The House on Mango Street

Worksheet: (9-15)
Exercise A: Match the vignettes’ titles with the description
1. Those Who Don’t ______
2. Laughter ______
3. Meme Ortiz ______
4. Marin ______
5. Louie, His Cousin and His Other Cousin ______
6. Gil’s Furniture Bought and Sold ______

a) This chapter ends in disappointment for Esperanza and Nenny

b) