Beautiful & Cruel

This is about how Esperanza wants to be able to choose who she wants to be with. Not go really fast into a relationship just to have someone else. How she doesn't want to be the one girl that has the guys all over her and making them laugh and her power is all her own and not wanting to share it. Esperanza wants to have a say in her life.

Bums in the Attic

This short story is about when Esperanza's family go up to see he Papa's house on the hill. She used to like to go and see it but after awhile she just didn't want to go because she didn't like to see something that she will not have. But she just says she's getting to old, well her Papa asked and she just agreed. Esperanza didn't want to tell the truth about it. When she grows up she says that she wants to get a house, and when a bum comes and asks if they can come in she can say you can stay in the attic. Then when people are over and they hear creaking floorboards and ask rats? Esperanza will say bums.

Minerva Writes Poems

I take care of my childen and I sometimes get aches
Before they go to bed I feed them pancakes
I'm unlucky I pray all the time
So I sometimes like to do a little rhyme
She reads mine I read hers
Mine has very strong words
I'm through
Out the door my husband goes, clothes, records and shoes
He comes back saying sorry
The same story
He leaves and comes back
But then it ends with a whack

Sally

Sally is a beautiful girl and he father says it dangerous. The boys at her school think she is beautiful beacuse her hair is black and shiny like a ravens feather. She wants to be loved. Sally got a black coat and shoes. Her mom said wearing black young is dangerous. She doesnt have a best friend anymore because they got into a fight and made her ear bleed. When she is at school there's no one there that she can talk to hang out with and lean against the fence with at lunch. Sally wishes she would be able to walk far far away from Mango Street and end up at a beautiful house and open her bedroom window and see the pretty blue sky and trees. She wants to be loved and not have anyone think she crazy.

Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut & Papaya Juice on Tuesdays

I hate Tuesdays. When Monday night comes i know i'm going to be doing anything but sitting home and waiting for my husband to come home late because he is playing dominoes. He wont let me go out, he thinks I will run away. Every Tuesday I lean out the window and i think about my hair being like Rapunzel's hair. I hear the music playing down at the cornor of the street at a music bar and wish that i could go there. I ask the kids if they would go and get me something from the store and I throw them a crumpled up dollar and i sometimes ask for coconut or papaya juice. I toss down a clothes line and pull it up with what i got in a bag. I wish there were sweeter drinks and not just having to sit in this bitter empty room. I wanna be able to go down and dance like the older women do.

No Speak English

No speak english was about a man who paid for his wife/partner and son to come and live with him. She was a big women and wore tiny pink shoes. It was hard for her to climb the stairs and people say that thats one reason she does not come out of the house. Others say it was because she was big or couldn't speak english. She only knew a few words that she would have to use if someone was to talk to her in english. He would try and help her so she wasn't homesick by painting the walls pink, but it didn't seem to help. They would sometimes fight and you could hear it all the way down the street. One day the baby boy started talking and was singing the Pepsi commerical he heard on T.V. But then the mom said no speak english, no no no speak english like she couldn't believe her ears.

Four Skinny Trees

Four skinny trees is a short story that I actually like out of this book. It talks about how the trees have pointy elbow like her. She (Esperanza) is comparing her to the trees. She says that the trees are the only ones who understand her and she is the one who understands them.