Esperanza Cordero.

Esperanza is the protagonist or main character of the novel. She is thirteen years old. She grows during the year, both emotionally and physically. In the first few chapters, she begins her story-telling style, which is describing her life story in short chapters. She turns towards writing to avoid dealing with the neighborhood. She explains how she came to live at the house on Mango Street. It was due to the broken pipes in her previous house. Mango Street was an impoverished neighborhood. She was not too fond of her new home. She always complained that it was too cramped because it only had one bedroom. She had no choice but to sleep in that one bedroom with her whole family. Boys and girls were not allowed to socialize with one another in the neighborhood. Although Esperanza had brothers, they always refused to converse with her outside of their home, only the inside. Esperanza also has a sister named Nenny. Esperanza's responsibility was to watch over Nenny to make sure she does not play with the Vargas kids. Then, she explains that she was named after her great-grandmother, whom she has never met. They were both born in the Chinese year of the horse. The horse is said to be an animal that represents strength, but also said to be bad luck for women being born in the year of the horse. Esperanza rejects the idea of this "bad luck" superstition. Although she has not met her great-grandmother, she compares her to a wild horse. In English, she explains that her name means "hope," while in Spanish it means "too many letters" as well as "sadness" and "waiting." Esperanza says that she wants to change her name to one that expresses her "true self" one day.