The House on Mango Street

Prologue-Chapter 5

READING CHECK

1. What did Sandra Cisneros’s mother encourage her to do with her life?

Answer: become a writer

2. In the house Esperanza’s parents purchase on Mango Street, what do all six members of the family have to share?

Answer: a bedroom

3. Which member of Esperanza’s family has hair “like little candy circles all curly and pretty”?

Answer: her mother

4. What does Esperanza’s name mean in English?

Answer: hope

Discussion Suggestion: Use the above question to begin a discussion about what a persona or implied author is in a work of fiction. The term persona literally means “a mask.” Why might Cisneros have chosen to tell stories of a girl similar to herself through a character named Esperanza? Why is it important to distinguish between the author of a book and his or her chosen persona?

QUIZ

1. How did Cisneros defy her father?

A) She married young.

B) She refused to go to college.

C) She left home before getting married.

D) She studied meteorology.

2. How does Esperanza feel when the nun questions her about her house?

A) ashamed

B) guilty

C) surprised

D) irritated

3. To convey how comforting the smell of her mother’s hair is, what does Esperanza liken it to? (short answer)

4. After noting that her younger sister is her “responsibility,” what does Esperanza say she longs for?

A) an older sister

B) a weekly allowance

C) a best friend

D) a bicycle

5. Why is Esperanza unhappy she was named after her great-grandmother?

A) Her great-grandmother was mean.

B) Her great-grandmother spent her life looking out the window.

C) Her great-grandmother was like a wild horse.

D) Her great-grandmother never married.

6. What does Cathy (“Queen of Cats”) mean when she tells Esperanza the neighborhood is “getting bad”?

A) Too many immigrants are moving there.

B) There are too many robberies.

C) There are too many feral cats.

D) Too much garbage is littering the sidewalks.

QUIZ ANSWERS

1. C. Cisneros’s father hoped she would follow tradition by marrying and having children, and he thought it was strange when she moved out on her own, still single.

2. A. When a nun walked by on Loomis Street and asked with surprise if Esperanza lived in the shabby house, Esperanza felt shame.

3. Esperanza says her mother’s hair smells like warm bread.

4. C. Noting that Nenny is too young to be her best friend, Esperanza yearns for the day she has a best friend of her own.

5. B. Esperanza admires her great-grandmother’s spirit, but hopes she is not destined to be trapped in a confining marriage.

6. A. Cathy’s family is moving away from Mango Street because too many families like Esperanza’s are moving into the neighborhood.

Chapters 6-13

READING CHECK

1. What does Esperanza buy with her new friends, Lucy and Rachel?

Answer: a bicycle

2. When is Gil willing to turn on the lights in his “junk store”?

Answer: when a customer has the money to buy something

3. Who goes after Louie’s cousin, causing him to crash his yellow Cadillac into a lamppost?

Answer: the police

4. According to Esperanza, how do the people in her neighborhood feel when they go into “a neighborhood of another color”?

Answer: scared

QUIZ

1. Why does Esperanza quickly decide she likes Lucy and Rachel?

A) They loan her five dollars.

B) They don’t laugh at her name.

C) They come from Mexico.

D) They are nice to Nenny.

2. Esperanza says that when she and her sister laugh, it sounds like “a pile of dishes breaking.” What does this likely mean?

A) Laughter makes Esperanza feel guilty.

B) Esperanza’s laughter is boisterous or rowdy.

C) Laughter indoors gets her and her sister in trouble.

D) Esperanza and her sister laugh when they are nervous.

Discussion Suggestion: Use the above question to discuss or review the terms simile and metaphor. Why do writers use figurative turns like similes? How do they enrich the meaning of a work?

3. When Esperanza hears the music box play in the junk store, why does she pretend not to notice it?

A) The music makes her cry.

B) It sounds unpleasant, but she doesn’t want to be rude.

C) She’s too proud to reveal how much she wants it.

