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Michelle Scalise Sugiyama in turn investigates how Cisneros treats the sexuality of her female characters.

Leslie Petty and Catrióna Rueda Esquibel both take feminist approaches to Mango Street, examining how Cisneros counters gender stereotypes, critiques patriarchy, and depicts female friendships. Next, a collection of classic essays offers a window into the major strands of criticism of the novel. Cruz draws on reader-response theory to discuss how the novel is understood by readers of various social and ethnic backgrounds, and Catherine Leen examines how both Mango Street and Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye oppose patriarchal systems.

Amelia María de la Luz Montes points out how Cisneros, a midwesterner as well as a Chicana, modeled the Mango Street neighborhood after her own Chicago neighborhood, and Amy Sickels surveys the body of Mango Street criticism. Herrera-Sobek reasons that a large part of the novel's success can be attributed to its simple prose and reliance on suggestive metaphors and similes, and Chloë Schama, writing on behalf of The Paris Review, reflects on the urgency Cisneros felt as she wrote her novel.įor readers studying Mango Street for the first time, a quartet of essays offer a framework for developing a deeper understanding of its key themes and contexts. Both universal in theme and culturally specific, it stands as a landmark in Chicano/a and American literature.Įdited and with an introduction by María Herrera-Sobek, Professor of Chicano Studies and the Luis Leal Endowed Chair at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In deceptively simple prose, it tells the stories of a young Mexican American girl's family and friends and of her coming-of-age within an impoverished Chicago neighborhood.

Since its publication in 1984, more than one million copies have been sold, and it regularly appears on high school and college reading lists. The House on Mango Street is easily one of the most critically and commercially successful novels by a Mexican American writer. This volume in the Critical Insights series offers a comprehensive introduction to Sandra Cisneros's acclaimed novel.