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This article discusses the history of the word "Chicano." It is important to understand its historical and contextual roots to better understand Esperanza's point of view in this novel.

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Sandra Cisneros' novel is a compilation of blended vignettes that tell Esperanza's story and life on Mango Street. This is not a standard form of writing because it contains many shorter stories that together make one elaborate story. The style of vignette writing is more poetic than a traditional novel, however it does not necessarily reflect a poem with stanzas.

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I. What is a Vignette?

In literature, a vignette (pronounced vin-yet) is a short scene that captures a single moment or a defining detail about a character, idea, or other element of the story. Vignettes are mostly descriptive; in fact, they often include little or no plot detail. They are not stand-alone literary works, nor are they complete plots or narratives. Instead, vignettes are small parts of a larger work, and can only exist as pieces of a whole story.

Notably, the word vignette comes from the French vigne meaning "little vine," and the term specifically arose for the small vines drawn on the pages of printed texts. These embellishments were commonly on title pages or a chapter's first page, as can be seen on this page from the manuscript of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight:

So, much like the vines on the page, vignettes are little sections of a much bigger work.

II. Example of a Vignette

A vignette should be descriptive, whether it is about a setting, a character, or another aspect of a story. Read the passage below:
The room was warm and stuffy, but in a comforting way. It had the heavy but pleasing odor of musty books and old upholstery, with an overall air of ash and cedar from the fire that was always burning low the stone hearth, crackling and spitting quietly. There was a patchwork blanket resting over the side of the sunken but cozy couch, its squares tattered by the love and wear of time. A wooden clock ticked reliably on the wall.
The vignette above uses descriptive words to paint a literary picture of a single room. On its own and out of context, this passage does not serve much of a purpose. It leaves questions like: Where is the room? Who is seeing the room? Why are they there? Whose home is it? These questions about the larger story, aren't answered with the description. This vignette's purpose is to add further insight about the room and to help the audience understand the setting-it doesn't tell a complete story on its own, but rather, it provides depth to the setting of some whole story.

III. Importance of Vignettes

Vignettes are important because of their descriptive nature-they can illuminate significant information, create depth of character, or provide insight about past events or circumstances. This helps create a more complete picture of the greater story. All stories rely on vignettes to provide detail. Without them, stories would be little more than plot outlines.

IV. Examples of Vignette in Literature

Vignettes can appear in different ways; they can be a few sentences in a novel or an important scene in a movie, but most importantly, they must be descriptive. Here are some examples of vignettes in a short story and a novel.

Much of 20 th century author Ernest Hemingway's fame and renown can be attributed to his descriptive brilliance-he was a master of creating portraits of both setting and character, as he did in his short story "A Well-Lighted Café":

It was very late and everyone had left the cafe except an old man who sat in the shadow the leaves of the tree made against the electric light. In the day time the street was dusty, but at night the dew settled the dust and the old man liked to sit late because he was deaf and now at night it was quiet and he felt the difference. The two waiters inside the cafe knew that the old man was a little drunk, and while he was a good client they knew that if he became too drunk he would leave without paying, so they kept watch on him.

Reading this opening passage creates a clear image and atmosphere in the reader's mind-we can envision the shadow of the leaves in the light, we can feel the silence of the night, and we can imagine the intoxicated but quiet man sitting alone at the café. Hemingway doesn't introduce the dialogue-which makes up the majority of the story-until he has employed a vignette that develops the atmosphere and feelings that he needs for the story's success.

Sandra Cisneros's novel The House on Mango Street is a series of vignettes that together create a portrait of life at "the house on Mango Street," which is the protagonist's childhood home in a low income Latino neighborhood in Chicago. A girl named Esperanza narrates the story, and each vignette in the book captures moments, memories, and observations of her everyday life on Mango Street-

The house on Mango Street is ours, and we don't have to pay rent to anybody, or share the yard with the people downstairs, or be careful not to make too much noise, and there isn't a landlord banging on the ceiling with a broom. But even so, it's not the house we'd thought we'd get.

