Question

@dako87 this is a lot but can you please?

Answer 1

sure

Answer 2

"The House on Mango Street"

Esperanza is the narrator of this story. What is her attitude toward the Mango St. house?

Esperanza tells what kind of house she wishes for when she writes “…our house would have running water and pipes that worked” and again saying “…inside it would have real stairs, not hallway stairs, but stairs inside like the houses on TV. And we'd have a basement and at least three washrooms so when we took a bath we wouldn't have to tell everybody. Our house would be white with trees around it, a great big yard and grass growing without a fence” (4) Esperanza notes that this is not the house that she envisioned, and although her parents tell her it’s only temporary, she doubts they’ll move anytime soon. In the book she writes, “Temporary, says Papa. But I know how those things go” (5). The house on Mango Street is an improvement, but it is still not the house that Esperanza wants to point out as hers.


“Hairs"

Esperanza describes her mother's hair as being "like little candy circles all curly and pretty." What does this metaphor, and those in the next paragraph, suggest about Esperanza's feelings for her mother?

Esperanza describes the different types of hair of all the members of her family. Her own hair doesn’t do what she wants it to do while her sister’s is smooth and oily. Her mother’s hair is beautiful and smells like bread. Esperanza describes her mothers hair’s by saying “…like little candy circles all curly and pretty because she pinned it in pin curls all day” (6). This gives you a good picture of her mother and also, how Esperanza views her. Esperanza could have easily compared it to something that has bad connotations, but because she doesn’t you can assume that Esperanza has a good relationship with her mother.


"Boys and Girls"

How does Esperanza regard her responsibility as an older sister?

Esperanza notes that boys and girls do not socialize with each other in the neighborhood. Even though she can talk to her brothers at home, they refuse to talk to her outside. Because of this, Esperanza must socialize with her younger sister Nenny, who, Esperanza notes, is too young and would not be her choice for a friend if she were not her sister. Esperanza writes “Nenny is too young to be my friend. She's just my sister and that was not my fault. You don't pick your sisters, you just get them and sometimes they come like Nenny” (8). Worse, Nenny is Esperanza’s responsibility. Esperanza has to make sure that Nenny does not play with the Vargas kids. Esperanza says “She can't play with those Vargas kids or she'll turn out just like them. And since she comes right after me, she is my responsibility” (8). Esperanza longs for a best friend. Without one she compares herself to a “red balloon tied to an anchor” (9).

"My Name"

What do we know about Esperanza from her reaction to the story about her great-grandmother?

Esperanza is named after her great-grandmother, and both she and her great-grandmother were born in the Chinese year of the horse. The horse is an animal that represents strength, and being born under this sign is supposed to be bad luck for women. Esperanza rejects this superstition, explaining that she believes both the Chinese and the Mexicans discourage women from being strong. Esperanza never met her great-grandmother, but she compares her to a “wild horse” (11). She did not want to get married but was forced into marriage and never forgave her husband. She spent her life gazing sadly out the window. Esperanza says that while she has inherited her great-grandmother’s name, she does not want to “inherit her place by the window” (11). This gives Esperanza and air of being different and how she wants to be strong compared to her grandmother and the superstitions.


"Cathy Queen of Cats"

What is Cathy's significance to the story?

Cathy is a big snob. She befriends Esperanza when the Cordero family moves to Mango Street, but tells her their friendship will be short-lived because her family is moving on Tuesday because the neighborhood is "getting bad" (13). Of course, Cathy is just as insecure as Esperanza about her family's status. But Cathy tries to cover up her humble origins by inventing a royal pedigree and explaining away her house's crookedness as an intentional element of the design. Cathy quickly abandons Esperanza's company when Esperanza befriends the girls from across the street, who, Cathy says, are “raggedy as rats” (12).


"Our Good Day"

What is the significance of the names in this chapter that Esperanza wishes she had?

