The House on Mango Street Quotes

Find the perfect quote to float your boat. Shmoop breaks down key quotations from The House on Mango Street.

Identity Quotes

In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting. It is like the number nine. A muddy color. It is the Mexican records my father plays on Sund...

Dreams, Hopes, and Plans Quotes

They always told us that one day we would move into a house, a real house that would be ours for always so we wouldn't have to move each year. […] Our house would be white with trees around i...

Society and Class Quotes

Out back is a small garage for the car we don't own yet and a small yard that looks smaller between the two buildings on either side. […] The house has only one washroom. Everybody has to sha...

Innocence Quotes

Do you like these shoes? But the truth is it is scary to look down at your foot that is no longer yours and see attached a long long leg. (17.7)

Gender Quotes

The boys and girls live in separate worlds. The boys in their universe and we in ours. My brothers for example. They've got plenty to say to me and Nenny inside the house. But outside they can't be...

Women and Femininity Quotes

But my mother's hair, my mother's hair, like little rosettes, like little candy circles all curly and pretty because she pinned it in pincurls all day, sweet to put your nose into when she is holdi...

Foreignness and 'The Other' Quotes

In the meantime they'll just have to move a little farther north from Mango Street, a little farther away every time people like us keep moving in. (5.4)

The Home Quotes

We didn't always live on Mango Street. Before that we lived on Loomis on the third floor, and before that we lived on Keeler. Before Keeler it was Paulina, and before that I can't remember. But wha...

Family Quotes

By the time we got to Mango Street we were six – Mama, Papa, Carlos, Kiki, my sister Nenny and me. (1.1)

Friendship Quotes

Someday I will have a best friend all my own. One I can tell my secrets to. One who will understand my jokes without my having to explain them. Until then I am a red balloon, a balloon tied to an a...