WorksheetsEsperanza Rising
Total questions: 40
Worksheet time: 50mins
Who killed Papa?
jealous ranch owners
bandits
the Mexican police
both Tios
Plot Diagram: Papa is killed by bandits and Esperanza’s uncles force her mother and her out of Mexico or into marriage by burning the ranch down. They flee and immigrate to America. They live in poverty where Esperanza must learn to rely on herself. Mama becomes very ill. There is an immigration sweep to remove the workers who are striking. Miguel steals her money orders from her valise and disappears.
Exposition
Rising Action
Climax
Falling Action
Resolution
Character Choice: Who is Esperanza's grandmother?
Ramona
Hortensia
Isabel
Abuelita
Plot Diagram: Esperanza and Miguel listen to the earth. This happens a full year after the tragedy of her father’’s death. Esperanza has learned how to be rich in being poor.
Exposition
Rising Action
Climax
Falling Action
Resolution
Character Choice: Who is the leader of the striking workers and looks down on Esperanza as spoiled?
Carmen
Ramona
Marta
Hortensia
Which characteristic does NOT describe Esperanza at the END of the novel? *
Happy
Self-Sufficient
Mature
Selfish
Which characteristic does NOT describe Esperanza at the BEGINNING of the novel?
Princess
Depedent
Reliable
Self-Centered
Which choice is NOT a reason Esperanza is now at peace with her new life? *
Abuelita is now with her family.
Mama is getting better.
Isabel became the Queen of May.
She forgives Miguel.
Character Choice: Who is Esperanza's good friend who repeatedly tries to help her with her new life? *
Tio Luis
Alfonso
Miguel
Sixto Ortega
Where did Esperanza grow up on the ranch at?
California
America
Mexico
Jamaica
Which choice is NOT an example of Esperanza's character growth?
from depending on others to now relying on herself
from self-centered to now selfless
from unfriendly to now friendly
from needy to responsible and hard working
Plot Diagram: Esperanza’s mother recovers now that her mother is with her. Esperanza also forgives Miguel and offers advice to Isabel; “Never be afraid of starting over.”
Exposition
Rising Action
Climax
Falling Action
Resolution
Character Choice: Who is the president of the bank who threatens both Esperanza and her mother?
Tio Luis
Alfonso
Miguel
Sixto Ortega
Why is Marta and her group pushing people to strike?
to be rebels
for fair wages and treatment
to go to jail
to be deported
What did Miguel and Alfonso take from the ranch and hide in secret packages when they ran
away?
all of their clothes
gold
Papa's rose clippings
all of the ranch horses
What disease strikes Mama down?
Valley Fever
Migranes
Chicken Pox
Scarlet Fever
Plot Diagram: Miguel brings Abuelita to California. This is significant because it proves to Esperanza that everything will be alright in California and in her new life. When Abuelita
comes to California, Tío Luis and Tío Marco no longer have any power over Esperanza’’s family.
Exposition
Rising Action
Climax
Falling Action
Resolution
What was the turning point that made Esperanza HAVE to grow up and become independent?
Papa's death
Mama's illness
Miguel's love
Marta's teasing
What is the conflict, or essence, of the novel Esperanza Rising?
Esperanza must learn how to survive and live in her new life.
Marta is a mean girl.
Plot Diagram: Esperanza is 12 years old, her parents are Ramona and Sixto Ortega, her grandmother is Abuelita. Esperanza's father is a wealthy rancher and landowner in Aguascalientes, Mexico in 1930.
Exposition
Rising Action
Climax
Falling Action
Resolution
What does Mama do to her hair?
dyes it black
wears it in a low braid
cuts it
puts it up in a hat
What work will Esperanza be doing?
Working in the fields
Working with Miguel
Taking care of the babies, doing laundry, and sweeping
Cooking for the camp
What does Esperanza think of their cabin when she first sees it?
She wishes they would paint it a different color.
It reminds her of the horse stables in Aguascalientes.
They're a lot bigger than she thought.
They make her miss home.
What is in Alfonso and Miguel's package?
Papa's roses
A baby bird
An onion
Money
What does Miguel do to cheer up Esperanza?
