warns Esperanza to stay in school and study hard. Mama wants her daughter able to take care of herself without a man.

In The House on Mango Street, which opera does Mama sing along to on a library record while cooking oatmeal?

Madame Butterfly plays as Mama muses that she could have done something better with her life. She can speak two languages, fix a TV and draw, yet cannot use the subway to get downtown.

In The House on Mango Street, what does Ruthie call beautiful after Esperanza recites The Walrus and the Carpenter?

Her teeth are all Ruthie can find words for, though the recital has clearly moved her. Ruthie loves books but can no longer read them because she gets headaches.

Which state's House Bill 2281 dismantled a Mexican-American studies program that taught The House on Mango Street?

Arizona's law ended a Tucson school district program that used more than 80 books. Sandra Cisneros herself joined a 2012 caravan of teachers and authors, reading from the novel along the way.

In The House on Mango Street, what do Tito and his friends steal from Sally to demand kisses in return?

Her keys are the ransom, and Sally agrees to the game. Esperanza runs to tell Tito's mother, who just says "those kids".

In The House on Mango Street, what does Esperanza grab along with three sticks to rescue Sally from the boys?

A brick is her weapon, but Sally tells her to go home and the boys tell her to leave them alone. Ashamed, Esperanza hides under a tree at the far end of the monkey garden.

In The House on Mango Street, where is Esperanza waiting for Sally by the red clowns when she is attacked?

A carnival is the setting, where Sally has gone off with an older boy. Esperanza is furious at being left alone, and insists that nothing was the way the movies and books told it.

In The House on Mango Street, what do the three old sisters at the wake ask Esperanza to do?

Make a wish, they say, then promise it will come true. One sister adds that after Esperanza leaves Mango Street she must come back for those who cannot.

In The House on Mango Street, Alicia, talking on Edna's steps, has a home to go back to in which Mexican city?

Guadalajara is where Alicia has a house to return to, while Esperanza complains she has none. Alicia answers that, like it or not, Esperanza is Mango Street.

In The House on Mango Street, Nenny is the nickname of Esperanza's younger sister, whose real first name is what?

Magdalena is her given name, though everyone uses the nickname. Esperanza is often responsible for her dreamy little sister, who is too young to be the best friend she wants.

In The House on Mango Street, what is the family surname of the twelve-year-old narrator Esperanza?

Cordero is the surname of a girl whose story has sold more than six million copies and been translated into over 20 languages. She lives with her parents and three siblings.

Which prize from the Before Columbus Foundation did The House on Mango Street win for Sandra Cisneros?

American Book Award recognition came in 1985, and the novel is now required reading in many schools and universities across the United States. It also reached the New York Times Best Seller list.

Which small publisher first brought out The House on Mango Street, years before a Vintage reissue?

Arte Público Press, a small Hispanic publishing company, put the novel out first, and Vintage reissued it in 1991. Cisneros had started the stories as a side project in graduate school.

Sandra Cisneros began The House on Mango Street while earning an MFA at a famed writers' workshop in which state?

Iowa is where Cisneros says she felt her ethnic otherness more keenly than ever before, while studying creative writing. She received her MFA from the Writers' Workshop there in 1978.

In The House on Mango Street, what are Esperanza, Nenny, Rachel and Lucy doing as they debate what hips are for?

Jumping rope turns into a contest of made-up rhymes about hips, though Nenny just repeats an old song she already knows. Rachel says hips are good for propping up babies.