House on Mango Street: Music Prompt

Though the song is mostly focused on the romantic relationship between two people, I feel that elements of it also apply to House on Mango Street as well. Obviously, it’s a song sung in Spanish, which is the first language of Esperanza and many of the characters featured in the vignettes. If inserted into a soundtrack, I would place this track during the scene of “Our Good Day,” where Esperanza finds five dollars to give to Rachel and Lucy in order to gain their friendship and a bicycle.

The lyrics of this song, especially in the chorus, highlight what Esperanza was probably feeling once she gained these friends and the bike. Roughly translated into English, the excerpts that I wanted to apply to this excitement and carefree nature were: “Take me, take me on your bicycle / For us to play ball and rag there in flip-flop” and “On a bicycle that takes you everywhere.” The beat of the reggaeton music provides a childlike and happy aesthetic that I got from this vignette as well.

(As a side note, this song can also be applied to the vignette “Hips” as well. As said before, the beat of the song provides the feeling of lively people dancing. The lyrics also contribute to this, since there is a segment of the song that translates to “She is the favorite, singing in the area / She moves on her hip like a ship on the waves / She has bare feet like a child who adores / And her hair is long, is a sun that seems like / She likes to be told that it is the girl, lola /She likes to be looked when she dances alone / She likes more the house, which don't pass the hours.” The sexually charged nature of a woman who moves her hips in such a way parallels what Nenny told Esperanza about how hips can get a man. The mentioning of the “house” is also very interesting since it demonstrates how the subject of the song closely identifies to a place where she lives—something Esperanza struggled with throughout this novel.