The short, almost choppy sentences that Cisneros writes with are very straight forward and to the point, without the fluff. This reflects back to the situation as well, that there's no fluff, nothing more complicated than three young girls who just became friends and are having fun with each other. .
One source from which their innocence starts to fade is the awareness and realization of the power of appearance. Esperanza and her friends decide one day to play dress up and try on high-heeled shoes, a seemingly a normal thing for young girls to do. At the beginning of this, Esperanza still seems child-like, exclaiming "Hurray! Today we are Cinderella" (Cisneros 40), comparing themselves to a fairytale princess. However, their impression of high-heels vary greatly from that of Mango Street. Switching pairs and learning how to walk in them, the girls soon start to catch the attention of males on the street. "Ladies, lead me to heaven." (Cisneros 41), one calls out. Still innocent and not knowing what or who he was talking about, Esperanza looks around and notices, "there is nobody around but us" (Cisneros 41). She thinks, surely he couldn't be talking about them three, giggling and wobbling around like a newborn calf. Mr. Benny warns them about the shoes, calling them "dangerous", but they ignore him and strut on. It's not until they meet the bum man that there's a change in tone. He begins to cajole the girls, "But come closer. I can't see very well. Come closer. Please.". When he asks Rachel for a kiss, the girls become uncomfortable and finally realize what the heels have become. They no longer are seen as young neighborhood girls, but rather are looked at as women with "long long legs". They unintentionally become sexualized and begin to notice the adult world. Cisneros delivers the dialogue in this chapter effectively without using quotation marks.