D) She knows the shopkeeper is flirting with her.

4. What is Louie’s Puerto Rican cousin Marin waiting for?

A) her boyfriend, who is arriving from Puerto Rico

B) putting away enough money to go to college

C) a way to get back to Puerto Rico

D) a man who will change her life

5. Who does Esperanza feel safe with?

A) other brown people

B) the neighborhood police officer

C) Meme’s dog

D) the nuns at her school

6. Rose Vargas has too many what? (short answer)

QUIZ ANSWERS

1. B. Esperanza decides she likes Lucy and Rachel when they hear her name without laughing at it.

2. B. Comparing their laughter to the shy giggles of Lucy and Rachel, Esperanza suggests that she and Nenny laugh loudly and unapologetically.

3. C. The sound of the music box enchants Esperanza, but she fears she will look “stupid” if she shows interest in something she suspects is expensive.

4. D. Marin believes that marriage to a man with money will change her life for the better.

5. A. Esperanza says that she and other “brown” people get scared when they go “into a neighborhood of another color.”

6. Rose Vargas has too many children to care for.

Chapters 14-21

READING CHECK

1. What is Alicia afraid of?

Answer: mice and fathers

2. What does the mother in the “family of little feet” give Esperanza, Lucy, and Rachel?

Answer: high-heeled shoes

3. What embarrasses Esperanza about her appearance when she attends a baptism party wearing a new dress?

Answer: her shoes

4. Where does Esperanza get her first job?

Answer: at a photo shop

QUIZ

1. What does the sky represent to Esperanza

A) vulnerability

B) instability

C) beauty

D) danger

Discussion Suggestion: Use the above question to discuss the theme of Nature versus the urban environment that threads through the novel. What does Esperanza associate with the natural world and what, by contrast, does she implicitly associate with Mango Street and her neighborhood? How does the contrast relate to her gender-specific experiences?

2. What happens when Esperanza tries to explain the names for clouds?

A) It starts to rain.

B) Lucy calls Esperanza names.

C) Lucy says one cloud is God.

D) Rachel says she wants to be a weather girl on TV.

3. Why are Esperanza, Lucy, and Rachel “tired of being beautiful” after wearing their hand-me-down high-heels around the neighborhood?

A) The attention they receive frightens them.

B) Their feet hurt.

C) It was boring.

D) They realized they couldn’t ride their bike wearing high-heels.

4. What does Esperanza’s story about her wish to eat in the canteen reveal about her?

A) She lies easily.

B) She is not ashamed of who she is.

C) She gets tired easily.

D) She has ambitions for herself.

5. How does Nenny’s jump-rope rhyme set her apart from the other girls in the vignette titled “Hips”?

A) It shows how much younger she is.

B) It reveals her flair for funny rhymes.

C) It reflects her upbringing in Chicago, not Texas.

D) It shows how good her memory is.

6. What does the old man at the photo shop tell Esperanza to manipulate her into kissing him? (short answer)

QUIZ ANSWERS

1. C. After saying there is not enough sky in her neighborhood, Esperanza notes there is also a lack of flowers and of “most things that are beautiful.”

2. B. When Esperanza tries to explain different types of clouds and their names, Lucy says she has a “fat face,” and an argument ensues.

3. A. The high-heels attract too much attention from men on the street, including that of a bum who wants to kiss Rachel.

4. D. Esperanza wants to eat lunch in the canteen because she thinks the name sounds important and the “special kids” eat there.

5. A. The older girls are able to create rhymes about swaying hips, but Nenny is too young to understand and can only repeat time-worn jump-rope songs.

6. The man convinces her to kiss him by saying it is his birthday.

Chapters 22-29

READING CHECK

1. What was Aunt Lupe when she was younger, before she got sick?

Answer: a swimmer

2. What happens to Geraldo with “No Last Name”?

Answer: he dies

3. Earl, the jukebox repairman, has a collection of what in his apartment?

Answer: records

4. Although Sire frightens Esperanza with his bold stare, what does she do?

Answer: she stares back at him

QUIZ

1. When Esperanza’s father tells her his father has died, why does that cause her to think about how he “wakes up tired in the dark” every morning?