The selection is a vignette about Esperanza's perception of the house on Mango Street. Prior to this passage Esperanza has explained that they bought the house (it isn't a rental). The passage above provides insight to Esperanza's thoughts about the house, which are important for the entire story. The reader knows that although the house is their own, it's not the family's first choice-Esperanza is grateful but disappointed at heart. This vignette exists as a piece of insight for the development of the overall image of life on Mango Street, but it is not a full story itself.

V. Examples of Vignette in Pop Culture

Here are some examples of vignettes showing defining moments of characters in TV and film.

The Netflix drama and comedy series Orange is the New Black uses many vignettes for characterization of the female prisoners. The vignettes are most notably in the form of flashbacks and capture relative or defining moments in the prisoners' lives and situations that led to their imprisonment. In the show, there is a character and inmate named Suzanne who is also known as "Crazy Eyes" because of her both her erratic behavior and her wide, intense eyes.

Her flashback is a sleepover party that provides deeper insight about Suzanne's character. Importantly, it shows that she has always been eccentric, unstable, and as a result has always been an outcast that people struggle to connect with. This remains true in prison, as exemplified by her unkind nickname.

The closing scene of the classic film Planet of the Apes is an excellent example of a vignette, particularly one that provides insight about setting -

Here, the protagonist George discovers that the planet he has been on is actually Earth, in the future, but it has been completely destroyed. Before this moment, it was unclear when or where George is in space and time, respectively. However, this vignette provides the audience (and George) with information that changes the whole perspective of the plot. On its own, this scene is irrelevant; however, it is a very relevant part of a much larger story.

VI. Related Terms

Sketch

A sketch is a short piece of writing-shorter than a short story-that contains little or no plot. It mainly describes people or places, and does not have to be part of a larger story. For example, a sketch of a location, like a vacation destination, would describe its most notable details. This is the primary difference between a sketch and a vignette, because a vignette is always part of a larger story or work.

Vignette (Photography)

In photography, a vignette technique and style in which a photo's edges are blurred and/or darkened to bring the focus in on a certain portion of an image or scene. The term is similar to the literary definition of vignette in that it captures and emphasizes a small part of a bigger picture.

VII. Conclusion

In conclusion, a vignette is a critical tool in both creative fiction and creative nonfiction because it adds depth and support to a piece of literature. It is a powerful descriptive device that can bring insight about a setting, character, or idea that adds to the overall understanding of a story.

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Vignette: Definitions and Examples | LiteraryTerms.net

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In literature, a vignette (pronounced vin-yet) is a short scene that captures a single moment or a defining detail about a character, idea, or other element of the story. Vignettes are mostly descriptive; in fact, they often include little or no plot detail. They are not stand-alone literary works, nor are they complete plots or narratives.

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Cisneros's novel is rich in literature, not just through her use of vignettes, but also through the use of multiple literary devices.

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The House on Mango Street Literary Devices/Elements

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In this research paper, the author explains how language is used in The House on Mango Street to establish Esperanza's character. It explores the hybridization of Chicano language and culture that demands respect in forms of writing as Esperanza's words do so.

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The struggle of identity is a common plot point in coming of age novels. In this novel, Esperanza is trying to define herself on her own terms, which is apparent through her desire to change her name so that it is not the same as her grandmother. She feels that because she shares a name with her grandmother, she must then live her legacy.

Esperanza is also twelve years old and about to become a woman. Many of the chapters within The House on Mango Street explore what it means to become a woman. She also struggles with her identity in relation to her sexuality.

Furthermore, Esperanza uses writing as a form of expression and escape. By writing, she is able to work through her daily struggles and decipher her feelings. Writing is the third form of identity that she is working to understand.

