Esperanza Cordero – The House on Mango Street is written through the eyes of Esperanza Cordero, who is an adolescent girl living in a working-class Latino neighbourhood in Chicago. Esperanza is intrigued by the idea of being a Mexican American woman in Chicago, which reflects the author herself just 15 years prior to publishing this book.[6] We follow this young woman coming into her sexual maturity and observe her undying struggle to make new possibilities for herself.[11] The reader also encounters Esperanza living between two cultures, the Mexican one which she encounters through her parents and the American culture in which she finds herself living.[12] Throughout the book, we see Esperanza reject her Chicana community as a means to forge and establish her own identity.[13]
As her name suggests, Esperanza is a "figure of hope, a 'fierce woman' on a complex pursuit for personal and community transformation.".[14] Esperanza uses her house in Chicago, to question her society and the cultural customs that weigh on her due to her identity as a young Chicana woman.[15] She observes the women of her community to find a role model of her own, and she looks at both their negative and positive aspects and uses what she has learnt from her observations to form an identity for herself.[16]
Magdalena "Nenny" Cordero – She is Esperanza's youngest sister, the protagonist mentions that they are both very different from one another. She is described as having slippery hair.[17]
Rachel and Lucy Guerrero – They are sisters, around the same age as Esperanza and Nenny, from Texas but now living on Mango street. They buy an old bike together and share it between them.[18] They are described as having “fat popsicle lips” like the rest of their family. They all share a moment in the book where they are trying out high heels together. Until a man tries to convince Rachel to give him a kiss, that is when they give up “being beautiful.”[19]
Sally – She is one of Esperanza's closest friends and mentioned in several of the vignettes in the novel. There is one full vignette dedicated to this character.[20] The author describes her as “the girl with eyes like Egypt and nylons the color of smoke.” This is the first phrase in the chapter, and it seems to embody the type of dreams Sally holds for herself. The protagonist is attracted to Sally's way of being and considers her to be a true friend, she likes being around her.
Sally seems to represent the vicious cycle of domestic violence and repression felt by women on Mango street. She is utterly desperate to find a man to marry her, to escape the beatings and maltreatment she gets from her father at home. This ‘vicious cycle’ is seen when Esperanza goes and tells Sally's mother that her daughter is in a garden with three boys and the mother completely disregards this, her mother doesn't seem surprised or worried. Her mother cares for her cuts and bruises allowing for the violence to perpetuate,[21] both mother and daughter give excuses to the father. The bare fact that Sally marries at such a young age to a man that ends up treating her just like her father, shows how this cycle is so ingrained in the way of life of many women, and passed from generation to generation. The author pities this character, not blaming her for what happened to her, Sally was very young and immature to fully understand her surroundings, to find a way out.
Marin – She is a cousin of the Louie's family, neighbors of Esperanza's family, she has come to stay from Puerto Rico.[22] She is older than Esperanza, she wears dark nylons and a lot of makeup.[22] She has a boyfriend back in Puerto Rico, and shows off her mementos from him to the younger girls saying how he promised they would get married soon. Esperanza looks up to her, as a figure of wisdom, of knowing many things. Marin imparted a lot of advice to the younger girls. She wore shorter skirts and had pretty eyes, received a lot of attention, yet the protagonist will always remember her as someone who was always waiting for something to change, something that never came. This character represents many of the young women in the neighborhood.[23]
Esperanza's mother – One of the first descriptions is that she has hair like little rosettes, like little candy circles all curly from the pins she uses for her hair.[17] Her mother's smell made her feel safe, her mother is her pillar, wanting the best for Esperanza. The vignette “A Smart Cookie” is dedicated to her mother. Her mother can speak two languages, can sing opera, reads, writes, she is handy around the house, she could’ve been anything she wanted, yet she regrets not having gone anywhere and dropped out of school. Her mother expressed disgust that she dropped out of school for not having nice clothes.[24] Several times throughout the book she encourages Esperanza to keep studying. Esperanza's mother is described as obedient with an undemanding nature.[25]
Alicia – Alicia is a young woman who lives in Esperanza's neighbourhood. She attends university and has a father who is thought to molest her and leave her to do all the chores.[26] Alicia is also faced with many challenges, as women attending college at that time, especially lower-income Latina girls, was very uncommon, and the community judged her for that.[27] Nonetheless, Alicia is thought to be a role model for Esperanza. Alicia's attendance at university allows her to escape their community and see the outside world. Returning to the neighbourhood from school, Alicia seems to have developed a disrespect for the cultural community of Mango Street and Esperanza notices that she is "stuck-up".[26] Throughout the novel, Esperanza wishes to learn from Alicia.[26] Ultimately, Alicia wants to be a true American and for the community to solely be part of her past.[26]
Alicia is an inspiration to Esperanza and listens to Esperanza's sadness when she has no one else to talk to.[28] Esperanza learns a lot from Alicia and her lifestyle, realizing that Alicia does not "want to spend her whole life in a factory or behind a rolling pin" [29] and instead pursues university and studies hard.[30] Alicia plays a big role in understanding Esperanza's identity and its relationship to Mango Street. She confirms the intimacy between the two by stating "Like it or not you [Esperanza] are Mango Street."[31][30]
Aunt Lupe – Aunt Lupe is primarily present in the vignette "Born Bad," in which Esperanza scolds herself for mimicking her dying aunt. Aunt Lupe is thought to "represent the passivity that women are so revered for in Mexican culture, that passivity which makes women accepting of whatever it is their patriarchal society chooses for them."[32] Aunt Lupe married, had kids and was a dutiful house wife. However, she suffered crippling illness that left her bedridden. Esperanza describes how her aunt went blind and her "bones gone limp as worms" [33] She is thought to be representative of la Virgen de Guadalupe, as her proper name is Guadalupe.[32] Aunt Lupe also encourages Esperanza to pursue writing, as she tells Esperanza that "writing would keep her free."[33] Aunt Lupe eventually dies from her illness.
