Sandra Cisneros' The House On Mango Street

The House on Mango Street

“Sire”

As the chapter opens, the first impression of Sire is one of a James Dean type of character. Sire and his friends are just sitting on their bikes, pitching pennies, or in other words, gambling. Esperanza tells us that she is scared of them, which makes me wonder why she would be afraid of them? She then says how her dad calls him a “punk.”

Esperanza then starts to describe Sire’s girlfriend, Lois. The words that Esperanza uses to describe Lois are almost words of envy and respect. Words like “little pink seashells,” “big girl hands,” and “bones are long like ladies bones.” It is almost like in Esperanza’s mind Lois is the mold for the perfect girl in the world and the way Esperanza describes that Sire lets Lois ride his bike like it is almost a privilege. It is a privilege because of all of his friends and all the people who live on this block, he lets no one else but Lois ride his bike. When Esperanza describes the things that Sire does at night like drinking and other things like that. Esperanza’s mom describes Lois as “one of those girls who go into alleys” and Esperanza should not be around those kinds of girls.

This is one of the most important chapters because this is where Esperanza shows that she is growing up from a girl to a woman. Esperanza says that someday she “wants to be all new and shiny.” She says that she wants to sit out bad and have a boy hanging all over her. I find this interesting because I’m sure that everyone goes through something like this where we want to be rebellious and defy our parents. These are just some of the signs that Esperanza does not want to accept what her parents say is law, and she wants to try out some things of her own. For example, in the beginning of the chapter, Esperanza does not say that Sire is a punk, her father does. With children, this is not a good way to be. This just makes Sire seem exciting and sparks Esperanza’s interest to be around him.

When Esperanza is describing Lois she uses words that are not necessarily good things to be. Pink toenails, not knowing how to tie her shoes, smelling like baby powder. All of these things are helpless, baby-like things.