The House on Mango Street is the story of a Latina girl named Esperanza Cordero who grows up on the mean streets of an inner-city neighborhood. The author of the book is Sandra Cisneros and I think people should read The House on Mango Street because first of all it’s not difficult to read, second have a lot of short stories describing the life of Esperanza. Some of them are painful and sad but Cisneros did this so people could see that even though it was hard to deal with different things her characters display a determination to persevere, to reach, and to dream of a better life and reveal more of the struggles that we deal with everyday.

The House on Mango Street covers a year in the life of Esperanza who is about twelve years old and she moves with her family into a house on Mango Street. The house is a huge improvement from the family’s previous apartment and it’s the first home her parents actually own. However, the house is not what Esperanza has dreamed of because it’s run-down and small. Esperanza matures significantly  during the year, both sexually and emotionally. The novel charts her life as she makes friends, develops her first crush, endures sexual assault, and begins to write as a way of expressing herself and as a way to escape the neighborhood. The setting develops in Mango street in a low-income Latino neighborhood of Chicago. Some of the main characters are: Esperanza, the novel’s narrator and she’s approximately twelve years old and is a budding writer who wishes for a home of her own. Nenny is Esperanza’s little sister. Nenny whose real name is Magdalena is a pretty, dreamy little girl from whom Esperanza is often responsible. Mama grew up in the United States. She is one of the strongest-willed and smartest women in the novel, she is sometimes a source of comfort for Esperanza. Cathy is Esperanza’s first friend in the neighborhood , and moves out the week after Esperanza’s family moves in. Marin is a young woman from Puerto Rico who lives with her cousin’s family. Marin spends more of her time babysitting, also sells makeup for Avon and teaches Esperanza and her friends about the world of boys.

What I did not like of the novel is that it was kind of confused because of all the characters and it was hard to keep up with every new character as well as the little stories that says a bit of new people then suddenly change to other topic. As the chapter called Those Who Don’t  “Those who don’t know any better come into our neighborhood scared. They think we will attack them with shiny knives.” Or the chapter called Darius and the clouds in this chapter says “Darius, who doesn’t like school, who is sometimes stupid and mostly a fool, said something wise today, though most days he says nothing.” These are some examples and that is one of those things about the book that I don’t like because they confuse me and sometimes I don’t know what is the purpose of these chapters.

In conclusion, people should read The House on Mango Street because is approachable for all people whether they are educated or not and whether they are children or adults. In fact, make no one feel intimidated but welcome and not only that people get to know about Latino life and traditions. One of the things that stands out is the originally of every short story because tells about the struggles that we deal with in real life and make a special connection with the reader.