Esperanza's Family
breaks news to her about his dad dying and tells her to tell the other siblings
Who is Papa, Esperanza's father
Doesn't leave her house; Esperanza thinks it because she doesn't speak English well
Who is Mamacita
Why does Esperanza want to work?
To pay tuition for Catholic high school
Simile, metaphor, or personification?
"My papa's hair is like a broom."What is a simile
"All brown all around, we are safe. But watch us drive into a neighborhood of another color and our knees go shakity-shake and our car windows get rolled up tight and our eyes look straight."
What is the importance of fear and stereotypes, and racial profiling. It's important to note she judges other neighborhoods but her fear is coming from being judged based on her skin color.
Esperanza's younger brother who has hair like fur
Who is Kiki
Dies of an incurable illness
Who is Aunt Lupe
What is a bildungsroman?
It's a novel that focuses on the formative years of its main character from childhood to adulthood.
Simile, metaphor or personification?
“.... at school they say my name funny as if the syllables were made out of tin and hurt the roof of your mouth.”
What is a simile
"You will always be Mango Street."
What is that Esperanza will never forget where she came from, as Mango Street made her into the woman she becomes. It is forever a part of her, whether she likes it or not. It's part of her identity.
She can't be her friend because she is too young
Who is Nenny
Esperanza's first real "crush"
Who is Sire
What matters to Marin?
What is that the boys see them and they see the boys
Simile, metaphor or personification?
“They are the only ones who understand me. I am the only one who understands them. Four skinny trees with skinny necks and pointy elbows like mine.”
What is personification
"Marin, under the streetlight, dancing by herself, is singing the same song somewhere. I know. Is waiting for a car to stop, a star to fall, someone to change her life."
What is the importance of women in this novel waiting for a man to solve their problems and allow them to escape.
Esperanza's older brother
Who is Carlos
Wants to get a job downtown, to wear nice clothes and hopefully meet someone in the subway who might marry her and allow her to escape
To what does Esperanza compare her hips?
What is a new Buick with the keys in the ignition
Simile, metaphor or personification?
“I am in love with those two green apples you call eyes.”
What is a metaphor
"I am a red balloon, a balloon tied to an anchor."
What is the importance of feeling like she stands out in a negative way, while she is waiting for something to happen (like floating) and never knowing if it will.
Tells Esperanza not to let shame stop her from making something of herself
Who is Esperanza's mother
Studies hard to make a better life for herself; A good role model to Esperanza; is afraid of mice and fathers
Who is Alicia
Why doesn't Esperanza go out with her family on Sundays anymore?
What is she's ashamed of the way they stare out the window at things they can't have
Simile, metaphor or personification?
“Windows so small you'd think they were holding their breath.”
What is personification
"I have inherited her name, but I don't want to inherit her place by the window."
What is the importance of Esperanza not wanting to fall into the stereotypical female identity. Esperanza wants to be strong, independent and happy. Not sad, sitting at a window waiting for her husband, like her grandmother.