The House on Mango Street Innocence Quotes

Dressing up in grown-up shoes is both fun and scary for Esperanza and her friends. The shoes make their own feet look alien to them. The description of the little girls' "long long leg[s]" is disturbingly sexualized – we get the same creepy feeling that we do when we see toddlers wearing makeup in a beauty pageant.

The high-heeled shoes act as a sort of magic talisman that transforms the little girls into women – a dangerous transformation, as Mr. Benny notes, because the little girls aren't ready for the sexualized world of adulthood.

For the first time, Esperanza notices a boy watching her, and she seems both mystified and pleased by the experience.