Sandra Cisneros
A House as Quiet as Snow
Growing Up in Chicago
 Born in the Hispanic Quarter of
Chicago in 1954
 Mexican-American (Chicana)
 She was the only girl in a family of
seven, and grew up in poverty
 Her parents emphasized education
 Her family moved often; she was shy
and introverted, but connected with her
community privately through writing
 http://www.galegroup.com/free_resources/
chh/bio/cisneros_s.htm
 http://www.sandracisneros.com/html/abou
t/bio.html
Becoming a Writer
 Attended Loyola University in
Chicago as an English major
 Decided to become a writer
 Attended the Iowa Writer’s
Workshop, a graduate school for
young writers
 Was afraid her unprivileged
background would put her at a
disadvantage in the literary world
 However, her heritage gave her the
unique voice that shaped her career
 http://www.galegroup.com/free_resources/ch
h/bio/cisneros_s.htm
 http://www.sandracisneros.com/html/about/b
io.html
Books by Sandra Cisneros
 Bad Boys, Mango Press: San Jose, California, 1980
 The House on Mango Street , (Arte Publico Press: Houston, Texas, l984),
Vintage: New York, 1991.
 Woman Hollering Creek, Random House: New York, 1991
 My Wicked Wicked Ways, (Third Woman Press: Berkeley, California, l987),
Random House: New York, 1992
 La Casa En Mango Street, translated by Elena Poniatowska, Vintage
Español, New York, 1994.
 Loose Woman, Alfred A. Knopf: New York, 1994.
 Hairs/Pelitos, Alfred A. Knopf: New York, 1994. Spanish translation by Liliana
Valenzuela.
 Caramelo, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2002. Spanish edition translated by
Liliana Valenzuela.
 Vintage Cisneros, Vintage, New York, 2004.
 http://www.sandracisneros.com/html/about/publications.html
The House on Mango Street: Narrator
 The work is narrated by Esperanza Cordero,
thirteen, a Chicana girl in Chicago.
 Although told in the voice of a young girl, it
addresses mature subject matter.
 In English, Esperanza means hope, and also,
waiting.
 This choice of name is significant in the novel:
the character and her independence represent
a way out of the slums.
 As she watches her neighborhood, she decides
that she will not become like the women she
knows, trapped and powerless in a man’s
world.
The House on Mango Street: Setting
 Mango Street symbolizes both Esperanza’s ball and chain and her
inspiration.
 In the beginning of the novel, she is disappointed with the house on
Mango Street.
 She finds that she is not like the other residents of Mango, that she
can and will find the strength to leave her life there.
 She realizes that Mango is a part of her, and where she comes from is
as important as where she’s going.
 She knows she must come back, to help the others who are trapped
there.
 Cisneros’s writing is very imagistic. She makes unexpected
comparisons between things to give connotations to what she
describes.
The House on Mango Street: Structure
 The novel is told as a series of
vignettes, 1-4 pages each
 There is no real chronological plot, but
a series of insights into Esperanza’s
thoughts and feelings.
 The vignettes show the trends in
behavior in the community and
provide a contrast between strength
and weakness, between freedom and
bondage.
 The novel is dedicated A Las Mujeres,
To the Women.
The House on Mango Street: Characters
 Alicia, the medical student who is still bound to her old fears.
 Marin, who waits.
 Beautiful Rafaela, the modern-day Rapunzel.
 Rosa Vargas, with too many children, crying for the husband who
left.
 Mamacita, who dreams of the pink house she left behind and refuses
to speak English.
 Sally, the subject of abuse until she marries, to escape, before eighth
grade, and moves from Mango Street into into another sort of trap.
 And then there is Esperanza, who is like the skinny trees outside her
tiny window, who longs for a house all her own, who starts her own
quiet war.
The House on Mango Street: Significance
 This is Cisneros’s first novel.
 It is a way to relate her cultural
identity to her life and the lives of
others.
 Cisneros seeks to break the cycle
of defeats that women suffered
due to social and religious
stereotypes.
 Esperanza is an outlet for the
author’s views on the perceptions
of women in her milieu.
 http://www.galegroup.com/free_r
esources/chh/bio/cisneros_s.htm
Further Research
 For more biographical information:
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/cisneros/bio.htm
 For more analysis of The House on Mango Street:
http://www.bookrags.com/notes/hms/BIO.htm
 To buy books by Sandra Cisneros:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handleform/102-7635974-7540935
 Teaching resources for Cisneros’s works:
http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/cisneros.htm