The House on Mango Street

Worksheet (pages 43-50)

Exercise A
Match the vignettes to their themes
1. No Speak English a) This is a vignette about Esperanza’s future aspirations.
2. Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut b) This compares a character to the character Rapunzel.
3. Sally c) This one tells us about Esperanza’s strong character.
4. Minerva Writes Poems d) Esperanza’s father lived off the same meal for months.
5. Bums in the Attic e) This vignette describes an abusive relationship.
6. Beautiful and Cruel f) This describes a woman with dark black hair.
Exercise B
Match the quote to the vignette
1. No Speak English a) ‘I am tired of looking at what I can’t have.’
2. Rafael Who Drinks Coconut b) ‘I have begun my own quiet war.’
3. Sally c) ‘Her father says to be this beautiful is trouble.’
4. Minerva Writes Poems d) ‘Home is a house in a photograph’.
5. Bums in the Attic e) ‘Next week she comes over black and blue’.
6. Beautiful and Cruel f) ‘Getting old from leaning out the window so much’.
Exercise C
Match the quote to the theme
1. ‘I am tired of looking at what I can’t have.’ a) The passing of time; age.
2. ‘I have begun my own quiet war.’ b) Nostalgia; separation from roots.
3. ‘Her father says to be this beautiful is trouble.’ c) Longing; desire for a better life.
4. ‘Home is a house in a photograph.’ d) Domestic violence.
5. ‘Next week she comes over black and blue.’ e) Determination; individuality.
6. ‘Getting old from leaning out of the window so much’. f) Masculinity; parenthood.
Exercise D
Choose one of the four options
1. When Mamacita sings, what does she express?
a) How much she misses her country.
b) How much she loves her husband
c) The fact that she cannot speak English very well.
d) Her love for where she lives now.
2. Why is ‘No Speak English’ an appropriate title for the vignette?
a) Because Mamacita really wants to speak English but cannot.
b) Because Mamacita is always being told to express herself in Spanish
c) Because Mamacita doesn’t want to hear English because it reminds her she is far from her
country.
d) Because Mamacita has really poor English grammar.
3. Which of these words would not be appropriate in describing Rafaela?
a) Beautiful
b) A dreamer
 c) Idealistic
d) Stingy
4. Why is Rafaela compared to Rapunzel?
a) Because she has very long blonde hair.
b) Because like Rapunzel, Rafaela is trapped and dreams of escaping.
c) Because where she lives resembles a castle in a fairy tale.
d) Because she reads books that centre around German mythology.
5. ‘Sally is the girl with eyes like Egypt and nylons the colour of smoke.’ What does Cisneros convey in
this opening sentence.
a) That Sally is a girl who follows the Islamic religion.
b) How Sally dreams of going to Egypt and visiting the pyramids.
c) That Sally is beautiful and attractive.
d) That Sally has problems with her eyes and prefers wearing on grey clothes.
6. ‘…all you wanted, Sally, was to love and to love and to love and to love, and no one could call that
crazy.’ How does Cisneros convey Sally’s desire in this sentence?
a) Through using personification and rhyme.
b) Through using similes and metaphors
c) Through using repetition
d) Through using paradoxes and juxtaposition.
7. What does Esperanza mean when she says that Minerva’s husband ‘left and keeps leaving’.
a) That in their relationship they have not divorced yet.
b) That Minerva’s husband leaves her but keeps coming back.
c) That Minerva really loves her husband but cannot admit it.
d) That Minerva’s husband is very indecisive about what he wants.
8. What does Esperanza promise that she will always remember?
a) How the rich people always made her feel bad about her impoverished state.
b) Her identity and her old hometown when she is wealthy.
c) The way she had to leave alongside rats and other vermin.
d) How annoying it was to always have to climb hills without access to a car.
9. ‘Bums in the Attic’ is a corruption of an idiom called ‘Toys in the Attic’, which means
a) Insanity
b) That some loves storing things they don’t need
c) Childishness and not being able to grow up
d) Having no money nor opportunities to get rich.
10. In ‘Beautiful and Cruel’, what kind of women does Esperanza admire?
a) Women who accept their conventional roles and do as they are told.
b) Strong, independent women who call the shots.
c) A woman who gets married at a young age.
d) Someone who has pretty eyes just like Nenny.
Exercise E
Decide if the statements are true or false
1. Mamacita came to Chicago after her husband did. True/False
2. Mamacita is upset because her child will learn English from infancy. True/False
3. Rafaela is an old lady. True/False
4. Rafaela is melancholy because she longs for freedom. True/False
5. Sally and Esperanza are from the same culture. True/False
6. Esperanza frequently uses the second person to address Sally. True/False
 7. Minerva is not a very emotional person. True/False
8. Minerva is a stuck in a repetitious and depressing relationship. True/False
9. Esperanza will ignore poor people when she finally becomes rich. True/False
10. ‘Beautiful and Cruel’ is exactly how Nenny sees herself. True/False

Exercise F
a house on the hill settled to raise schoolyard
grumble threshold black and blue window latch
seagull raven tin landlord
1. A large black bird that looks like a crow. _____________
2. The coin has ______________. It has stopped moving.
3. The beach represents a ______________ before the wide immensity of the Pacific Ocean.
4. After suffering an horrific car accident, Winston had so many bruises that he was
__________________.
5. Sometimes I feel nostalgic about the times I used to play football with my friends in the
__________________.
6. I can’t open the ______________. It is like it is glued shut, but I need some fresh air.
7. If you rent a property, like an apartment or flat, then you must pay money to the ______________,
who is the owner of the real estate.
8. Someone who lives in ________________ is typically more wealthy than most other people.
9. Parents have a huge responsibility _____________ their children.
10. If you ______________ about something, then you talk in a low and unclear voice, usually angrily.
11. _____________ is a kind of metal that is used to make cans, which you can store food inside.
12. _____________ are large white birds that are commonly found in coastal areas.