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Esperanza Cordero is the main character. She is a 12 year old Mexican-American (Chicana) girl, and she has two brothers named Carlos and Kiki, and her little sister Nenny.

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The House is a step up from her old apartment,  but it's still cramped and drab, and it's on the poor, Hispanic side of town.

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SInce her brothers do not talk to her in public, she has to hang with Nenny, but quickly befriends Lucy and Rachel, two other Chicana girls who live across the street.

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Lucy, Rachel, Esperanza, and Nenny, go on to have lots of fun together. They do things like ride bikes, talk boys, explore junk shops, and play jump rope. They like enjoying their childhood while it lasts.

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As the girls grow into their features  during puberty, they find themselves subject to more sexual experiences, such as:

- Walking around in the neighborhood in high heels
- Esperanza being forced to kiss an older man.
- Esperanza liking the attention she gets when a boys watches her dance

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Esperanza deals with her newfound maturity and insecurity about poverty by writing poems. She also begins to observe other women, like Minerva (a girl who's barely older but is already married with two kids) on Mango Street, who are literally and metaphorically stuck in their homes (Minerva is stuck raising the kids while being beaten and neglected by her partner)

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Later on, Esperanza meets another girl named Sally. Sally is a lot more... grown for her age, especially compared to Lucy or Rachel. She likes to fool around with boys, but only as a way to deal with the physical abuse of her father.

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Sally is definitely shady to Esperanza, but the straw that finally broke their friendship was  when Sally abandons Esperanza, and a group of boys sexually assaults her at a carnival.

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Sally eventually marries to a much older salesman who is just as aggressive and abusive as the father she tried oh-so-desperately to escape from. Like most women on Mango Street, she is literally and figuratively stuck, which serves to emphasize Esperanza's desire to break the cycle.

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After seeing all the hardships the neighborhood's residents endure, Esperanza vows to herself to finally leave once and for all. However, even if she does manage to escape, she knows that she will be forever tied to Mango Street. But she has hope that her writing will help her make things better when she's older and wiser.