House on Mango Street: Background and 1-5

True/False: During her childhood Cisneros moved a lot.

• True

• False

Was the house on Mango Street a place she wanted to call home?

• No. The house on Mango Street reminded her of the homes on Loomis, Keeler, and Paulina.
• Yes. The house on Mango Street was the “house Papa talked about when he held a lottery ticket and this was the house Mama dreamed up in the stories she told us before we went to bed” (pg. 4). 
•  No. The house on Mango Street was a disappointment because it is not big and fancy at all, and all six family members have to share a bedroom.
•  Yes. The house on Mango Street was theirs. They did not have to “pay rent to anybody, or share a yard with the people downstairs, or be careful not to make too much noise…” (pg.3).

At what point did the narrator know that she needed to have her a real house?

• One day, while she is playing in front of the apartment on Loomis, a nun from her school passes and asks where she lives. She points to the third floor of the worn, paint-peeled building, and the nun says: "You live there?" ( Cisneros 5)
• When the narrator and her family lived on Loomis, “the water pipes broke and the landlord wouldn’t fix them because the house was too old” (Cisneros 4). 
• Because they moved around so much, the narrator’s parents always told them “that one day we would move into a house, a real house that would be ours for always so we wouldn’t have to move each year” (Cisneros 4).
• When the narrator reflects upon the physical features of the house: "It's small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you'd think they were holding their breath," (Cisneros 4).

Vignette: Boys and Girls
What does the narrator say about the relationship between boys and girls? What evidence does she provide to support this idea?

• When the narrator says that “the boys and the girls live in separate worlds”(pg.8), she is implying that the girls live on one planet and the boys live on a better planet.
• On page 8, the narrator says, “the boys and the girls live in separate worlds.” She implies that they exist in two different societies; they live by two sets of rules—rules that give men and boys more freedom and independence than women and girls.
• On page 8, the narrator says that “the boys in their universe and we in ours” which means they do not like to play with her and Nenny because they are different. 

True or False: The narrator says Nenny is her best friend.

• True
• False

What does the narrator mean when she says, “Until then I am a red balloon, a balloon tied to an anchor?

• She is saying that she, unlike her brothers, has a lot of responsibilities. She is not as free and independent as Carlos and Kiki, at least until Nenny is old enough to be mature. 
• She believes that she is made of rubber and can be filled with helium and float into the sky.
• Here, she is implying that her parents hate her because she is a girl and they won’t let her do anything like Carlos and Kiki. 

Sally sold seashells by the seashore is a:

• Hyperbole

• Personfication

• Alliteration

• Metaphor

The sorrowful moon was jealous of the exuberant sun is a:

• Simile

• Metaphor

• Personification

• Hyperbole

Who becomes Esperanza's first friend?

• Cathy

• Benny

• Blanca

• Edna

The author of House on Mango Street is:

• Lorraine Hansberry

• Sandra Cisneros

• William Shakespeare

• William Golding