 Understanding
who the author is and
where he or she comes from is important
to fully understanding a piece of
literature, especially from the cultural
and ethnic perspectives.
 Today, you will be in groups, researching
various aspects of Sandra Cisneros’ life.
 Group
1: Biography
 Group 2: Writing Career, Reviews and
Critiques
 Group 3: Influences
 Group 4: Other Jobs and Interests
 Use
the internet to research your group’s
topic. You will create a
poster/presentation to give to the class
on the information your group learned
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Review of House on Mango Street: “Told in a series of
vignettes stunning for their eloquence, The House on Mango
Street is Sandra Cisneros’ greatly admired novel of a young
girl growing up in the Latino section of Chicago … It has
entered the canon of coming-of-age classics. Sometimes
heartbreaking, sometimes deeply joyous, The House on
Mango Street tells the story of Esperanza Cordero, whose
neighborhood is one of harsh realities and harsh beauty.
Esperanza doesn’t want to belong—not to her rundown
neighborhood, and not to the low expectations the world has
for her. Esperanza’s story is that of a young girl coming into
her power, and inventing for herself what she will become.”
How does Cisneros’ biographical information relate to the
novel?
Based on your research, where do you think the inspiration
for this novel came from?”
 AJ
will present on his research
 Take out OCW
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Definition: the manner of expression of a particular writer
produced by: choice of words, sentence structures, use of
literary devices, rhythm, and other elements of composition
Many writers have their own particular style
Some types of style are scientific, expository, poetic, and
journalistic
For example, an article from a magazine or a newspaper is
written in a different style than one from a scientific journal
Newspaper: journalistic, factual but may be persuasive or
biased, should appeal to wide variety of readers
Scientific Journal: scientific, uses science-related words,
should be solely factual, may only appeal to readers who
share same scientific knowledge
 Definition: a
short, well-written sketch or
descriptive scene
 It does not have a plot, which would make it a
story, but it does reveal something about the
elements in it
 It may reveal character, or mood, or tone
 It may have a theme or idea of its own that it
wants to convey
 It is the description of the scene or character
that is important
 Sandra Cisneros’ novel The House on Mango
Street is written in a series of vignettes.
 As we read, look for the different elements of
vignette in the text.
 Read
 What
the vignette.
do you think about the length of this
chapter?
 What is being described?
 What is the mood being set or the tone of
the narrator?
 What is the theme of this chapter?
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Reread Chapter One, “The House on Mango Street.”
Write a description of your own home, mirroring the
description in Chapter One and using the elements of the
style of a vignette.
Write about the physical description of your home, as well
as briefly mention any family members who live with you.
You should also describe what ‘home’ means to you.
Be sure to answer the following questions:
• Does your home make you who you are/define you?
• How does it affect your identity?
• Does it depict your culture?
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Accompany your vignette with either a photograph or a
drawn picture of your own home.
Be prepared to present this information to the class at the
beginning of the next class period.
Definition: a common thread or repeated idea
that is incorporated throughout a literary work
 It is a thought or idea the author presents to the
reader that may be deep, difficult to understand,
or even moralistic
 Generally, a theme has to be extracted as the
reader explores the passages of a work
 The theme provides an answer to the question,
“What is the work about?”
 Unlike plot, which deals with the action of a work,
theme concerns itself with a work's message or
contains the general idea of a work.

 Let’s
practice filling out the theme from
the first vignette that we read.
 You
can read with a partner or silently.
 Read up to page 23. “Louie, His Cousin & His
Other Cousin”
 Pick one vignette and write a short
response paper about it. (2-3 paragraphs)
 Write about your personal feelings, relate it
to something that has happened to you.
 You must also explain what the theme of the
chosen chapter is and support it with
evidence from the text.
 Take
out Response Paper OCW. I will
collect it.
 Think about the chapter “Our Good Day.”
 Describe one of the best days you can
remember from your childhood.
 What happened? How did you feel? Was
your good day at all similar to
Esperanza’s good day? If so, how?
 Let’s
re-read this chapter together.
 It explains Esperanza’s name, how she
got it, and shows what other people think
of her name.
 It also tells what Esperanza thinks of her
own name and how she wishes she could
change it.
 It exposes part of the narrator’s identity:
another theme
 Now
let’s read this text by a famous
Dominican writer.
 She also writes about names and their
meanings.
 How
are these two texts similar?
 How are they different?
 What does it reveal about Spanish
culture?
 In
your writing journal, brainstorm for
about 10 minutes about your own name,
how you got it, what others say about it,
etc.
 Share
with a partner
 Share with the class
 Read
up to page 35 “Darius and the Clouds”
 Writing assignment: use your ideas from
brainstorming activity and turn them into a
well-developed vignette that has a theme. It
can look like Cisneros’ “My Name” or
Alvarez’s “Names/Nombres” Your choice.
 Review your vignette notes as well as the
chapter “My Name” to do so.
 FCA: Presence of theme, descriptive details,
correct punctuation. (40 points)
 Respond
to following questions in warmup section
 Do you feel like you have a role or place
in society? If so, what is it? If not, what
would you like your role in society to be?
 Is it influenced by your family? Your
culture?
 Pass
out graphic organizers
 With your partner, critically read the
chapter you are assigned: “Marin” or
“Alicia Who Sees Mice.”
 Identify and discuss the role of women in
society, as it pertains to the vignettes
 Each
person will add something to the
graphic organizer
 Do
the women in this story seem to have
an identity? If so, what is it? If not, why
and who seems to be ‘taking it away’ from
them?