He makes her a cake
He does all of the laundry for her
He yells at Marta
He shows Esperanza how to sweep, and tells her it's okay that she doesn't know how to yet.
How does Isabel respond when she finds out she has to stay at home while everyone else works?
She cries and throws a fit.
She rolls her eyes and says, "WHY DO I HAVE TO BE THE ONE TO STAY BACK?"
She is used to it, and decided to show Esperanza around the camp.
She feels left out and decided to apply to work for the railroad.
Why is the Chapter called "onions"?
(a)
Why can't Esperanza and Mama live in a cabin by themselves?
They can, they just don't want to.
There weren't any cabins left for them.
They don't have a man of the household.
They didn't know who to ask.
What is the setting of the story in this chapter?
Aguascalientes
El Rancho de Las Rosas
California
New Mexico
What does the word "infer" mean?
to understand something.
to think something is true from evidence and reasoning rather than from written statements.
to hear someone talking about you.
to write something down quickly.
Esperanza's attitude about ________ changed a lot by the end of the book.
Tio Luis
Isabel
Abuelita
Papa
Which of these is the biggest lesson Esperanza learning during this story?
Farm work is extremely difficult.
Always be thankful for your family and friends. They are more important than having nice things.
Be nice to people so they owe you favors later. If Esperanza ever sees Marta again, Marta will owe her a big favor for helping her.
The kind doctor is the only reason Mama survived. Esperanza learned the importance of medicine and wants to become a doctor when she's older.
Which is most likely to happen during the next year of Esperanza's life?
She will continue working hard in the fields. She will feel happy that Abuelita is there and Mama is healthy.
She will figure out how to get revenge on Tio Luis. Esperanza will always be consumed with anger about the way he treated her family.
She will figure out how to build a bigger house. She wants Isabel to learn what it's like to have nice things.
She will realize that life in the USA is terrible and will sneak back to Mexico alone.
It took Mama a long time to recover from Valley fever. Which best describes how Esperanza handled this difficult situation?
Esperanza was happy Mama was gone for a long time. That meant there was no one to tell her what to do. She felt free without Mama around her.
Esperanza was terrified that Mama would die. She spent most of her time crying inside the house until Mama got better.
Esperanza yelled at Miguel all the time. She thought it was his fault they moved to California and put Mama in a position to get sick.
Esperanza was worried, but she forced herself to conquer her fears and learn to work harder. She knew she had to work more to help her family and friends.
Esperanza did many new jobs when she first arrived in California. She had to clean, cook, and take care of babies. What happened the first few times Esperanza did these things? *
People saw how hard she worked and gained tremendous respect for her.
She realized she loved doing chores like these.
She made lots of mistakes.
She made someone else do the jobs for her because she didn’t feel like doing them.
Which summarizes Esperanza’s attitude about the workers who went on strike?
She feels like they are horrible people and they deserved to be deported out of the USA.
She wanted to join them, but she promised Mama that she would keep working. Esperanza is sad she made this promise to Mama.
Esperanza understood why they went on strike, but she refused to join them. She felt like she had to keep working to earn money for her family.
She was confused about why they were striking. She felt like the workers were treated perfectly and were greedy to ask for anything more.
Which of these impacted the type of work Miguel did for the railroad company? *
Miguel’s boss saw his amazing talent of repairing train engines.
Esperanza persuaded Miguel’s boss to give him the best job.
The dust storm made all the other workers too sick to work.
People who agreed to work for the least amount of money got the good jobs
In the final chapter, Esperanza realizes that there are so many “mountains and valleys.” What does this mean? *
Life is full of good times and challenging times.
California is a beautiful place to live because there are mountains and valleys all around them.
Making a quilt is much more difficult than she ever imagined.
She needs to protect Abuelita from getting Valley Fever.
Esperanza matured a lot during this story. Besides Papa's death, which event do you feel had the biggest impact on this? Explain why you feel this way.
Compare and contrast the way Esperanza felt about her home in California when she first arrived (p.101-102) to how she felt about it in the last chapter? Why does she feel differently now?
