Quote 22
Don't talk to them, says Cathy. Can't you see they smell like a broom? (6.6)
Cathy's tendency to pretend to be superior to her neighbors suggests that she's very insecure. Do she and the other residents of Mango Street belong to different classes of society, or are Cathy's feelings of superiority an invention to make herself feel better?
Quote 23
Those who don't know any better come into our neighborhood scared. They think we're dangerous. They think we will attack them with shiny knives. They are stupid people who are lost and got here by mistake. (12.1)
Esperanza notices that no one who doesn't live there comes to Mango Street on purpose – people from other neighborhoods only wind up there "by mistake," when they get lost.
Quote 24
They are bad those Vargases, and how can they help it with only one mother who is tired all the time from buttoning and bottling and babying, and who cries every day for the man who left without even leaving a dollar for bologna or a note explaining how come. (13.2)
The misbehavior of the Vargas children has an explanation that's rooted deeply in social problems – they misbehave because their mother is too poor and overworked to discipline them. She's poor and overworked because her husband abandoned her. The problem is complex, and doesn't have an easy solution.