The House on Mango Street

1. The House on Mango Street Important Information

2. Themes-universal ideas explored in a literary work. • The power of language • The struggle to define one’s self • A woman’s responsibility to protect and support other women

3. Motifs-recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes. • Names • Falling • Women by windows

4. Symbols • Shoes • Trees • Poetry/writing

5. Point of View • First Person • Esperanza focuses on her day-to-day activities but sometimes narrates sections that are just a series of observations. In later vignettes Esperanza talks less about herself and more about the people around her. In these sections she is never fully omniscient, but she sometimes stretches her imagination to speculate on the characters’ feelings and futures. • Mostly told in the present tense

6. Tone • Earnest • Hopeful • Personal

7. Main conflict • Esperanza struggles to find her place in her neighborhood and in the world.