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Esperanza's namesake was said to always be looking out of a window, after she was 'carried off' by a man, symbolizing Esperanza's fears of maturity. Esperanza is ashamed when people point to her house through windows, like the nun at her school points at the house from a window to indicate why Esperanza cannot eat her rice sandwich with the 'special students' who do not live nearby. The first chapter of the novel chronicles all of the many problems with the house she lives in, from the crumbling steps to the leaky plumbing, and worst...
It can anchor someone to a house, as the person is 'framed' in the picture of the house, like a woman who is seen only as an image, but it can also open up the sights of a new world. This is the new world Esperanza is looking toward, throughout her struggles to become an empowered, female Latina woman on Mango Street.
However, there is also danger to the sexuality that lies behind sweetness, as when a girl Sally, marries a marshmallow salesman to escape an abusive father, entering a union that seems as bad as the home she is leaving. A final symbol of the novel is that of play -- few adult women, except for the insane Ruthie, are seen enjoying themselves over the course of the novel. Girls can
The novel opens seven years after Gabo's mother, Ximena, was murdered by coyotes -- or paid traffickers -- during an attempt to cross the border. Her mutilated body was found, her organs gone -- sold most likely. Because of the fear surrounding this border town and the lure of the other side, all of the characters become consumed with finding Rafa. These people are neglected and abused. Like other fiction