 In contrast, how are the men portrayed in
this story?
 Fill out the “Identity of Women” section in
your graphic organizer.
 Read
up to page 58 through “Papa Who
Wakes Up Tired in the Dark”
 Write a response to the following prompt:
As you read, you are starting to see a
change in Esperanza. She is beginning
the transition from childhood to
adolescence. What is happening
physically, socially, and emotionally?
 Cite specific examples from the text
when necessary.
 Hand
in OCW response paragraph
 Take reading quiz. Answer in complete
sentences.
 Definition: a
novel depicting someone's
growth from childhood to maturity
 The protagonist grows, learns, and
changes in order to take his or her place
in the world
 Bildungsroman is a German word that
literally means “a novel of formation”
 It is sometimes referred to as a “comingof-age” story
 You
will visit all stations and write down
how Esperanza is changing.
 Cite specific examples from the text
along with major events that show her
progression from childhood into
adolescence.
 Now
that you have gotten your ideas
down, take your graphic organizer
around and summarize the most
important information from each graffiti
station.
 Be sure to cite the important textual
evidence
 No
reading, (unless you need to catch
up.)
 Think about your own childhood
experiences, specifically an experience
that you felt changed you somehow or
was important in your process of growing
up. Jot down a few notes about the
experience, enough that if asked to
explain or tell the story, you would be
able to. This will be part of the next class.
 Continue
to walk around and add details
of Esperanza’s coming-of-age to the
graffiti stations you have not yet visited.
 After you have visited all stations, walk
around and write down important
information from each station on your
graphic organizer.
 Talk to your classmates and discuss what
you find interesting.
 When
you read at home or on breaks,
what do you do? How are you reading?
 You
are going to read the chapter 3 times:
 First time: just read it.
 Second time: Read and annotate—ask
questions, comment on
actions/description, note main ideas and
unknown words
 Third time: Read, annotate, and analyze
 Practice
the reading strategy up to page
58
 Choice assignment: for my artists out
there. Create a drawing that represents
House on Mango Street as you understand
it. Be creative. Use the themes we have
talked about.
 Write
 Read
down OCW in calendar or agenda
up to p. 71
 Complete reading strategy and
worksheet
 From
the graffiti activity, in what ways
does House on Mango Street categorize
as a bildungsroman?
 Definition: the
arrangement of two or
more ideas, characters, actions, settings,
phrases, or words side-by-side or in
similar narrative moments
 Used for the purpose of comparison,
contrast, rhetorical effect, suspense, or
character development
 In
this chapter, Cisneros uses the
juxtaposition of the act of jumping rope
with the conversation about getting hips
and growing up to show contrast.
 This chapter shows how as the older girls
are jumping rope and singing songs
about getting hips, we see them leaving
Nenny behind because she continues to
sing the same old songs as the older girls
move on.
 Write
for about 10-15 minutes about a time
in your childhood where you felt like
something changed because you were
growing up.
 How old were you?
 Where were you?
 What were you doing?
 Why did you feel this way?
 Did you ‘leave someone behind’?
 Were you ever the one ‘left behind’ by an
older someone else growing up?”
 Read
up to page 71 (through The Earl of
Tennessee)
 Use re-reading strategy with annotation
for each chapter. Complete worksheet
for each chapter.
 Write
down OCW in agenda/calendar
 Take reading quiz
 Go over reading quiz
 Turn
to page 65.
 Today, we will discuss this vignette,
focusing on three different ideas:
 Theme
 Cultural stereotypes
 Social commentary
 Definition: it
is the act of expressing an
opinion on the nature of society
 Social commentary may be obvious or it
may be a slightly hidden message in
literature
 Read
up to p. 85
 Complete reading strategy and
worksheet
 Focus on chapter, “Four Skinny Trees”
 There will be a quiz
 Write
OCW in agenda/calendar
 Take quiz. You may use last nights OCW, if
it is complete.
 Write
a journal entry in response to the
following prompt:
 Is there something in your community or
neighborhood that is significant to you?
What is it? What does it mean to you?
Why is it so important to you?
 “Four
Skinny Trees” exposes something
that is meaningful in Esperanza’s
community.
 This chapter is not really about trees, but
about something deeper.
 Definition: Something
that on the surface is
its literal self but which also carries another
meaning or even several meanings
 A symbol may be said to embody an idea
 There are two general types of symbols:
• Universal symbols that embody universally
recognizable meanings wherever used, such as light
being used often to symbolize knowledge and a
dove being used to symbolize peace and purity.
• Constructed symbols that are given symbolic
meaning by the way an author uses them in a literary
work, such as the four skinny trees in The House on
Mango Street.
For this activity you can choose what you would
like to do:
 Rewrite this vignette without mentioning trees.
Find the symbolism that the trees provide, and in
your writing use what they symbolize in place of
the trees themselves.
—OR—
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
Draw a picture of what this chapter is illustrating.
What do you see? What vision does this scene
create for you? In your drawing, be sure to
include words and phrases labeling what the
different parts of the drawing symbolize.
 Volunteers
to share writing or drawings?
 What do you think the trees symbolize?
 Bring
in something from your own culture
that is meaningful to you. It can be
something symbolic or something literal
and can be in any form – a written text, a
song, a photograph, an item etc.
 In addition to this, you must also
complete a WebQuest. See handout for
instructions