The House on Mango Street Test Review

What can the reader infer about Esperanza and her family from the following text?

     "We didn't always live on Mango Street. Before that we lived on Loomis on the third floor, and before that we lived on Keeler. Before Keeler it was Paulina, and before that I can't remember."

• Esperanza and her family prefer living in a house rather than an apartment.

• Esperanza and her family move around a lot.

• Esperanza cannot remember where else they have lived because when they lived on Paulina, she was not born yet.

• Every time Esperanza and her family move, it is because her father loses his job.

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.W.8.9A

PART A: How does the incident with the nun on Loomis Street affect Esperanza?

• It provokes Esperanza to make the decision that she wants to live in a house she can be proud of.

• It causes Esperanza to question her religious upbringing.

• It provokes Esperanza to tell her parents she is unhappy living with them and would like to move in with her grandmother.

• It creates fear in Esperanza, so she decides they must leave the neighborhood.

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.8.3

PART B: Which piece of textual evidence supports your answer to PART A?

• “Our house would be white with trees around it, a great big yard and grass growing without a fence.”

• “I knew then I had to have a house. A real house. One I could point to.”

• “Once when we were living on Loomis, a nun from my school passed by and saw me playing out front.”

• “The laundromat downstairs had been boarded up because it had been robbed two days before and the owner had painted on the wood YES WE'RE OPEN so as not to lose business.”

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.W.8.9A

Which of the following lines of text highlights the reason that Esperanza and her family move to the house on Mango Street?

• “Bricks are crumbling in places, and the front door is so swollen you have to push hard to get in.”

• “The house on Mango Street is ours, and we don't have to pay rent to anybody, or share the yard with the people downstairs, or be careful not to make too much noise, and there isn't a landlord banging on the ceiling with a broom.”

• “Everybody has to share a bedroom—Mama and Papa, Carlos and Kiki, me and Nenny.”

• “The water pipes broke and the landlord wouldn't fix them because the house was too old.”

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.8.3

How does the use of personification in the following excerpt impact the tone of the text?

    But the house on Mango Street is not the way they told it at all. It's small and red with tight steps in     front and windows so small you'd think they were holding their breath.

• It contributes to the pessimistic tone of the passage by using figurative language to emphasize the idea that the house is uncomfortably small

• It creates an amusing tone by describing the house making a silly face

• It contributes to an optimistic tone by providing evidence that the house is not as bad as Esperanza had anticipated

• It creates a skeptical tone because the reader now feels doubtful that the house is safe to live in

Tags

CCSS.L.8.5A

CCSS.RL.8.4

PART A: Esperanza’s family might not ever live in the type of home Esperanza dreams about. Why?

• Because homes like that are not available in the city

• Because her father must live close to work, and those type of homes are not available in that neighborhood

• Because Esperanza’s parents do not make enough money to purchase that type of home

• Because Esperanza’s parents prefer to live in an apartment rather than a house

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CCSS.RL.8.2

PART B: Which of the following quotations supports your answer to Part A?

• “They always told us that one day we would move into a house, a real house that would be ours for always so we wouldn't have to move each year.”

• “This 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.”

• “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.”

• “Our house would be white with trees around it, a great big yard and grass growing without a fence.”

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.W.8.1B

CCSS.W.8.9A

Which of the following similes helps to create an admiring tone in the vignette “Hairs”?

• “But my mother's hair, my mother's hair, like little rosettes, like little candy circles all curly and pretty because she pinned it in pincurls all day…”

• “Carlos' hair is thick and straight. He doesn't need to comb it.”

• “My Papa's hair is like a broom, all up in the air.”

• “Nenny's hair is slippery—slides out of your hand.” 

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CCSS.L.8.5A

CCSS.RL.8.4

What is the meaning of the personification in the quote below?

    And me, my hair is lazy. It never obeys barrettes or bands.

• Esperanza cannot make her hair do what she would like it to do

• Esperanza feels frustrated because her hair is not curly like her mother’s

• Esperanza has to use barrettes or bands to keep her hair out of her face

• Esperanza is too lazy to do her hair in the morning, so her mother has to help her

Tags

CCSS.L.8.5A

CCSS.RL.8.4

Read the following excerpt, and answer the question that follows.

   But my mother's hair, my mother's hair, like little rosettes, like little candy circles all curly and pretty because she pinned it in pincurls all day, sweet to put your nose into when she is holding you, holding you and you feel safe, is the warm smell of bread before you bake it, is the smell when she makes room for you on her side of the bed still warm with her skin, and you sleep near her, the rain outside falling and Papa snoring. The snoring, the rain, and Mama's hair that smells like bread.

What does this excerpt reveal about Esperanza’s relationship with her mother?

• Esperanza is jealous of her mother and her beautiful hair

• Esperanza is close with her mother and depends on her for comfort

• Esperanza is skeptical of her mother because she does not keep her promises

• Esperanza loves her mother but does not feel like her mother accepts her for who she truly is

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.8.2