Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Post #4 Alex
Here is the wordle I made for this week's post. I chose to focus on Esperenza by recalling many of the words that repeated throughout the text up to this point. I have noticed that there is a theme of sense of belonging or "home" and the word "ashamed" has surfaced itself in multiple ways. I also found the vignette entitled "Four Skinny Trees" to be symbolic of what Esperenza feels about herself. On the surface she looks weak like the trees, but she has strong roots that bare down into the ground. The trees seem to have sprung from nothing out of the concrete and don't quite belong where they are. I think Esperenza feels that she also exists but doesn't feel that she belongs where she is. Her only reason is "to be just to be". I think that she feels as though she doesn't have a strong identity yet and struggles to know who exactly she is.
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Alex,
ReplyDeleteI found it really interesting that "ashamed" had such a prominnet role in your Wordle. I think this is similar to the "scared" that is so prevalent in Jess's Wordle. Again, this is not a theme I had really thought much about before, but I think the Wordle is a neat tool to reveal themes that you might not think readily about. I also really liked the vigniette Four Skinny Trees and I agree that it is a metaphor for Esperanza's life. I think it would be an interesting idea to have students come up with their own metaphors about what they are- you might get some interesting results!
-Brooke
I think Brooke's point that the Wordle brings to light some themes and words that we missed is so valuable. Reading your wordle, I found myself thinking about Esperanza and her experiences on Mango Street in a totally different way - not only is she ashamed, but she's homesick, lost, afraid, and abandoned - which is so interesting to me considering she's constantly surrounded by people right near her home. These are feelings I didn't focus on very much in my own reading of the book, but they're there - and examining your wordle helped to reinforce them for me. I also like your choice of black and white to back up the statement your wordle is making - very somber, serious, and clear-cut. Other words that stood out to me were "ally, opportunity, desire and purpose." I love how they're depicted in the wordle because they're there in Esperanza's life, but so overshadowed in her own view by her shame and struggles.
ReplyDelete"Four Skinny Trees" is definitely my favorite vignette, and I think it is by far the most important for us to look at. Brooke, I really like your idea for having students pick what might represent them, or what might even represent their friends and family. I read into the 4 as possibly representing Nenny, Esperanza and their 2 brothers or their 2 best friends - Rachel and her sister.
I think we should take a close look at this vignette when we get together to talk about the book, and maybe since this seems to be one that's popping up as super important to many of us, we could try to represent this visually in our video?
-Hannah