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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How many siblings does Esperanza have?

2. Why is Esperanza sent to school with a rice sandwich?

3. The beginning of this vignette begins as what?

4. Who does she warn Nenny and Esperanza to stay away from?

5. How does she feel when she drives into another neighborhood of “another color”?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Esperanza thinks that she is speaking with authority?

2. What does Esperanza get in this chapter that she’s been wanting?

3. Why doesn’t Alicia want to take over her mother’s role?

4. Why does Esperanza write: “here there is too much sadness and not enough sky” (p.33)?

5. Why does Esperanza describe this day as a “good” day?

6. Why does Esperanza want to eat in the canteen?

7. Why does Esperanza feel like a balloon tied to an anchor?

8. Why is everyone surprised by Darius’s observations of the clouds?

9. What happens to Angel Vargas?

10. Why does Esperanza believe that the boys and girls in her neighborhood live in separate worlds?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe Cisneros’s style. Does she use figurative language? What is the syntax and diction indicative of? How does she give Esperanza a clear voice? Is it consistent throughout the book?

Essay Topic 2

Choose one of the characters in the book and examine his/her real life. How does the author represent him/her in the novel? Is this an accurate representation of the character?

Essay Topic 3

Esperanza is very much a product of her environment, as many characters are in this book. How have environmental factors affected the characters? How does Esperanza want to change this?

(see the answer keys)

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