What is your impression of Meme Ortiz and his dog?

Meme and his pets are described with humorous similes: "like a man dressed in a dog suit" and "limbs flopping all over the place like untied shoes." So too, Meme's house is given a personality of its own through Esmeralda's original depictions such as its twenty-one steps "jutting like crooked teeth."

This image is compared with the metaphor Esperanza uses to describe her own house "with its feet tucked under like a cat." Indeed, Esperanza sees her home not only as a source of shame, but through an aura of respite and comfort. Just as cats instinctually find their way home, so too will Esperanza.