Name: ____________________________
Esperanza Rising
By: Pam Munez
In order to understand the setting of a novel, you must know
where the novel takes place and when it takes place.
Understanding where is as simple as referring to a map to
pinpoint the main geographic location(s) o the story.
Understanding when a story takes place is sometimes a more
complex task. Esperanza Rising is set during the Great
Depression in the United States. Esperanza's story also stems
from a series of historical events in Mexico. Her story bridges
two cultures and two countries.
The following online activities are going to help you to
understand what was going on during this time period and give
you background knowledge, which will allow you to have a
better understanding on this story.
Start at this website:
http://digitalbooktalk.com/?p=26
Read the summary and watch the video. This will allow you to
preview the story we are going to read.
Next, go to this website:
http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/esperanza-risinglearning-not-be-afraid-start-over#sect-introduction
A. Read this article. It discusses one of the important ideas in
the book regarding change. Often change can be hard for
people. Esperanza faces a lot of difficulties in this story that
change her from the person she is at the beginning of the
story, to who she is at the end of the story. Once you have
read the article, answer the following questions:
1. What did Pam Munez base this story on?
2. What does Esperanza mean in Spanish?
Esperanza changes
throughout the
novel. I want you
to think about
things that cause a
person to change
(these can be things
you have
experiences or
know someone else
who has). Create
the same or a
similar graphic
organizer and fill
in, there must be at
least four reasons!
B. Next go to the following website:
http://www.pbs.org/kpbs/theborder/history/timeline/14.html
Though this story does not take place during the Mexican
Revolution, Esperanza’s family has been affected by these
events. The story is showing possible results from the events
that happened due to the Mexican Revolution. Answer the
following questions:
1. When did the Mexican Revolution begin?
2. What was one of the results of the Mexican Revolution
that directly affected the United States?
C. Next go to this site:
http://www.loyolachicagotps.com/Lessons/Final%20Unit.pdf
Scroll down until you see the newspaper article. Read the
article titled “Bandit is a Hero” and answer the following
questions.
1. Why does Zapata continue to fight this war? Who is he
representing?
2. What was the problem with the Diaz rule?
3. What happened to people who disagreed with the Diaz
rulers?
4. Who was Zapata’s extra cruelty directed at?
5. According to this article, what could stop the fighting?
D. Once you answered these questions, go to this website:
http://home.jps.net/~gailhd/crossing/esperanza/greatdep.htm
When Esperanza moves to the United States, the country is in
the midst of the Great Depression. This was a major event that
affected ever aspect of American life during the 1930’s. Read
about the Great Depression.
According to this article, what were the five reasons the Great
Depression started?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
E. Next, you are going to look at some photographs from the
Great Depression. These are considered primary sources. They
were photographs that were taken at the time the event was
happening. It is very beneficial to be able to look at these
types of photographs, read the captions, and analyze what
these photos are telling you about.
http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/photoessay.h
tm
After you have looked through all of these photographs and
read the captions, you are going to pick three photographs to
discuss more in-depth.
Create the chart on the next page in your notebook and fill it
in using any three of the photographs from the webpage. I
would suggest that you pick three photographs that you
think might be related to our story.
What Do You See?
Photographic Analysis
Objective
Observation
Describe
what you
notice
about the
people?
The
setting?
What is
going on in
the photo?
When was
it taken?
Subjective
Observation
Describe
your
personal
thoughts
and
feelings
about the
image. “I
see…and it
makes me
think of…”
Knowledge
Deduction
Describe
prior
knowledge
that you
have about
this image.
Can you
make any
connections?
What conclusions
can you draw
about this
photograph?
Photo 1:
Photo 2:
Photo 3:
Questions: What questions do these photograph raise?
What else would you need/want to know?
F. During the Great Depression there was several events that
took place, which led to people moving about the country. One
of the major events that happened was an area in the Midwest
turning into a “Dust Bowl”. The results of this event directly
affected Esperanza and other characters in our novel.
Go to the following website and watch the first 13 minutes of
the video.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/dustbowl/
player/
After you have watched the first 13 minutes of the video look
at the panel on the left side of the screen. Click on the link:
General Article Mass Exodus from the Plains.
Answer the following questions:
1. How many people packed up and left the dust bowl?
2. Where did most of them head?
3. When the farmers were arriving in California, what kind
of life did the migrants face?
4. What group of people were the migrant farmers from the
Midwest taking work away from?
5. What nicknames were giving to these migrant farmers?
G. Listen to the following interview by a Mexican migrant
worker during the 1930’s. Esperanza is a fictional character,
but this man is a real characters who labored as a migrant
farmworker during the 1930’s just like Esperanza. This
interview is online at the Library of Congress’s Voices of the
Dust Bowl Collection.
This interview is by Jose Flores.
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgibin/query/D?toddbib:2:./temp/~ammem_epht
Click on the blue circle next to “Listen to this recording.”
1. According to the Mexico way, who is the boss of the
family? And after that who is the next boss?
2. Even though many of the farm workers were born in
America, the ones with a Mexican background don’t feel
like they are treated like Americans. What are some of
the reasons for that?
3. How does Jose think they could solve the discrimination
problem?
4. What does he think will happen if the Mexicans are
treated like American Citizens?
H. Finally, one of the major issues that migrant farm workers
face was disease. Valley Fever was one of the major health
problems these workers dealt with. Click on the following link
to learn more about this disease:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001322.ht
m
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What causes this disease?
What are five symptoms of this disease?
What are three treatments for this disease?
What are the alternative names for the fever?
Why do you think it is also known as the San Joaquin
Valley fever?