<P> This simple small sense of happiness from the bicycle to the hopes and dreams of the youth on the street is another example of Marxist theory . The impoverished cling to hope because often that is all that they have, and is the one thing they can claim complete ownership of . For example, Esperanza's name in Spanish means "hope ." Cisneros shares this information cleverly in the chapter "My Name ." There are other appearances of the concept of hope within the text as well . For example, the chapter "Alicia Who Sees Mice" is about a little girl forced to take on the role of a grown woman according to her family's culture because her mother is dead . But she doesn't believe in this role for herself . She has a different destiny in mind and through studying hard at university, she is able to hope for a better life . </P> <P> Accounts of racism are peppered throughout the book . In the chapter titled "Those Who Don't" Esperanza discusses how other ethnicities, in this case most likely white, accidentally arrive in Esperanza's neighborhood and are filled with fear by the sight of brown skinned people whom they believe to be dangerous . </P> <P> In the Chapter "Red Clowns," not only is Esperanza assaulted, but she is referred to as "Spanish girl" when she's being cat - called . Loose and wild sexuality is a Hispanic stereotype . The line, "I love you, I love you little Spanish girl," represents a common threat that Hispanic women face when out alone in public: the expectation to be sexually wild and easy . </P> <P> Esperanza struggles against the traditional gender roles within her own culture and the limitations these impose upon women . In her essay "On Not Being La Malinche" women's literature scholar Jean Wyatt writes: "Mexican social myths of gender crystallize with special force in three icons: "Guadalupe, the virgin mother who has not abandoned us, la Chingada (Malinche), the raped mother whom we have abandoned, and la Llorona, the mother who seeks her lost children ." According to the evidence of Chicana feminist writers, these "three Our Mothers" haunt the sexual and maternal identities of contemporary Mexican and Chicana women ." </P>

What is the house of mango street about