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A common theme in The House on Mango Street is the imagery of women by windows. Typically it represents women being trapped in their homes, usually by their husbands. For instance, one woman sends the children money to buy her coconut juice. Another woman cannot physically move down the stairs of her home and therefore is stuck inside all day.  The theme of women by windows provides imagery that women are passive characters that must stay in the home while their husbands go out. They are to wait around for their husbands, which make them passive and submissive people to society. Esperanza tells the story of her grandmother, whom she shares a name with, that was one of those women who waited by the window for her husband to return. This behavior is what contributes to Esperanza's dislike of her name. Esperanza does not want to become a woman in the window

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In The House on Mango Street, shoes are symbolic of femininity. In one chapter, the girls put on heels that attract the attention of the men they walk past. This is one of Esperanza's first encounters with her sexual becoming.

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Like most of the texts we've read for this course, The House on Mango Street is a coming of age story. It is told through the eyes of a twelve year old girl named Esperanza. She has recently moved to a new house and is beginning to establish her identity on Mango Street and as she becomes a young woman. Coming of age novels are a specific genre because they contain characteristics that are consistent across many famed coming of age novels.

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This article discusses how toxic gender roles can be, especially when projected upon young children. Some of the risks and negative outcomes of gender roles are present in The House on Mango Street such as child marriage and substance abuse. It also focuses on how our attitudes towards genders create a sexual divide between boys and girls by pinning boys as predators and girls as prey that need to do everything they can to prevent sexual encounters.

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This is what happens when gender roles are forced on kids | CNN

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A new study suggests that across countries and income levels, boys and girls enter their teens with damaging gender stereotypes that could have lasting effects.

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This article highlights the impact that The House on Mango Street had during this time period. While it had received a scholarship, which was historical because it was the first time this particular scholarship had been presented to a Mexican-American woman, other Chicanos were making monumental strides in literature and society.

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This blog series, Big Picture, Small Picture, provides a contextual collage for a chosen piece of literature. The information here is culled from newspapers, newsreels, periodicals, and other primary sources from the date of the text's original publication.
A woman must have money and a room of her own to write fiction.
-Virginia Woolf

Chicago, 1980. A young woman taps at a typewriter in the small kitchen -the only room with heat - of a rented apartment on North Paulina Street, square in the center of the Bucktown neighborhood. The young woman says the block "reeks of beer and urine, of sausage and beans," and the apartment is a century old and in need of repairs, a fact that her father notes with a shake of the head every time he visits. Still, she is happy, because she sees herself as a writer, and she finally has a place of her own to work on her "little stories."

Thirty-five years later, the neighborhood has changed. People with money have moved in and the area has become safer, trendier, and more expensive. The young writer's one-time apartment has undergone a series of renovations, replacing the carpet with hardwood floors, updating the kitchen with brand new appliances, installing a central heating system.

The woman's life has transformed, too. In January of 1984, Sandra Cisneros publishes her debut book of "little stories" with Arte Publico Press, a small publisher based at the University of Houston with the mission of "providing a national forum for Hispanic literature." The House on Mango Street becomes a national best-seller, launching Cisneros' literary career that will eventually earn her a National Medal for the Arts and cement her as one of Chicana literature's most integral voices.

The House on Mango Street is a coming-of-age novel told in vignettes about Esperanza, an adolescent in Chicago, who navigates her teenage years and tries to balance her various identities: sister, daughter, student, worker, girl, woman, and artist. Cisneros set out to write the book that she "didn't see in the library or the classroom," the book that chronicled the female experience in the barrio and not the "bravado and pride" of the familiar male narrative.

As the young Cisneros works on establishing her own identity as a writer in the early 1980s, the Mexican-American community in the U.S. pushes for more recognition in the face of media and governmental marginalization. Two weeks before The House on Mango Street is published, a Rhodes Scholarship is awarded to a Mexican-American woman for the first time. Catherine Sandoval will go on to become the first Hispanic Commissioner of the California Public Utilities Commission. Also in 1983, Danny Santiago publishes a young adult novel, Famous All Over Town, which wins great acclaim for its portrayal of Chicano life in L.A. A year later, however, the book creates a controversy when Danny Santiago is revealed to be a pseudonym for Daniel Lewis James, an established white author.

