House on Mango Street ch 1-4

Why did Esperanza's family move to Mango Street? (NT)

• it was the real house our family had always been looking for
• the water pipes broke and the landlord wouldn't fix them
• our house on Loomis was too small
• we didn't have enough money to pay the rent

Boys and Girls

In this chapter, what does the Narrator want to have someday?

• She wants to live with her grandmother.

• She wants to have a best friend.

• She wants to have a loving mother.

• She wants to live in an apartment.

The smell of Mama's hair is______________.

• comforting
• like the rain outside
• reminds Esperanza of Papa snoring
• musty

Esperanza compares Nenny to what?

• a best friend
• an annoyance
• a red balloon
• an anchor

What does Esperanza mean? (GC)

• hope
• love
• saddness
• peace

What does Esperanza mean by the quote, "she looked out the window her wholw life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow" p.11

• She means that her great-grandmother loved to look outside and see her children playing. If one of then got hurt, then she felt really sad. 

• She means that she really wanted to be free, but her family kept her inside all day to look out the window.

• She means that women are forced to sit and ‘watch’ life go by without living their own dreams. They have to do what is expected of them. 

Vignette: Boys and Girls

What does the narrator say about the relationship between boys and girls? What evidence does she provide to support this idea?

• When the narrator says that “the boys and the girls live in separate worlds”(pg.8), she is implying that the girls live on one planet and the boys live on a better planet.

• On page 8, the narrator says, “the boys and the girls live in separate worlds.” She implies that they exist in two different societies; they live by two sets of rules—rules that give men and boys more freedom and independence than women and girls.

• On page 8, the narrator says that “the boys in their universe and we in ours” which means they do not like to play with her and Nenny because they are different. 

 Who has the most beautiful hair?

• Mother's hair, like little rosettes, like little candy circles all curly.

• Carlos' hair, thick and straight.

• Papa's hair, like a broom.

• Nenny''s hair, slippery.

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

• It was the first two-story house they had lived in.

• The government was paying for it.

• It was the largest house they had ever lived in.

• It was their own house.

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

•  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 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 reminded her of the homes on Loomis, Keeler, and Paulina.

•  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).