Esperanza makes her first real friends in this chapter. Significantly, they are exactly the two people she has been warned against. This is one of the many times in the book where Esperanza matures by defying, either passively or actively, social norms. Esperanza sacrifices her friendship with Cathy by pitching in for a bike that she will share with her two new friends, Lucy, and Rachel. Cathy does not want Esperanza to have anything to do with Lucy and Rachel, explaining that they “smell like a broom”(14). Lucy and Rachel are Chicana sisters whose family is from Texas, and they are more similar to Esperanza than Cathy is. Esperanza is embarrassed to tell her new friends her name, but they don’t laugh at it or find it unusual.


"Laughter"

Why is the laughter of Esperanza and her friends "like a pile of dishes breaking"?

This brief vignette offers readers a glimpse into the relationship between Esperanza and Nenny. As Esperanza herself pointed out in "Boys & Girls," the two girls are not friends, but they are sisters, and that seems to count for a great deal. The aural "image" Cisneros creates of the sudden and surprised laughter symbolizes the bond between the two. Although Esperanza and Nenny don't look like sisters, Esperanza believes they sound alike. Their laughter, for instance, is "all of a sudden and surprised like a pile of dishes breaking" (17) Their relationship is thus established as a positive one, even if it is not the friend relationship that Esperanza was seeking and, with Lucy and Rachel, has found. Nenny, too, is a part of Esperanza's identity. Our families, to one degree or another, for better or worse, help define who we are.


"Gil's Furniture Bought and Sold"

Why does the music seem to “let go a million moths all over the dusty furniture and swan-neck shadows and in our bones”?

The elusiveness and unobtrusiveness of the old man is symbolized by the personification of his "pair of gold glasses floating in the dark" (20). Similes "like all of a sudden he let go a million moths", "like water", and "like marimbas only with a funny little-plucked sound to it like if you were running your fingers across the teeth of a metal comb" (20) reveal Esperanza's unique and colorful imagination. The metaphors "swan-neck shadows" and "in our bones" (20), for example, let the reader see and feel how deeply the sound of the music penetrates. Nenny tries to buy the box, but the man tells her “it ain’t for sale” (20).

Answer 3

its a lot and you did a couple but...

Answer 4

ok it will take awhile but ill go through and give you feed back on each answer individually

Answer 5

The house question you did a good job on and you provided plenty of evidence to show her attitude towards the house its safe to say you answered that one completley

Answer 6

now the question on Hairs it says Esperanza describes her MOTHER's hair as being "like little candy circles all curly and pretty." What does this metaphor, and those in the next paragraph, suggest about Esperanza's feelings for her MOTHER ? so i personally wouldn't add the part about the rest of her family but i do see why you added it to show that the others didn't necessarily have a good feeling associated towards them but you don't really go in detail on how it shows what her feelings are towards her mother

Answer 7

The boys and girls question i don't see anything wrong with your answer so good job on that one.

Answer 8

on her mother hair, i gave a bit of back story...should i take that out?

Answer 9

The Great-Grandmother question overall i think it shows that she yearns to be different than her great grandmother because whereas her grand mother was sad she wants to be happy and up beat so i think you did a good job both comparing and contrasting the different emotions between the two situations :)

Answer 10

i would because that could be considered extraneous information it doesn't ask for a back story it just ask what her description of her mothers hair shows that she feels towards her mother

Answer 11

okay :)

Answer 12

i don't see anything wrong with "the Cathy question "

Answer 13

What is the significance of the names in this chapter that Esperanza wishes she had? you don't mention what other names Esperanza wishes she had

Answer 14

the laughter question it says the laughter is surprising like the breaking of dishes i think you did a good job of showing examples so great work on that one :)

Answer 15

It was a confusing question :/ it was the part about how they didnt laugh about her name

Answer 16

ill redo it though

Answer 17

lol just see if you can add the other names she says she wishes she had hopefully this helps :/

Answer 18

i don't see anything wrong with the last question so congrarts

Answer 19

@Qwertty123 what do you think

Answer 20

thank you so much! I have the rest of the chapter now *sighs* oh well Ill get to it one day

Answer 21

ill be here to help

Answer 22

Hello! :) So do you have the answer? Or am I still wanted here?

Answer 23

he was simply asking for your input on my answer

Answer 24

oh yeah I think it is good!