1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read according to the elements of plot you've learned in past courses (exposition, inciting incident, etc.). Explain how the narrative fulfills the author's purpose (based on your well-informed interpretation of same).
Exposition:
Ezperanza and her family move to Mango street after making several moves. We meet the family members through a creative analogy of hair. We also learn about the the gender roles in their culture as well as Ezperanza'a hope to change what her situation.
Inciting Incident:
Moving to the house on Mango Street.
Rising Action:
We see the struggles of Ezperanza because of the financial situation her family is in as well as the struggles she faces as she tries to improve her future. We also see her determination to change.
Conflict:
Ezperanza notices the conflicts of the people on mango Street as well as her own and the story shows us how people have to live with them and overcome them. It is mainly through the perspective of women in the neighborhood. The main antagonist seem to be the males in society.
Climax:
After watching all the hardships of the people around her, up until she watches her friend Sally get married at a young age, Ezperanza makes up her mind to leave Mango Street. At a funeral she meets fortune tellers that tell her she will leave Mango Street but she would come back to help her roots.
Falling Action:
Years later Esperanza realizes that the fortune tellers were right and that mango Street and its people becam a part of her.
Resolution: Ezperanza hopes to help mango Street through her writing.
2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.
The novel is an autobiography of Sandra Cisneros's life in her neighborhood, and it's message is that you can do anything with Hope.
3. Describe the author's tone. Include a minimum of three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).
The tone of the book is reflective, you can really tell how the author reflects on the situation the other women were in and about her life, however the tone was also hopeful and reassuring as she already knew that the outcome of the story would be positive because of Ezperanza's hope. (Ezperanza in spanish means hope)
"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... Our house would be white with trees around it, a great big yard and grass growing without a fence. 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."
"When I am too sad and too skinny to keep keeping, when I am a tiny thing against so many bricks, then it is I look at the trees. When there is nothing left to look at on this street. Four who grew despite concrete. Four who reach and do not forget to reach. Four whose only reason is to be and be."
"In English my name means hope."
4. Describe a minimum of ten literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the author's purpose, the text's theme and/or your sense of the tone. For each, please include textual support to help illustrate the point for your readers. (Please include edition and page numbers for easy reference.)
Personification: "It's small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you'd think they were holding there breath." vignette 1
Characterization: "In English my name means hope."
Symbolism: Mango Street symbolizes Mexican neighborhoods.
Simile: "It's like drops of water. Or like marimbas only with a funny little plucked sound to it like if you were running your fingers across the teeth of a metal comb." vignette 8
Hyperbole: "The Eskimos got thirty different kinds of snow, I say. I read it in a book. ... There are a million zillion kinds, says Nenny. No two are exactly alike." vignette 17
Synesthesia: "The yellow pillow, the yellow smell, the bottles and the spoons. Her head thrown back like a thirsty lady. My aunt, the swimmer." vignette 22
Allusion: "I took my library books to her house. I read her stories. I liked the book The Waterbabies. She liked it too." vignette 34 The Walrus and the Carpenter of Alice in Wonderland.
Metaphor: "When I am too sad and too skinny to keep keeping, when I am a tiny thing against so many bricks, then it is I look at the trees. When there is nothing left to look at on this street. Four who grew despite concrete. Four who reach and do not forget to reach. Four whose only reason is to be and be."
Alliteration: "Cathy who is queen of cats has cats and cats and cats. Baby cats, big cats, skinny cats, sick cats. Cats asleep like little donuts. Cats on top of the refrigerator. Cats taking a walk on the dinner table. Her house is like cat heaven." vignette 5
Flashback: "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 cant remember. But what I remember most is moving a lot." vignette 1
Repetition: "Where do you live? she asked. There, I said pointing up to the third floor. You live there? There. I had to look to where she pointed- the third floor, the paint peeling, wooden bars Papa had nailed on the windows so we wouldn't fall out. You live there? The way she said it made me feel like nothing. There. I lived there. I nodded." vignette 1
CHARACTERIZATION
1. Describe two examples of direct characterization and two examples of indirect characterization. Why does the author use both approaches, and to what end (i.e., what is your lasting impression of the character as a result)?
INDIRECT
"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 cant remember. But what I remember most is moving a lot."
we learned about Ezperanza's family the the kind of financial situation they are is and that they work very hard to keep there family in a home as well as want there kids to do better than they do.
"My Papa's Hair is like a broom, all up in the air."
The Hair in the vignette is a symbolism for the family member's personalities. The father probably doesn't spent to much time on appearence because he is working and busy.
DIRECT
"Her name was Guadalupe and she was pretty like my mother. Dark. Good to look at. In her Joan Crawford dress and swimmer's legs. Aunt Lupe of the photographs."
"Sally is the girl with eyes like Egypt and nylons the color of smoke. The boys think she's beautiful because her hair is shiny black like raven feathers and when she laughs, she flicks her hair back like a satin shawl over her shoulder and laughs."
"Ruthie, tall skinny lady with red lipstick and blue babushka, one blue sock and one green because she forgot, is the only grown-up we know who likes to play."
2. Does the author's syntax and/or diction change when s/he focuses on character? How? Example(s)?
The diction of the author stays mostly the same as the book is reflective and tells the story through the future Esperanza's eyes. She doesn't really play around with the syntax all that much.
3. Is the protagonist static or dynamic? Flat or round? Explain.
Esperanza is dynamic and round. We see her growth throughout the story and we see the many sides of her from a more serious side to a more immature side.
4. After reading the book did you come away feeling like you'd met a person or read a character? Analyze one textual example that illustrates your reaction.
Ezperanza is very real she is Sandra Cisneros and I really felt I understood her especially because I have met many other people like her throughout my life and she doesn't seem like a stranger.
