Dandelion Interventions: 8.5F Making Inferences

Dandelion Interventions: Making Inferences

My Name from The House on Mango Street (read the passage)

In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting. It is like the number nine. A muddy color. It is the Mexican records my father plays on Sunday mornings when he is shaving, songs like sobbing.

It was my great-grandmother's name and now it is mine. She was a horse woman too, born like me in the Chinese year of the horse – which is supposed to be bad luck if you're born female – but I think this is a Chinese lie because the Chinese, like the Mexicans, don't like their women strong.

My great-grandmother. I would've liked to have known her, a wild horse of a woman, so wild she wouldn't marry. Until my great-grandfather threw a sack over her head and carried her off. Just like that, as if she were a fancy chandelier. That's the way he did it.

And the story goes she never forgave him. She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow. I wonder if she made the best with what she got or was she sorry because she couldn't be all the things she wanted to be. Esperanza. I have inherited her name, but I don't want to inherit her place by the window.

At school they say my name funny as if the syllables were made out of tin and hurt the roof of your mouth. But in Spanish my name is made out of a softer something, like silver, not quite as thick as my sister's name – Magdalena – which is uglier than mine. Magdalena who at least can come home and become Nenny. But I am always Esperanza.

I would like to baptize myself under a new name, a name more like the real me, the one nobody sees. Esperanza as Lisandra or Maritza or Zeze the X. Yes. Something like Zeze the X will do.

Open Ended

“In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting. It is like the number nine. A muddy color. “

The author thinks what?? What are the clues from the text?

Open Ended

“ I think this is a Chinese lie because the Chinese, like the Mexicans, don't like their women strong.”

The author thinks what?? What are the clues from the text?

Open Ended

“I have inherited her name, but I don't want to inherit her place by the window. “

The author thinks what?? What are the clues from the text?

Open Ended

“At school they say my name funny as if the syllables were made out of tin and hurt the roof of your mouth. But in Spanish my name is made out of a softer something, like silver,”

The author thinks what?? What are the clues from the text?

Open Ended

“I would like to baptize myself under a new name, a name more like the real me, the one nobody sees. Esperanza as Lisandra or Maritza or Zeze the X.”

The author thinks what?? What are the clues from the text?

Multiple Choice

The narrator’s name is:

• a) Esperanza

• b) Magdelena

• c) Lisandra

• d) Zeze the X

Multiple Choice

She inherited her name from:

• a) her sister

• b) her grandmother

• c) her great-grandmother

• d) a horse

Multiple Choice

Her name reminds her of:

• a) the colour of mud

• b) sad songs

• c) the number nine

• d) all of the above

Multiple Choice

The other kids at school pronounce the narrator’s name:

• a) incorrectly

• b) harshly and unattractively

• c) smoothly

• d) musically

Multiple Choice

The narrator thinks her sister is luckier than she is because:

• a) she has a cute nickname

• b) she has a prettier name

• c) she inherited her name from a happy person

• d) the students at school don’t make fun of her name

Multiple Choice

The narrator’s great-grandmother probably had a sad life because:

• a) she was carried away in a bag by her future husband

• b) she was a free spirited woman whose freedom was taken

  away from her

• c) she was born in the Chinese year of the horse, considered

  unlucky for females

• d) she stared out the window all day, resting her chin in her

  hand

Multiple Choice

The narrator wants to:

• a) live a life where she is free to fulfill her dreams

• b) legally change her name

• c) ask people to call her by a nickname

• d) be like her great-grandmother

Multiple Choice

The narrator feel that her name

• a) is interesting and unusual

• b) can generate a lot of metaphors and similes

• c) is ugly but honourable

• d) does not represent the person inside her

Multiple Choice

The dash in paragraph two is used to introduce

• a) a new idea

• b) a definition

• c) direct speech

• d) an explanation

Multiple Choice

“I have inherited her name, but I don’t want to inherit her

place by the window.” (Paragraph 4)

Why does the narrator make this statement?

• a) she doesn't want the life of her sister

• b) she doesn't want the life of her great-grandmother

• c) she wants to be like her great-grandmother

• d) she wants to be like her sister

Open Ended

Answer in full and correctly written sentences.

Explain how your name is or is not a reflection of your

personality.