Question 1- The "Real" House on Mango Street

It is an interesting play on words that the “real” house mentioned in the fourth paragraph is the imaginary and idealized one that our young girl narrator and her family dream of living in. It has “real” stairs, for example, which for her is a value judgement; real means better the way she uses the word. The mention of “stairs inside like the houses on T.V.” is further indication of how she and the family have formed their concept of what a real house should consist of; they're basing the dream house and landscaping on something you might see the upper-middle class family of Leave it to Beaver living inside. It's a poignant contrast that shows how the media and advertising shape what we think of ourselves. The idealized house has ample room for everyone, a basement and plenty of bathrooms, with a large yard and trees to play on and under. The idea of “no fence” suggests a better neighborhood where security and shady characters wouldn't be an issue.

The actual house on Mango Street and surrounding environs is more akin to something you would see on COPS- a reality TV version of how people really live when they struggle financially. It's cramped and crumbling, and takes all the typical shortcuts a less expensive house has to take: small windows, tight steps, fewer rooms, and minimal landscaping. They have no car yet, so the garage is useless to them.

At least they're not still living on Loomis Street, so they have moved up a bit in their quality of life. Our narrator and her parents are dreamers, evidenced especially by her father in the lottery ticket reference. The young girl still hopes for better, spurred somewhat by her painful childhood shaming by the nun, but is beginning to realize what she and the family are up against.

Question 8-  "Down at the Dinghy" Female Characters

It becomes apparent in Salinger's detailed descriptions of all three female characters that he has no desire to make them appealing, but quite the contrary. Sandra appears first, as the maid with an "enormous waistline" who lets her worries about the boy become an obsession, repeatedly gazing out the kitchen window at Lionel then going back to sit down, but otherwise getting nothing accomplished. She's joined by Mrs. Snell the cleaning lady, and they are both portrayed as gossips and creatures of habit, such as Mrs. Snell always wearing the same hat for the past three years. While class enters into this so far, both women being servants, and Salinger could maybe be excused for trying to give these characters some grit- when the lady of the house enters the room, she fares no better.

Boo Boo Tannenbaum- "hipless... styleless, colorless brittle hair... ears... very large... Her joke of a name... and general unprettiness". To add insult to injury, she's also described as whistling "unmelodically" and then we're alerted to the "uninhibited, pendulum action of her rear end". Salinger has stereotyped, dumbed-down and/or objectified these three females. It's not much of a leap to assume he doesn't respect women. It is the consistency with which he exhibited this bias that makes speculation about this less error-prone. By contrast, only the nun was presented negatively in Cisnero's story; the mother and daughter were neutral or endearing.