The House on Mango Street

One of Esperanza’s neighbors worked two jobs in order to save enough money to bring his wife and baby boy to Mango Street from another country. When Mamacita arrives, Esperanza is amazed by her beautiful clothing and fancy shoes. Because Mamacita is very overweight, the neighbors make fun of her. She never comes downstairs out of the apartment, and they assume it’s because “she’s too fat” (77), but Esperanza thinks she stays hidden away listening to sad music because she is afraid to speak English. Esperanza’s father sympathizes, explaining that when he first moved to America, he could only eat ham and eggs because those were the only words he could say in English. Mamacita misses her pink home, so her husband paints the apartment pink, but still she won’t come out. Esperanza can hear Mamacita’s husband screaming at her “all the way down the street” (77) to speak English, but she refuses. One day, her little boy begins to sing the jingle of a Pepsi commercial in English. This makes Mamacita cry and beg him “no speak English […] No, no, no, as if she can’t believe her ears” (78).