A) She realizes he’s been too worried to sleep.

B) She realizes how hard he works to support his family.

C) She thinks her father is getting sick.

D) She thinks her father was having a nightmare.

2. What does Aunt Lupe say after Esperanza reads aloud the poem she wrote?

A) She says Esperanza has nice teeth.

B) She says the poem sounds too English.

C) She tells Esperanza she won’t get a husband by writing poems.

D) She tells Esperanza to keep writing because it will keep her free.

3. What does Esperanza hope Elenita the “witch woman” will see in her future when she reads her cards?

A) a handsome man

B) a life far away from Chicago

C) a house

D) fame and fortune

4. Marin can’t explain why Geraldo matters to her. What is the most likely reason?

A) He makes her feel loved.

B) He makes her feel hope for the future.

C) He makes her realize she should enjoy life while she can.

D) He makes her realize how little the lives of the poor are valued.

5. After seeing Sire and his girlfriend, Lois, together, Esperanza feels like she wants to do what?

A) write a poem

B) be bad, like Lois

C) be smarter than Lois

D) laugh and point at them

6. What reaches toward the sky on Esperanza’s street and gives her encouragement to “keep keeping” when she’s feeling hopeless? (short answer)

Discussion Suggestion: Use this question to introduce or review the literary term personification. What effect does Esperanza’s personification of the trees create? How does her perception of the “four skinny trees” compare with her feelings toward the “whispering” trees in the previous vignette?

QUIZ ANSWERS

1. B. When she hears of her grandfather’s death, Esperanza realizes how hard her own father works for his family and how much she loves him.

2. D. Aunt Lupe tells Esperanza the poem is good, and she must keep writing so she can make her own way in life.

3. C. Esperanza dreams of having her own house and hopes Elenita will see one in her future.

4. D. No one at the hospital cared about Geraldo, his name, or his death, because he was “just another wetback.”

5. B. Esperanza’s sexuality is developing, and when she sees Sire and Lois together, she wants to be “bad” like Lois.

6. D. Esperanza identifies with the four trees outside her house that seem like they don’t belong, but keep reaching to the sky in their fight to survive.

Chapters 30-38

READING CHECK

1. Who locks Rafaela indoors on Tuesday evenings?

Answer: her husband

2. Although Minerva is older and has an abusive husband, how are she and Esperanza alike?

Answer: They both write poems

3. What advantage does Nenny have that Esperanza does not?

Answer: pretty eyes, prettiness

4. Sally says she has bruises from falling down, but what is the truth?

Answer: her father hits her

QUIZ

1. What is Esperanza’s explanation for why, after arriving from Mexico with her little boy, Mamacita never leaves her apartment?

A) She’s afraid to speak English.

B) She’s afraid of the three flights of stairs.

C) She’s too big to get out the door.

D) She adores her pink apartment and doesn’t want to leave it.

2. Sally fights with her best friend and now leans against the school yard fence alone, closing her eyes. Esperanza imagines she is dreaming about what?

A) stealing her best friend’s boyfriend

B) getting married and never being alone again

C) having her own house, away from everyone

D) going away to college

3. What is Esperanza’s opinion about the people who live on the hills in beautiful houses?

A) They must be smarter than everyone else.

B) They have a fuller perspective than the people living below them.

C) They care more about money than beauty.

D) They’ve forgotten to care about those who are less fortunate.

4. Why does Esperanza say she is “one who leaves the table like a man,” without picking up her plate?

A) She is tired of washing dishes.

B) She is by nature a messy person.

C) She has her head in the clouds and forgets her table manners.

D) She doesn’t want to be like women who serve their husbands.

