House on Mango Street

Reading Schedule

1. In the vignette “The House on Mango Street,” Esperanza mentions that her family moved several times before they arrived on Mango Street. How do you think moving to several places affected Esperanza and her family? How would you feel if you had to keep moving from place and place?

2. Esperanza states that the “house on Mango Street is ours” (3). She then compares living with a landlord to home ownership. Are there any benefits to having a landlord? Being a homeowner? How do the responsibilities of being a landlord differ from the responsibilities of being a homeowner?

3. Elements of Esperanza’s life mirror those of the book’s author, Sandra Cisneros. Read a biography of Sandra Cisneros. Watch Sandra Cisneros’s Interview. In what ways are the lives of Esperanza and Cisneros similar? How do they differ? What elements of Cisneros’s life are evident in “The House on Mango Street?”
http://www.gradesaver.com/author/sandra-cisneros
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Pyf89VsNmg 

4. Some of the vignettes in “The House on Mango Street” deal with immigrating to the United States from other countries. Can you find evidence in the book about the factors that were instrumental in causing people to immigrant to the United States? If not, why do think they immigrated to the United States.

5. Esperanza’s description of the neighborhoods she has lived in is “poverty-stricken.” Many of the neighborhood’s residents are immigrants. Given that many people immigrate to the United States to find a better life, how might their lives have been in their home countries? Is there evidence in the story to show their lives have improved?

6. Does the fact that Cisneros and her protagonist, Esperanza, share similar backgrounds make “The House on Mango Street” more real or relatable? If not, how could Cisneros make the story more relatable? Use examples from the text to support your points.

7. In The House on Mango Street, Cisneros uses stereotypes to describe some of the characters. In your journal, write short responses on the following topics: (1) Are stereotypes bad or good? Include three reasons to support your answer. (2) Why do people use stereotypes to describe groups of people? (3) Have you ever categorized someone based on a stereotype?

8. In an interview, Cisneros stated that The House on Mango Street was inspired by a house on “Campbell Street” but she didn’t want to use the name because it sounds like the soup company. How does changing the name to “Mango” Street impact the story? If the title were The House on Campbell Street, would you expect its contents to differ?

9. Authors can use literature as a response to issues affecting society. How does Sandra Cisneros use The House on Mango Street as a response to the roles of women in society? Explain two ways the novel could differ if it were written in the present day.

10. The House on Mango Street differs from other forms of literature because it is written in vignettes. Why did Cisneros choose this form? How would the form differ if she wrote the story in the 1960s? 2000s?

Continue to work on writing your own "House on Mango Street" 
8-10 Vignettes modeled on the book but based on your own life, family, friends, neighborhood
Title your vignettes