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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 Esperazna like to do?

2. Where does Esperanza want her house?

3. Before Aunt Lupe’s illness, she used to enjoy what activity?

4. What does Sally do before she goes home?

5. What does Elenita tell Esperanza?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is Ruthie?

2. Why does Esperanza say she’ll allow “bums in the attic”?

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

4. Why does her Aunt Lupe tell her that writing will keep her free?

5. Why does Esperanza feel a special kinship with the trees outside her window?

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

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

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

9. Esperanza has her fortune told, and Elenita tells her that she sees a “home in the heart”. What could this mean for Esperanza’s future?

10. Why does Esperanza’s father call Sire a punk?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Esperanza is named after her great-grandmother. What happens to Esperanza’s great-grandmother? Why doesn’t Esperanza want to be named after her?

Essay Topic 2

What is the effect of the short first-person vignettes, rather than longer chapters? Why do you think Cisneros chose this form over something more traditional? What other forms could it be compared to?

Essay Topic 3

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?

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This section contains 711 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample