House on Mango Street

house on mango street

Why does the first few chapters feature mostly children? How does presenting children and teenagers contribute to the tone of the story or what the narrator is presenting as her life?

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The first chapters addresses themes of home, family, poverty, and self-identity. The narrator's need for a home is very much related to her economic situation, her dreams for and frustrations towards her family, and her need to have a place of her own free from the constraints she finds both inside and outside her present domicile. These themes are often bluntly revealed in the narrative itself and also through more subtle channels of language, symbolism, and metaphor. The children's story are very much a part of the exposition: They telus us much about the community, values, and socio-economic complexities of the setting.

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