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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 has Esperanza decided?

2. What is Tito’s mother doing when Esperanza goes to her house?

3. What does one of the aunts tell Esperanza?

4. Who comes to get Sally when she’s staying with Esperanza’s family?

5. What happened to the monkey?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What is Sally’s relationship like with her parents?

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

4. Why did Marin stay with him in the emergency room?

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

6. Why does Esperanza believe Mamacita is sad?

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

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

9. Who is Geraldo?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

Toward the end of the book, Esperanza says this: "I have begun my own quiet war. Simple. Sure. I am one who leaves the table like a man, without putting back the chair or picking up the plate" (Chapter 35, pg. 89). How is this quote indicative of who Esperanza is currently, and who she will become?

Essay Topic 3

Compare and contrast Lucy and Rachel’s family situation with Nenny’s and Esperanza’s. Do they seem satisfied with where they are living and the neighborhood on Mango Street?

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