The TV sitcom Condo premieres in February of 1983. The show depicts the conflicts that arise when a "WASP bigot" moves in next door to a Chicano family, and ABC promotes the show as " West Side Story coupled with All in the Family." Condo is canceled after one season, and a year later ABC airs a.k.a. Pablo about a young Mexican-American comic who strives for mainstream success. The show is canceled after six episodes due to low ratings.

During a panel discussion at a literary conference in January of 1986, a group of Hispanic writers and publishers bemoan their lack of opportunities: "The publishing industry does not believe that we read, much less that we can write...there is no U.S. Hispanic writer of note who even has an agent," says Nicolas Kanellos, founder of Arte Publico Press.

During this same discussion, Nicholasa Mohr, a Puerto-Rican-American author, explains how a publisher rejected her work because there wasn't anything about "gang fights, drugs, and clashes with the police." None of that had any relation to her life.

Esperanza, the teenage narrator of The House on Mango Street, reflects that "those who don't know any better come into our neighborhood scared...They think we're dangerous. They think we'll attack them with shiny knives...Yeah. That's how it goes and goes."

After the success of her debut book, Sandra Cisneros is constantly asked about the autobiographical elements of the story. "I'm not Esperanza," she says. "I'm the sum of all the stories that have passed through me, that I've heard, that I've witnessed. Esperanza becomes a composite of all of the above."

Just prior to draping the National Medal of the Arts and Humanities on Sandra Cisneros' shoulders on September 22, 2016, President Barack Obama expressed gratitude to her and the other recipients: "[I]t's what so great about this country-that there is no single, set way to contribute. All of us belong. All of us have a story to tell. Even when you think your story is too different, too strange, too unique, there's someone out there that's been waiting their whole life to hear you tell your story, because it's just like theirs. What a great gift all of you have given us."

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Big Picture, Small Picture: Context for Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street

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This blog series, Big Picture, Small Picture, provides a contextual collage for a chosen piece of literature. The information here is culled from newspapers, newsreels, periodicals, and other primary sources from the date of the text's original publication. A woman must have money and a room of her own to write fiction.

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When reading any novel, it is important to understand the author's bio. This website tells us about Sandra Cisneros and gives insight into her life, other writings, and her perspective on social issues.

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Sandra Cisneros is a poet, short story writer, novelist, essayist, whose work explores the lives of the working-class. Her numerous awards include NEA fellowships in both poetry and fiction, the Texas Medal of the Arts, a MacArthur Fellowship, several honorary doctorates and national and international book awards, including Chicago's Fifth Star Award, the PEN Center USA Literary Award and the National Medal of the Arts, awarded to her by President Obama in 2016.

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The Chicago Public Library provides some thought provoking discussion questions to guide the reader or assist them in reflection of the book, The House on Mango Street.

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1. Cisneros writes, "I'm going to tell you a story about a girl who doesn't belong..." Why does she feel she doesn't belong? Is her experience universal for all adolescent girls?

2. How is Esperanza's identity shaped by her community? How does her identity shift throughout the vignettes?

3. In The House on Mango Street, Cisneros writes of "those who don't know" about her neighborhood and the people in it. What is she saying about the way prejudices shape our perceptions of "us" and "them"?

4. How is language used to divide and include? What does the language you speak suggest about your connection or disconnection to your culture?

5. What do "My Name" and "Geraldo No Last Name" tell us about how identities are tied into our names? How do names affect the way we see ourselves and the way others see us?

6. Although much of the book details experiences outside the narrator's house, why do you think Cisneros chose The House on Mango Street as her title? What does it reveal about her connection to her family, her home and her neighborhood?

