The House on Mango Street
by Sandra Cisneros
The House on Mango Street Family Quotes
How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
By the time we got to Mango Street we were six – Mama, Papa, Carlos, Kiki, my sister Nenny and me. (1.1)
Esperanza introduces her family in the first paragraph of the first story.
Everybody in our family has different hair. My Papa's hair is like a broom, all up in the air. And me, my hair is lazy. It never obeys barrettes or bands. Carlos' hair is think and straight. He doesn't need to comb it. Nenny's hair is slippery – slides out of your hand. And Kiki, who is the youngest, has hair like fur. (2.1)
Esperanza uses hair to illustrate the differences in her family's physical appearances. But this doesn't seem to be a way of dividing the family – rather, it comes across as a celebration of the differences found in their family unit.
Nenny is too young to be my friend. She's just my sister and that was not my fault. You don't pick your sisters, you just get them and sometimes they come like Nenny. (3.2)
Esperanza's statement seems funny to us, because we can relate – a lot of kids feel this way about their little brothers or sisters.