U.S. Context
Investigate the background and context for The House on Mango Street, including issues of language, identity, and more in the United States.
Investigate the neighborhoods that inspired Mango Street in the story.
Learn more about Esperanza's world through the history of the United States in the 1960s.
Spanish Language
in The House on Mango Street
Frijoles – cooked beans used in Mexican and Mexican American cuisine
Chanclas – sandals
Merengue – a style of Latin dance originating from the Dominican Republic and Haiti meant to be done with a partner
Tembleque – a Latin dance movement that involves “shaking,” inspired by the Puerto Rican dessert pudding of the same name, which jiggles and shakes when prepared correctly
Abuelito – term of endearment for grandfather
Witch Woman – bruja in Spanish, a woman who practices spiritual healing or natural and cultural medicine
Los espíritus– the spirits
Evil eye – the belief in a supernatural phenomenon that negative energy can be passed to babies and children through a glance, causing illness or other problems
Cumbia – a percussion-heavy Latin genre of music with varied styles depending on the influences of different countries in Latin America
Salsa – a Latin music genre and style of dance that first became popular in the United States in the 1960s
Ranchera – a traditional folk style of Mexican music and dance
Brazer – from the Spanish word bracero, a slang term for a Mexican migrant laborer
Mamacita/Mamasota – nicknames meaning “Little Mama” and “Big Mama,” respectively
¿Cuándo? – When?
iAy, caray! – an expletive or exclamation indicating exasperation
Comadres – referring to women; neighbor; gossip; friend; godmother
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
“All brown all around, we are safe. But watch us drive into a neighborhood of another color and our knees go shakity-shake and our car windows get rolled up tight and our eyes look straight.” (Cisneros, p. 28)
The House on Mango Street takes place in Chicago, a large city in the midwest of the United States. First founded as an American city in 1837, Chicago’s population grew to over three million people by the 1960s when Sandra Cisneros’ story takes place. While Cisneros was born in Chicago in 1954, her parents came to the United States from Mexico. Mexicans first began migrating to the area in the early 1900s due to displacement caused by the Mexican Revolution. They found work as laborers in agriculture and factories but soon discovered that the quality and price of housing required many people to live together to afford rent.
The mass unemployment of Mexican workers caused by the onset of the Great Depression led the United States government to forcibly repatriate many of the newly unemployed Mexican laborers and their families back to Mexico; this change caused the Mexican population of Chicago to be reduced by half. However, World War II soon increased industrial demands for labor, and the Mexican population began to regain its presence in the 1940s.
As discrimination and threats of repatriation continued into the 1950s, Mexican Americans in Chicago began to form civil rights organizations, such as the League of United Latin American Citizens. Mexican communities were well established in neighborhoods on the south and west sides of Chicago. The Latin American population of Chicago soon diversified in the mid 20th century as Mexican Americans were joined by families from Puerto Rico, Colombia, Cuba, and other countries of Central and South America.
While Latin Americans represent close to one-third of Chicago’s population, Black Americans and white Americans also reside there in similar numbers. The majority of the Black communities live on the south side of Chicago, and the white population heavily populates the north side. Therefore, the more northern Chicago neighborhoods would be what Esperanza refers to as not “all brown all around.”
Campbell Avenue to Mango Street
“But the house on Mango Street is not the way they told it at all. It’s small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you’d think they were holding their breath. Bricks are crumbling in places, and the front door is so swollen you have to push hard to get in.” (Cisneros, p. 4)
Mexican American Culture of the 1960s
As Sandra Cisneros grew into adolescence during the 1960s, the Chicano Movement also emerged. The term “Chicano” refers to people of Mexican descent; while the word originally had a negative connotation, it was reclaimed as a form of cultural pride by activists at the time. Known in Spanish as “El Movimiento,” this social movement involved Mexican Americans across the United States advocating for equality, fair treatment, and empowerment in areas such as workers’ rights, education, and land reclamation.
Esperanza's family in The House on Mango Street lives in Chicago while tracing their roots back to Mexico. However, the current borders of Mexico are far more limited than they used to be before the Mexican-American War, which led to much of Mexico’s original land being ceded to the United States. After being displaced and facing many years of discrimination in labor, housing, education, and society at large, Mexican American activists of the 1960s fought for land repatriation, the rights of farmworkers, and self-determination for Mexican Americans as a whole.
Just as Sandra Cisneros communicates her Mexican American culture through her writing, many visual artists do the same by painting the public walls of the communities they call home. Mural art thrives in Chicago, especially in the Pilsen neighborhood, which is known as the epicenter of Chicago’s Mexican community.