Comprehension Questions:

“Darius & the Clouds” — “Hips”

Pages 33-53

1. What is the problem in the story, “And Some More”?

Several little girls get together to discuss the shape and name of the cloud, but when Rachel and Lucy
compare the shape of the cloud to Esperanza's ugly face, they start to contradict each other.
2. What do the colors yellow, red, and white symbolize? Write 3 words for each color.
a. Teacher Example: In literature, the color blue symbolizes intelligence, clarity, sadness, etc.
Yellow is for happiness, hope and spontaneity.
Red is for passion, love and anger.
White is for purity, cleanliness, and peacefulness.
3. What might the yellow, and red shoes represent? Based on what white symbolizes. What might be
significant about the fact that the shoes used to be white, but have faded to a light blue?
Yellow shoes represent incomplete happiness and unattainable dreams, because when they wear cute
yellow shoes want to get childish fun but some bad men interrupted their happiness, after lucy hid that
pair of shoes. In the article the red shoes represent the loss of innocence and sexiness, because to the
drunken men the red heels look sexy and want to exchange a dollar for a kiss, which has a great impact
on Esperanza is no longer as innocent as before. White represents purity, peace shoes later became
light blue because she became sad because blue represents sadness.
4. How does each person/group respond differently to the girls wearing high heels downtown?
“Mr. Benny at the corner grocery puts down his important cigar: Your mother know you got shoes like
that? Who give you those? Them are dangerous, he says. You girls too young to be wearing shoes
like that.”(p40-41) The gentleman at the grocery store thought they shouldn't wear such shoes which
are dangerous. “On the avenue a boy on a homemade bicycle calls out: Ladies, lead me to
heaven.”(p40-41) A boy on a bicycle told them he wanted them to take him to heaven. In front of a
laundromat, six girls with the same fat face pretend they can't see them in high heels because they are
jealous of the girls with high heels. A drunk guy sees a girl in high heels in a bar and tries to trade a
dollar for a kiss.
5. Why is Esperanza embarrassed in “A Rice Sandwich”?
a. The nun asks her to go home in front of the entire canteen.
b. She does not have enough food to eat like the other students.
c. The nun tells her she lives close to home and does not have to eat at school. She points to
old homes that are not where Esperanza lives and she feels ashamed that the nun thinks of
her that way.
d. The nun yells at her for misbehaving in class.

6. Why does Esperanza not want to dance at her cousin’s baptism?

a. She does not want to dance with her uncle.
b. She is embarrassed that her shoes are old.
c. She does not know how to dance.
d. She does not feel well.

7. In the vignette “Hips,” Esperanza says, “she is in a world we don’t belong to anymore.” What does
she mean?
In the vignette “Hips,” Esperanza says, “she is in a world we don’t belong to anymore.” This statement
shows that Esperanza and her friends are now much more mature, and that Renee's immature
behavior is different from theirs because Nenny does not understand that feeling she has not
experienced those things.
 8-10. Directions: Use the Word Bank below to help you identify the Literary Device shown in each quote.
Some may be used more than once. Some may not be used.
Hyperbole Simile Metaphor
Imagery Personification Allusion

Family of Little Feet

● “Hurray! Today we are Cinderella because our feet fit exactly, and we laugh at Rachel's one foot
with a girl's gray sock and a lady's high heel. Do you like these shoes? But the truth is it is scary to
look down at your foot that is no longer yours and see attached a long leg.” -
___Allusion_________
Chanclas
● “My feet growing bigger and bigger.” - ______Hyperbole_______
Hips
● “One day you wake up and they are there. Ready and waiting like a new Buick with the keys in the
ignition. Ready to take you where?”
● “They bloom like roses, I continue because it's obvious I'm the only one who can speak with any
authority; I have science on my side.
○ These are both examples of ______Simile_______