View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What can’t Esperanza’s mother do despite living in the city all her life?

2. What has Esperanza decided?

3. Who arrives in a yellow taxicab?

4. When does Earl work?

5. What happens to Esperanza while she is waiting for Sally?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Esperanza hoping to hear when she has her fortune told?

2. How does the phrase “no speak English” take on two meanings at the end of this vignette?

3. Who is Geraldo?

4. Is Sally any happier than she was living at home with her father?

5. One of the aunts tells Esperanza that she will always be Mango Street. What did she mean by this?

6. Why can’t Esperanza, her mother, and other neighbors and kids agree on what Earl’s “wife” looks like?

7. Why is Esperanza’s Aunt Lupe an important person to her?

8. Why isn’t Rafaela allowed to leave her apartment?

9. How has Esperanza begun her “own quiet war”?

10. How does Sally defy her parents?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain the following quote: "When you leave you must remember to come back for the others. A circle, understand? You will always be Esperanza. You will always be Mango Street. You can't erase what you know. You can't forget who you are...Then I didn't know what to say. It was as if she could read my mind, as if she knew what I had wished for, and I felt ashamed for having made such a selfish wish" (Chapter 41, pg. 105). Why does Esperanza feel ashamed, and what for?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Dramatic irony is when the reader understands that there is an ironic situation, but not the character. This occurs a lot when the narrator is young but the content observed by the narrator is mature. What are some examples of dramatic irony in The House on Mango Street?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 767 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample