The Mango Street house has "windows so small you'd think they were holding their breath." What does this image suggest about the house?

Esperanza says, "Until then I am a red balloon, a balloon tied to an anchor." What does the image mean for her?

In "My Name," her father's records are "songs like sobbing." What feeling does this image attach to family memory?

About the four trees, Esperanza says, "They send ferocious roots beneath the ground." What does this image suggest?

In "A House of My Own," Esperanza wants "a house quiet as snow." What does that image emphasize?

Esperanza imagines a space "clean as paper before the poem." What does this image mean?

The first vignette ends: "For the time being, Mama says. Temporary, says Papa. But I know how those things go." What does this ending suggest?

"Hairs" catalogs each family member's hair and ends with Mama's comforting smell. What does the vignette form allow?

"Those Who Don't" contrasts outsiders' fear with Esperanza's knowledge of neighbors. What effect does the short structure create?

Many vignettes center one object or person, such as shoes, trees, or a music box. How does that structure build style?

In "Red Clowns," Esperanza angrily addresses Sally after sexual assault at a carnival. Why does a fragmented vignette fit the moment?

Esperanza says, "In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters." What does the comparison reveal?

Esperanza says her name "is like the number nine. A muddy color." What does that comparison reveal?

At school, her name sounds "as if the syllables were made out of tin." What does that reveal?

Esperanza sees "four skinny trees with skinny necks and pointy elbows like mine." What does the comparison reveal?

In "Hairs," Esperanza says, "my hair is lazy." What figurative device is this?

After shame about her home, Esperanza says, "I had to have a house. A real house. One I could point to." Why does this matter?

Alicia tells Esperanza, "Like it or not you are Mango Street." How does this connect to her wish for a house?

In "Bums in the Attic," Esperanza imagines a future house but says homeless people could stay there. What does her want become?

Near the end, Esperanza says, "I will pack my bags of books and paper" and "say goodbye to Mango." What connects house and writing?