Question

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Read the two excerpts below from The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. As you read, look for ways the character's culture is represented.

“My Name” by Sandra Cisneros excerpt from The House on Mango Street.

In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting. It is like the number nine. A muddy color. It is the Mexican records my father plays on Sunday mornings when he is shaving, songs like sobbing. It was my great-grandmother's name and now it is mine. She was a horse woman too, born like me in the Chinese year of the horse--which is supposed to be bad luck if you're born female-but I think this is a Chinese lie because the Chinese, like the Mexicans, don't like their women strong.

My great-grandmother. I would've liked to have known her, a wild, horse of a woman, so wild she wouldn't marry. Until my great-grandfather threw a sack over her head and carried her off. Just like that, as if she were a fancy chandelier. That's the way he did it. And the story goes she never forgave him. She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow. I wonder if she made the best with what she got or was she sorry because she couldn't be all the things she wanted to be. Esperanza. I have inherited her name, but I don't want to inherit her place by the window.
"Boys and Girls" by Sandra Cisneros excerpt from The House on Mango Street.


The boys and the girls live in separate worlds. The boys in their universe and we in ours. My brothers for example. They've got plenty to say to me and Nenny inside the house. But outside they can't be seen talking to girls. Carlos and Kiki are each other's best friend ... not ours. 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. She can't play with those Vargas kids or she'll turn out just like them. And since she comes right after me, she is my responsibility. Someday I will have a best friend all my own. One I can tell my secrets to. One who will understand my jokes without my having to explain them. Until then I am a red balloon, a balloon tied to an anchor.


Write a response explaining how culture is reflected in each excerpt? Use a piece of textual evidence from both excerpts to support your response.

Answer 1

Culture shapes Esperanza’s identity and expectations in both excerpts by defining what her name means and what role she is expected to play as a girl.

- In “My Name” culture appears in language, family history, and gendered expectations. Esperanza contrasts English and Spanish meanings—“In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting”—showing how bilingual and bicultural meanings affect how she sees herself. Her name is also tied to family and cultural stories (her great-grandmother, the “Mexican records my father plays”), and to gendered superstition: “born like me in the Chinese year of the horse—which is supposed to be bad luck if you're born female.” These details show how Mexican, Spanish, and even Chinese cultural beliefs shape her sense of fate and limit what women are “allowed” to be. Her rejection of the passive fate is explicit: “I have inherited her name, but I don't want to inherit her place by the window.”

- In “Boys and Girls” culture appears in social rules and gender roles that structure daily life. Esperanza observes that “The boys and the girls live in separate worlds,” explaining how community norms police interactions and friendships. She describes family duty and limited choices for girls—“You don't pick your sisters, you just get them … she is my responsibility”—and uses the metaphor “I am a red balloon, a balloon tied to an anchor” to show how cultural expectations tether her freedom.

Together, the excerpts show a culture that gives Esperanza language, history, and music, but also enforces gendered limits she resists.