7. How does Cisneros' book impact and/or influence the Latino experience in America? Is the Chicago experience distinct?

8. What can we learn about life in Chicago from Cisneros' experiences? Do you see your Chicago story in The House on Mango Street?

The Chicago Public Library wishes to thank Facing History and Ourselves for contributing these discussion questions.

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The House on Mango Street Discussion Questions

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Cisneros writes, "I'm going to tell you a story about a girl who doesn't belong..." Why does she feel she doesn't belong? Is her experience universal for all adolescent girls? How is Esperanza's identity shaped by her community? How does her identity shift throughout the vignettes?

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The House on Mango Street Similarities and Differences to Other Literature

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The House on Mango Street Similarities and Differences to Other Literature

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This article poses some questions that guide connections between The House on Mango Street and Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian. Both novels are coming of age stories.

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This article consists of discussion questions to follow up each chapter of The House on Mango Street, followed by more general questions. After these questions, there are suggested further readings that are similar to the plot and genre of The House on Mango Street.

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For each vignette, this document outlines some thought provoking questions. It asks "why" questions that prompt reflection from the reader when approaching The House on Mango Street novel. These questions can be helpful when learning to think more critically about each vignette and the significance behind them.

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These discussion questions are more centered on understanding the story from Esperanza's perspective rather than just in general. To understand The House on Mango Street, the reader needs to be familiar with Esperanza and her journey of self-identity and establishment.

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Hidden Points in The House on Mango Street

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Hidden Points in The House on Mango Street

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Since this novel is so poetic, it can be difficult for the reading to be certain about what is occurring in the story. For instance, one of her sexual assaults is not explicitly stated but instead brought up in a vignette calling out to Sally. This article makes concrete claims about some of the more ambiguous aspects of the novel.

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At one point or another, we've all read Sandra Cisneros' novella . The book is narrated by a Latina teenager, Esperanza Cordero, and tells the story of one year of her life on Mango Street, in a Chicago barrio. Sometimes funny, and often deeply profound, The House on Mango Street is a story about growing up, finding out where you come from, where you belong, and who you want to be.

When most of us picked up the novel, we were still learning about things like metaphor, personification, and imagery in our English classes. You may even remember your teacher talking about the novel's use of vignettes, or the short scenes that are used to tell Esperanza's story.

But like so many books you enjoyed as a kid, The House of Mango Street deals with some pretty tough themes under the surface. And when you were reading it the first time around, you probably weren't equipped to recognize a lot of the deeply disturbing events that unfold throughout the book. Since its publication in 1984, The House on Mango Street has become required reading in schools and universities across the country. But if you haven't picked it up since your awkward teen years, here's what you may have missed from The House on Mango Street:

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, $8, Amazon
Esperanza's great-grandfather kidnapped her great-grandmother

Early in the novel, Esperanza introduces the reader to her namesake-her great-grandmother. It turns out though, that Esperanza's great-grandmother was actually kidnapped by Esperanza's great-grandfather, who apparently threw a sack over her head and carried her off "as if she were a fancy chandelier." Um, WHAT?! Well, that's kind of problematic.

The kidnapping ends up shaping much of Esperanza's identity, since she often compares herself to her great-grandmother. She also describes her great-grandmother as being a very sad woman, who could never forgive her husband/kidnapper for what he did. But then again, who would?

Almost all of the female characters on Mango Street are trapped

Beginning with Esperanza's memory of her great-grandmother, there's a repeated image of women being trapped in their own houses. Across Mango Street, women are stuck looking out at the world through their windows, but not actually venturing out. Esperanza's neighbor Rafaela is locked up in her apartment and has to ask the neighborhood kids to bring her coconut and papaya juice since she can't leave. Another character named Mamacita is not only physically trapped in her house, but also can't speak English, and becomes linguistically trapped since she can't communicate with those around her. Esperanza's friend Sally eventually ends up trapped in a marriage with a man who won't allow her to talk on the phone or meet her friends, much less leave the house.

