ABSTRACT

Cisneros's The House on Mango Street offers students an entrance into the complexities of language not by getting them to engage prose that is particularly difficult, but by asking them to explore how clear, simple language can convey complex issues. And The House on Mango Street invites students to think about our personal lives and our own communities. One way he invites students to engage the personal while also keeping larger cultural issues in mind is by opening with a pair of vignettes, 'Marin' and "Those Who Dont" from Mango Street. As such, The House on Mango Street can also work as an excellent means for students to explore concepts such as how language constructs categories of gender, sexuality, race, class, and ethnicity. For many scholars teaching Latino/a literature, our pedagogical investments and goals have roots in our own experiences.