The House on Mango Street

The House on Mango Street: Introduction to Vignettes

Objective: RI.9.6 determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and be able to identify instances of figurative language and their purpose.
- Students will be able to write meaningful pieces with a clear theme utilizing figurative language taught in class.
Focus on: Theme, Imagery, Point of View, and Metaphor/Simile

Vignettes are a style of writing that capture a single moment and reply it for their audience with some kind of theme (message)

From the French word meaning Vine!

​Today, we will focus on mastering
Three things: Imagery, Point of View, and Metaphor/Simile

We will be incorporating these into our first vignette to show our proficiency.

Origin: French Monks wrote vignettes to entertain and inform readers. They looked like this!

Author of House on Mango Street
- Wrote this when she was in her 20's
- Her numerous awards include National Endowment for the Arts fellowships in both poetry and fiction, the Texas Medal of the Arts, a MacArthur Fellowship, several honorary doctorates and the National Medal of the Arts awarded to her by President Obama.

​

​Sandra Cisneros

• What is Point of View?

  • Point of View is the way an author crafts his or her story to allow the reader to see and hear what is happening

  • The points of view that are most commonly found in literature are:

  – First Person Point of View – Third Person Point of View

  • • (Second person is only used for guides or instructions using the pronoun YOU)

  First Person Point of View

  • You can identify first person point of view by looking for the following pronouns:

  –I – Me, My – We, Us

  The narrator is a character in the story.

  The reader only knows what the NARRATOR reveals about their thoughts, feelings, and actions.

  
  

Imagery

Imagery: vivid language designed to appeal to these senses
Even though we associate "image" with sight, imagery could also play on the senses of touch, taste, hearing, and scent.











Source: Oregon State University

Simile and Metaphor

• You can paint a picture by comparing two things that share some qualities.

• A simile is a comparison that contains words such as like or as.

• A metaphor is a comparison that does not use like or as.

• The girl is as beautiful as a rose. (Simile)

  The girl is a beautiful rose. (Metaphor)

• For both these sentences, the girl is compared to a rose as being beautiful. The simile uses as while the metaphor uses nothing to make the comparison.

Multiple Choice

Simile or Metaphor?

Her heart is like gold. __________

• Simile

• Metaphor

Multiple Choice

Simile or Metaphor?

The world is a stage. __________

• Simile

• Metaphor

Turn to page 3 of The House on Mango Street.

​Listen and follow along...

Multiple Choice

The House on Mango Street
How was the house on Mango Street different from the other houses the family had lived in?

• It was the largest house they had ever lived in.
• The government was paying for it.
• It was their own house.
• It was the first two-story house they had lived in.

Draw

I will assign you a number either 1 or 2.

Number 1 will draw the "real house" that Esperanza describes

Number 2 will draw the House on Mango Street.

Multiple Choice

"that's why Mama and Papa looked for a house, and that's why we moved into the house on Mango Street, far away, on the other side of town"

• point of view

• imagery

• metaphor/simile

Multiple Choice

"Bricks are crumbling in places, and the front door is swollen you have to push hard to get in."

• point of view

• imagery

• metaphor/simile

Multiple Choice

"-The third floor, the paint peeling, wooden bars Papa had nailed on the windows so we wouldn't fall out"

• point of view

• imagery

• metaphor/simile

Multiple Choice

"You live there? The way she said it made me feel like nothing. There. I lived there. I nodded. I knew then I had to have a house. A real house. One I could point to. But this isn't it."

• point of view

• imagery

Open Ended

Do you want to stay living in the house you live in now forever? Or would you like to move to a different house one day? A different city? What kind of house? What factors would make it your dream house? Use IMAGERY.

Multiple Choice

What does Esperanza not like about her house on Mango Street?

• It has one washroom

• Everyone has to share a bedroom

• The yard is small

• All of the above

Multiple Choice

Was the house on Mango Street a place she wanted to call home?

• No. The house on Mango Street reminded her of the homes on Loomis, Keeler, and Paulina.
• Yes. The house on Mango Street was the “house Papa talked about when he held a lottery ticket and this was the house Mama dreamed up in the stories she told us before we went to bed” (pg. 4). 
•  No. The house on Mango Street was a disappointment because it is not big and fancy at all, and all six family members have to share a bedroom.
•  Yes. The house on Mango Street was theirs. They did not have to “pay rent to anybody, or share a yard with the people downstairs, or be careful not to make too much noise…” (pg.3).

Discuss with your group what you think the theme (message the author is trying to say) of this first vignette is.
- Think about the point of view, her negative feelings towards her house, does she sound hopeful?
- What does she want?

Multiple Choice

What is the theme of the first Vignette?

• family - Esperanza hates living with her family in the small house

• material wealth - Esperanza wants to be rich

• home life - Esperanza feels ashamed of her house and longs for something better.

• happiness - Despite the harsh living conditions, Esperanza is really content.

Multiple Choice

Vignette: The House on Mango Street
 
One of the major themes, home, is introduced in vignette one, based on the point of view,

what does the narrator feel about home?

• Home is awesome.
• Home is the place that she escapes from the outside world.
• Home is her dream.
• Home is a place that makes her feel safe, secure, comfortable and sometimes disappointed. 

Hairs page 6
follow along as we read

Multiple Choice

"My Papa's hair is like a broom"

• point of view

• simile

• metaphor

Open Ended

Notice that she mentions short insignificant things about the hair of all her family members.

Why does she go on and on about her Mom's hair? What is special about mom? What does this say about her relationship with her mother?

Multiple Choice

Who has the most beautiful hair?

• Papa's hair, like a broom.
• Mother's hair, like little rosettes, like little candy circles all curly.
• Carlos' hair, thick and straight.
• Nenny''s hair, slippery.

​ https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_gzZT-w_VCZxqxOObCgAhTe7hSdu7c6F3xg2KeWTk4k/edit?usp=sharing

Example:

Now you will practice writing your first Vignette!
Make a copy of the following document:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uTEOiW2uYspksiX5mpL-dXCAPXcyAnLFpociL762dWw/edit?usp=sharing