House on Mango Street

In the section titled, Louie, His Cousin and His Other Cousin, Esperanza and the rest of the children do not realize that Louis's breathtaking yellow Cadillac is stolen property. The main theme in this chapter is centered around finding the best parts of everyday life or an existence of hardship to enjoy. This is why the neighbors enjoy the ride in the Cadillac without questioning its origins. The fun shared emphasizes too, that the neighborhood functions as a large extended family. Esperanza uses deadpan irony to describe the cousin's crash- "the nose of that yellow Cadillac was all pleated like and alligator's"- and hauling off to prison- "and we all waved as they drove away."