5. Why did Esperanza’s mother quit school, even though she knew she was smart? (short answer)

6. When Tito and his friends coerce Sally into kissing them, who is the only person angered by the wrongness of the situation?

A) Sally

B) Tito’s mother

C) Esperanza

D) Nenny

Discussion Suggestion: Use the above question to launch a discussion about Esperanza’s increasing alienation from her community and her status as an outsider. In what ways is she different from the other girls and women on Mango Street? Although Esperanza feels she does not belong, others tell her, “You are Mango Street.” What aspects of Mango Street have marked her character? How does Esperanza’s outsider status relate to her role as a writer?

QUIZ ANSWERS

1. A. There is much speculation about why Mamacita never leaves her apartment, but Esperanza thinks it’s because she is afraid to speak English.

2. C. Esperanza sees Sally leaning against the fence and imagines she is dreaming about having her own house, which is Esperanza’s dream.

3. D. Esperanza believes the people living in beautiful houses have forgotten about those who are less fortunate, and she vows never to forget when she has her house.

4. D. Esperanza does not want to devote herself to serving a husband; instead, she wants to be like a man and do as she pleases.

5. Esperanza’s mother quit school because she didn’t have nice clothes and was too ashamed.

6. C. Esperanza is outraged by the way Tito and his friends treat Sally, but neither Sally nor Tito’s mother show any concern about it.

Chapters 39-44

READING CHECK

1. Where is Esperanza when she is sexually assaulted?

Answer: a carnival

2. The three sisters tell Esperanza she must remember to do what after she goes away?

Answer: come back

3. What item that represents her home country did Alicia give Esperanza?

Answer: a leather purse

4. What does Esperanza plan to pack in her bags and take with her when she leaves Mango Street?

Answer: books and paper

QUIZ

1. Esperanza thinks Sally got married not for love, but “to escape.” What does Sally escape from?

A) fear

B) being told what to do

C) her father

D) her house

2. After the three sisters talk with Esperanza, what happens to them? (short answer)

Discussion Suggestion: Use the above question to introduce the idea of literary allusion and its purpose in a work of fiction. The three sisters who talk with Esperanza are an allusion to the three Fates, or three sisters in Greek mythology who spin, measure, and cut the thread of each individual’s life. What is the purpose of this allusion beyond that of foreshadowing Esperanza’s fate?

3. When Esperanza tells Alicia her house is not on Mango Street, what does Alicia say?

A) You are Mango Street.

B) You will someday discover your real home.

C) You are never going to be satisfied.

D) You need to get married to feel settled.

4. Esperanza says her own house is “clean as paper before the poem.” What does she mean?

A) Her house is nearly empty.

B) She keeps her house exceptionally clean.

C) Her house is white.

D) Her house offers a space where she can be true to herself.

5. How does Esperanza know that one day she will “say goodbye to Mango” Street?

A) Everyone eventually leaves Mango Street.

B) Her mother predicted she would leave.

C) She is too strong for Mango Street to hold her.

D) Her family has never lived anywhere for very long.

6. Why will Esperanza one day return to Mango Street?

A) to see if it has changed

B) to acknowledge the lives of those who cannot leave

C) to show off her success

D) to petition the mayor to improve it

QUIZ ANSWERS

1. C. Sally escapes her abusive father by getting married, but her husband keeps her locked up in her new house.

2. The three sisters mysteriously disappear after talking with Esperanza.

3. A. Echoing the words of the three sisters, Alicia tells Esperanza she can never really escape because she is Mango Street.

4. D. By comparing her house to clean paper “before the poem,” Esperanza suggests the house gives her space to think her own thoughts and be her own self.

5. C. Esperanza knows she will leave Mango Street one day because she is “too strong” for Mango Street to keep her there forever.

6. B. Esperanza does not want to be like those who succeed and forget their roots, so she vows to return to Mango Street for the ones who cannot get out.