“Those Who Don’t”
1.How do outsiders see Esperanza's neighborhood?
2.How does Esperanza feel when she visits other neighborhoods?
“There Was an Old Woman She Had So Many Children She Didn't Know What to Do”
1.Why does Rosa Vargas cry every day?
2.What does Esperanza say the Vargas children don’t have?
Alicia Who Sees Mice
1. Alicia from "Cathy Queen of Cats" is the subject of this vignette. What are some of the obstacles she must overcome to continue to improve herself?
2. How does Alicia's father treat her efforts to get an education?
Darius and the Clouds
1. What is one example of figurative language from this story?
And Some More
1. What is “odd” or “different” about the way this story is written?
2. Who is speaking in this story?
The Family of Little Feet
1. What happens to Esperanza when she and her friends are given some cast-off shoes?
A Rice Sandwich
1. Why does Esperanza want to eat in the school canteen? How does she get her mother to help her?
Chanclas
1. Identify one example of figurative language in this vignette.
Hips
1 . What are the girls doing as they talk about hips?
2. What are hips good for?
3. What does their conversation tell you about their ages?
The First Job
1. Why does this story have a misleading title?
2. What happens to Esperanza on her first day at work?
3. What does this episode tell you about her family and their expectations?
Papa Who Wakes Up Tired in the Dark
1. Why does Esperanza's father cry?
2. How does his crying make her feel?
Born Bad
1. What happens to Aunt Lupe?
2. Why does Esperanza believe she deserves to go to hell?
3. What special relationship did Esperanza have with her aunt?
Elenita, Cards, Palm, Water
1. Is there anything in the story to indicate that Esperanza is still a little girl?
Geraldo No Last Name
1. Why does Geraldo have no last name?
2. From the information Cisneros provides, do you believe that his death was inevitable?
Edna’s Ruthie
1. The narrator does not know what is wrong with Ruthie. Any answer about her problem would be speculation, but good readers have good speculations. What do you think is wrong with Ruthie?
The Earl of Tennessee
1. Here is a case where the observant reader is smarter than the narrator. Explain the last paragraph of this vignette.
Sire
1. Why is Esperanza afraid of Sire?
2. What do her parents think of him?
3. Why is she so curious about what he does with Lois, and why does this curiosity make her feel as though "everything is holding its breath inside me" [73]?
Four Skinny Trees
These are the trees mentioned in the previous vignette. Esperanza understands the trees. In fact, everything that Esperanza says about the trees could be said about her. Without using or mentioning the extended metaphor of the trees, tell me all about Esperanza.
"No Speak English"
1. What eight English words—or, really, phrases—does Mamacita know?
2. What do they tell you about the ways in which Mexican immigrants relate to the "official," English-speaking culture outside their communities?
"Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut & Papaya Juice on Tuesdays"
1. What is making Rafaela grow old?
2. Who was Rapunzel, and why would Rafaela dream of having hair like hers?
"Sally"
1. Describe the relationship between Sally and her father.
2. How do her schoolmates see her?
3. What transformation takes place when Sally comes home?
"Minerva Writes Poems"
1. Why does Minerva write poems?
2. Why is she black and blue when she comes to visit Esperanza?
"Bums in the Attic"
1. What does Esperanza's father do for a living?
2. Why has Esperanza stopped joining her family on their Sunday outings?
"Beautiful & Cruel"
1. What is the nature of Esperanza's "quiet war" [89]? Against whom—or what—is she fighting?
"A Smart Cookie"
1. How would you categorize the things Esperanza's mother knows?
2. What things might she not know that Esperanza does?
3. Why do you think she left school?
“The Monkey Garden”
This is a complex and important chapter. Read it carefully!
First we have a garden. Could this be an allusion to another garden? What famous gardens do you know?
Next we have a description of the garden that the children take over. Describe it when they first have it. What happens to the garden as time goes on?
Things had a way of disappearing in the garden, as if the garden itself ate them, or, as if with its old-man memory, it put them away and forgot them. (95)
Let's go back to what we were learning about theme. The plot of this chapter is about a garden, but a good story is always about something other than the plot. If this story is about something more, then what might the garden be all about?
On page 96, Esperanza tells the reader that this was a place she wanted to die and where she tried to die. She indicates that this would be the last day she would be in the garden. Therefore the events that follow this must be significant. You are being told to pay attention. Will you?
Following this attention getting paragraph, Esperanza asks, "Who was it that said I was getting too old to play the games?" If this immediately follows the attention getting paragraph, this question might be important. What is the story about?
In this story, Esperanza is contrasted with what other character that we have been getting to know? In this story, what are the differences between Sally and Esperanza?
Esperanza witnesses some interplay between Sally and Tito and the boys. Esperanza becomes angry in a way that seems out of proportion to what is happening. The action between Sally and the boys must represent something more important to Esperanza. What is it?
Esperanza can not explain her anger and her desire to save Sally from the boys. Can you?
Afterward Esperanza is embarrassed and upset. She wanted to be dead. Did she die? Is there any way you could think to explain that a part of her died that day? What part might it be and how did it happen?
I looked at my feet in their white socks and ugly round shoes. They seemed far away. They didn't seem to be my feet anymore. And the garden that had been such a good place to play didn't seem mine either. (98)
A symbol is an object that represents a much, much, much, much, much, much more complicated idea. Remember the shoes Esperanza is referring to. She mentions them in "Chanclas." In this story, what do the shoes symbolize and why do they no longer seem to be her feet anymore? What does the garden symbolize and why is it no longer Esperanza's? Sally does not seem to a part of the garden in this story. Did she leave the garden in the same way as Esperanza?
What is the conflict in this story?
There is a great deal to talk about in this story, but much of it depends upon the previous chapters and what the reader learns there.
“Red Clowns”
1. What happens to Esperanza in this chapter?
2. In what way is she different from Sally?
3. Why is she different from Sally? Will she ever become like Sally?
Linoleum Roses
1. What is Sally's fate?
"The Three Sisters"
1. How does Esperanza meet the three sisters? What kind of future do they predict for her? What is the responsibility they place on her?
Alicia and I Talking on Edna’s Steps
1. What is this chapter telling you about the fate of Esperanza?
2. Who is going to make Mango Street better? How?
A House of My Own
1. How will Esperanza make a house of her own?
2. What confidence is Esperanza showing?
3. What is the significance of the simile in the second paragraph?
"Mango Says Goodbye Sometimes"
1. How does the ending of The House on Mango Street complete a circle?