Brooke's Take- Post 1

The title "The House on Mango Street" makes me believe that many of the trials and tribulations of the main character would be in relation to where she lives and also, who she lives with- her family, her neighborhood and the neighbors within it, the school district and perhaps the actual house itself.

This might be a bit of a leap, but since the author is Hispanic, the word "mango" seemed significant to me as well. According to Wikipedia, the mango is a fruit native to subtropical places, including many South American countries. Also, the English word "mango" is taken from the Portuguese word "manga" and the Portuguese language and culture highly affected South America after Columbus and his Portuguese fleet landed there in "India" and tried to dominate the area. Because of the mango's ties to South America and many hispanic countries, I always think of the Mango as a hispanic fruit (although this is not necessarily true.) Thus, this reference to the "mango" reminds me of the author's hispanic heritage and makes me think that this will be a large part of the book.

The dedication of this book was interesting to me. It reads simply "A las mujeres", meaning "To the women" in English. Again, this spanish reference reaffirms the importance of the author's hispanic heritage. Furthermore, this tells me that this story will be about a women, and probably the struggles that a hispanic woman has to go through.

The first line of the book also intruiged me. It reads "We didn't always live on Mango Street." To me, this signifies that living on Mango Street represents a particular time in this young girl's life. It also sounds metaphorical to me- like "Mango Street" does not just mean the actual street on which she lived, but a phase of her life. This phrase also evokes an odd emotional response in me: it sounds dark and ominous, like an excuse or something. The "We didn't always" reminds me of someone saying, "Well, I wasn't always an addict"or "I didn't always feel that way." It gives me the sense that this time on Mango Street was not the happiest part of the author's life.