Esperanza says Sally has “eyes like Cleopatra,” which she attributes to her cruelty to other people (49).

However, Esperanza overlooks these dangers and continues to admire and idolize Sally. At one point, even Esperanza’s mother calls Sally’s way of dressing “dangerous,” which refers to a time Sally wears “nylons and sexy black shoes” (48). For instance, Sally’s father says her daughter’s beauty is “trouble” (35). Sally’s parents and Esperanza acknowledge the dangerous nature of her beauty. Sally is significant because she represents Esperanza’s aspired achievements. Sally is beautiful to the extent that it is harmful to herself and those close to her. Even though Esperanza endures sexual abuses, Cisneros expresses optimism to the degree that “The House on Mango Street” is not a novel about sexual assault. One significant scene is Esperanza’s expression of the hatred for her name when she says, “in Spanish it means too many letters” (41). Major themes of this novel include the struggle for identity, sexuality versus independence, the influence of language, social class, gender, familial relationships, and friendship. Lastly, Nenny, Esperanza younger sister, represents responsibility for the protagonist. Sally is the person Esperanza adores and seeks to make a friend out of. Esperanza is the center of the novel and the narrator, which shows her significance.

The protagonist, Esperanza, shifts to a poor, Latino community with her family. The setting of the novel is Mango Street (Cisneros 19). His novel “The Barbarian Nurseries” was named a New York Times Notable Book in 2011 and also won the California Book Award Gold Medal for Fiction his latest work is “The Last Great Road Bum.” He’s married, the father of three children and the son of Guatemalan immigrants.Sandra Cisneros “The House on Mango Street” is a compilation of essays that are not entirely developed poems or narratives. The Los Angeles-born writer is the author of five books, which have been translated into 15 languages. Tobar has an MFA in creative writing from UC Irvine and studied at UC Santa Cruz and at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico in Mexico City. He has also worked as features editor at the LA Weekly and as editor of the bilingual San Francisco magazine El Tecolote.

Tobar was The Times’ bureau chief in Mexico City and Buenos Aires and was part of the reporting team that won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the 1992 L.A. Hector Tobar worked at the Los Angeles Times for two decades: as a city reporter, national and foreign correspondent, columnist and with the books and culture department.

The house on mango street short story