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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. What does she plan on doing as soon as she gets back to P.R.?

2. Who has died at the beginning of this vignette?

3. Where does Esperanza’s family go?

4. Who is standing at the front door holding boxes and bags of new clothes?

5. What do the girls find in this vignette?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Esperanza describe her mother’s hair? What is her mother’s hair a metaphor for?

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

3. Why is Esperanza embarrassed by Nenny wanting to buy the music box?

4. Who is Esperanza?

5. Who encourages her to get a job?

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

7. What happens in this vignette?

8. How does Esperanza try and convince her mother to allow her to eat in the canteen?

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

10. What does she mean by: “That is how it goes and goes”?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Esperanza wants to escape The House on Mango Street and all that that life included. Based on her drive, ambition and support, will Esperanza be able to leave Mango Street behind?

Essay Topic 2

Esperanza questions women’s roles in this book. Which characters does she pity? Which does she look up to? If she continues on the path of her friends and cousins, where does she think she’ll be in ten years?

Essay Topic 3

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?

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This section contains 651 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample