Going through the chapters and finding words that I felt were important to Esperanza's character made me realize how much she values certain things. She mentions family, name, and Nenny repeatedly and I noticed that she refers to the house on Mango Street as her "home". Looking at the chapters more closely also helped me realize how strong of a little girl she is. She has been through some pretty traumatic things from seeing someone get arrested, to being sexual assaulted. She knows a lot about a lot when it comes to what is going on around her. I think that the number one thing in her life is her family and her love of her heritage. She is proud of where she came from but at the same time she wants desperately to fit in. She is tough but still a young girl who needs guidance and support. The words in my Wordle that were the biggest (most used) were: name, Mango, kids, street, home, and scared. I think these six words alone represent Esperanza's life in a big way.
Wordle
Jess,
ReplyDeleteI think that the words you have chosen for your Wordle are all really important. I definitely think that "name" and house" are essential issues for Esperanza, who is constantly struggling with figuring out who she is and where she belongs. I also found it really interesting that "scared" was so interesting in your Wordle. I never realized how large of a role fear plays in this book, but now, I really think that it does. I think that fear and worry push Esperanza to determine who she wants to be. Nice choices!
-Brooke
"I think that the number one thing in her life is her family and her love of her heritage."
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more! I was so struck in the "Laughter" vignette when Nenny and Esperanza share that moment where they both think the house they walk past looks like Mexico. That was really powerful for me when I read it, and opened my eyes to how important that heritage and homeland are to her. After reading later in the book about how she's jealous of her friend who has the home to go back to in Guadalajara (or was it a friend from Texas? I'll have to check again), it made me wonder if this has something to do with why Esperanza has trouble feeling at home on Mango Street- even though it's "brown all around," and she lives in a neighborhood of people with similar heritage and culture, is that disconnect from her home country a piece of what's stopping her?
I'm surprised that hear that she refers to Mango Street as "home." I didn't focus in on this when I came across it (obviously because I didn't even catch it) but to me, her saying this opens things up for a great discussion - does she feel at "home" here? If yes, why? What makes up the home for her? If not, in what way might she be using the word "home" in this section? Do you remember what vignette that was in? I think this would be something good for us to discuss.
In your wordle, the word NAME which is the biggest got me thinking about identity. Esperanza's whole journey to find a home is really a journey to find her identity. Do you think she finds hers by the end of the story? And who is she? What does she stand for and believe in? The first book that I think of when I read these questions is Speak, also about a young girl faced with some pretty traumatic experiences and challenges to overcome. Anyone know of any books with male protagonists that we could use in a unit on identity?
-Hannah
Maybe this is a bit of a stretch- but what about Catcher in the Rye? Holden is certainly struggling to figure out his life in that text, although the issue isnt necessarily explicit. I think it might be interesting to use race, gender and class as a lens to explore the differences in the search for identity between Holden (a white, rich boy) and Esperanza (a Latina, poor girl.)
ReplyDelete-Brooke