La Casa en Mango Street 1-20 SUMMARY

She wants to live in a big house that is beautiful. She doesn't want to live on Mango Street because she is embarrassed of it. She is not proud of her house.

She talks about everyones hair and how it is different.

She talks about her mothers hair and it shows that she loves it. She describes it as smelling good, caramel color, and more.

Her brothers are not her friends outside of the home, but they talk to her inside. She does not have many friends at school.

She feels like a balloon tied to an anchor. She describes it as a red balloon because it shows the uniqueness of her and how she stands out because she is different.

She tells us her name is Esperanza. Her name means hope and she says it does not represent her because she is sad and has no hope.

Cathy the cat lady is introduced. She says she will only be her friend until Tuesday. Cathy does not talk to other people and she hangs out with her cats. Cathy says that the neighborhood is a bad neighborhood because more poor people move in like Esperanzas family which makes the neighborhood not good again.

Esperanza meets Lucy and Rachel. They buy a bike together. Lucy and Rachel are mean.

They talk about Mexico because that is where they are from.

Lucy and Rachel look at her house and they see that it is different because of the different culture.

They go into Gils store and he has a variety of used things. Esperanza sees a music box with flowers and a ballerina inside that she likes. She also buy a statue of liberty for a dime.

She also sees something that she likes but she is embarrassed until Nenny also likes it. They try to buy it but he says it is not for sale.

They describe Meme Ortiz. His real name is Juan but he goes by Meme. They describe a dog that he has?? They also describe a house?? They also describe a big tree.

Marin and Louie are introduced. Marin works for Avon and loves makeup. Louie probably stole the Cadillac which they then went in a ride for and they ruined the car.

Louie got sent to jail.

Marin wants to grow up and move to Puerto Rico to her boyfriend so that they can get married. After work she dances alone and smokes.

It describes how people react whenever they drive through Mango street. People normally roll up their windows and are scared because it is a sketchy part of town. The culture is different in this part of town.

Esperanza's neighbors are a crazy family where the kids don't obey their mother. They wanted to jump off a roof and see if they could fly but they didn't and the kid died.

Alicia wakes up early in the morning and goes to make tortillas for her job. She does not like doing it. She also goes to school.

She saw a rat in her apartment but her father didn't believe her.

Darius describes the clouds to Esperanza and says that God made them and that He is in the clouds. He also says that the clouds represent something bigger than what they are so that is why he likes them.

Rachel, Lucy, Nenny, and Esperanza talk about clouds in this chapter.

Nenny gives them names of who they look like. The other girls get into fights about peoples faces. Nenny turns out to be the wise one.

A short family give Esperanza, Nenny, Rachel, and Lucy some shoes.

They go and show off in them. They are walking and then this store worker says that he will buy them more shoes? if they give him a kiss. They then take the shoes off and run and then they end up throwing the shoes away.

Esperanza wants to eat in the refectorio because that is where all of the cool kids eat. She writes a letter to mother superior trying to persuade her that she lives far away and she needs to stay at school to eat. The mother lets her eat there for one day just because Esperanza starts crying. Then Esperanza doesn't like it because her food is then cold.

Someone in Esperanzas family gets baptized. They have a party and she dances. She is a really good dancer.

Her feet her because her shoes are too small.

They are wondering why people have hips. They say that they are helpful for holding babies and dancing. Also Nenny says that if you don't have hips then that means you are a boy.