The House on Mango Street

士多啤梨

Time：2 days, 90 minutes per day
Reading task：Chapter"Cathy Queen of Cats," "Our Good Day," "Laughter" and "Gil’s Furniture Bought & Sold"
1. Cathy Queen of Cats
Summary of the Content:  
Esperanza meets Cathy, a girl who claims to be the “great-great-grandcousin of the queen of France” and calls herself the “queen of cats” because she owns many cats. Cathy belittles other families on Mango Street and warns Esperanza about the neighborhood’s “bad” residents. However, Cathy’s family plans to move away soon because the neighborhood is “getting bad,” hinting at their classism and fear of incoming Latino families.  
Evaluation:
Cisneros uses Cathy’s character to critique class divisions and performative superiority. The cats symbolize Cathy’s aloofness and detachment from the community. The chapter’s tone is ironic—Cathy’s self-proclaimed royalty contrasts with her family’s insecurity about their social status. The sparse, poetic prose reflects Esperanza’s growing awareness of hypocrisy.  
Reflection:  
Cathy’s family mirrors real-world attitudes toward gentrification and racial segregation. Their judgment of others highlights how fear of “the other” perpetuates social divides. This made me reflect on how communities often exclude marginalized groups under the guise of preserving “tradition” or “safety.”  
2. Our Good Day
Summary of the Content:  
Esperanza befriends Rachel and Lucy, two sisters who offer to split the cost of a bicycle with her. Despite Cathy’s warnings about the girls being “raggedy,” Esperanza spends her savings ($5) to buy the bike, symbolizing her rejection of classist attitudes. The trio rides joyfully through the neighborhood, sharing laughter and freedom.  
Evaluation:
The chapter’s brevity and vivid imagery (“the wind is pushing us”) capture the fleeting innocence of childhood. The bicycle symbolizes liberation from societal constraints and Esperanza’s desire for belonging. Cisneros contrasts Cathy’s elitism with the girls’ genuine connection, emphasizing solidarity over status.  
Reflection:  
This chapter celebrates the power of simple, shared joys to bridge differences. It made me consider how materialism and prejudice often overshadow human connection. The girls’ bond—despite economic disparities—reminds me to prioritize empathy over judgment in my own relationships.  
3. Laughter
Summary of the Content:
Esperanza describes how she and her sister Nenny laugh in the same way, unlike their other siblings. They bond over noticing a “house like Mexico” and a cloud shaped like a happy face, finding shared meaning in small, overlooked details.  
Evaluation:
This vignette uses repetition (“Rachel and Lucy who don’t laugh”) and metaphor to explore familial bonds and cultural identity. The laughter symbolizes unspoken understanding, while the house and cloud imagery reflect Esperanza’s longing for connection to her heritage. The lyrical style mirrors the fleeting, ephemeral nature of these moments.  
Reflection:  
The chapter underscores how shared experiences—even mundane ones—create belonging. It made me reflect on how modern life’s fast pace often erodes these small moments of connection. As a sibling, I related to the quiet comfort of inside jokes and unspoken bonds.  
4. Gil’s Furniture Bought & Sold
Summary of the Content:  
Esperanza visits Gil’s junk shop, where an elderly man (Gil) sells broken furniture. She is fascinated by a music box that plays a haunting tune, but Gil’s son dismissively tells her, “That, he says, isn’t for sale.” The chapter ends with Esperanza imagining the stories hidden in the shop’s discarded items.  
Evaluation:
Cisneros infuses the ordinary with magic realism. The music box symbolizes beauty in decay and the marginalized histories of Mango Street’s residents. The fragmented dialogue (“That isn’t for sale”) reflects how poverty and time erase value from objects—and people. The prose is sensory and nostalgic.  
Reflection:  
This chapter critiques how society discards both objects and people deemed “useless.” It made me think about consumerism’s wastefulness and the importance of preserving stories, especially in communities like Mango Street. It inspired me to look for beauty in overlooked places.