Almost all of the male characters on Mango Street are creeps

An absurd number of the men and boys that Esperanza meets in her neighborhood are creepy as hell. There's a man in a nearby building, named Joe the baby-grabber, who Esperanza is told to keep away from since he's dangerous (kind of obvious, given his name). Then there's the neighborhood's Bum man who, upon seeing Esperanza, her sister, and their friends out on the sidewalk wearing high heels, tries to convince them to give him a kiss in exchange for one dollar. And there's Tito and his friends, who steal Esperanza's friend Sally's keys, and forces her to go behind a pickup truck and give each of the boys a kiss to get her keys back.

And the husbands and fathers (except for Esperanza's) are abusive

Esperanza's friend Sally's father beats her black and blue, often with a belt buckle. Another one of her friends, Alicia, never explicitly says how her father abuses her, but does state that she is afraid of him. Yet another friend, Minerva, is married to a man who keeps leaving her only to return again. And each time that he comes back home, he hits his wife again.

Esperanza is sexually assaulted - twice

Esperanza's first assault occurs at her first job as an assistant at a photo finishing company that her aunt helps get. During her first day there, she meets a man who seems friendly and invites her to sit with him during their lunch break. At one point, he tells Esperanza that it is his birthday, and that he would like her to give him a birthday kiss. Just as Esperanza is about to hesitantly agree, he grabs her face and forces himself on her.

The second assault is more vague, and ostensibly far more sexual in nature. While waiting for her friend Sally at the carnival, a man approaches Esperanza saying, "I love you, Spanish girl," over and over before he kisses her and touches her.

Two of Esperanza's friends are teen brides

Esperanza's friend Minerva is said to be only a bit older than Esperanza (who herself is estimated to be about 13-years-old). Even so, Minerva is not only married to an abusive husband who keeps leaving her, but already has two kids with him, too. Esperanza's friend Sally ends up getting married to an older man with a bad temper.

The language seems poetic because Sandra Cisneros started off as a poet

Sandra Cisneros started writing Esperanza's character while getting her MFA in poetry at the Iowa Writer's Workshop. But even though she had been focusing on poetry, she thought that fiction was the best way to tell a story. Cisneros has stated that she mixed both fiction and poetry during the course of writing The House on Mango Street, which is why the language seems to be a blend of the two styles.

The book is unspeakably sad

The plot of this novel is riddled with violence and suffering. Esperanza observes the poverty around her, the racism that surrounds her, and the inequality that envelops those around her. She sees a neighborhood suicide, one friend's assault, and another's abusive marriage. Even for a young teen living in a tough neighborhood, Esperanza sees more than her fair share of pain in the world.

And yet, despite it all, Esperanza remains optimistic

Even though the novel ends with Esperanza still living on Mango Street (and perhaps no where closer to getting out of it), she still has an unabashed optimism about her. She still maintains that one day, she will have her dream house, a house of her very own. And despite all of the things she has seen and experienced on Mango Street, she accepts that it is a part of her, and that she will always belong there. In the end, she realizes that it will be her duty to come back for the others - the ones who can't get out.
Image: Wikimedia Commons

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'The House on Mango Street' Was a Pretty Dark Read

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At one point or another, we've all read Sandra Cisneros' novella The House on Mango Street. The book is narrated by a Latina teenager, Esperanza Cordero, and tells the story of one year of her life on Mango Street, in a Chicago barrio. Sometimes...

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Sandra Cisneros Discussing The House on Mango Street

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Sandra Cisneros Discussing The House on Mango Street

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Cisneros discusses what is real and what is fiction in her novel The House on Mango Street. She addresses the idea that she is Esperanza by explaining that she takes the stories that touch her heart and put them into Esperanza's life.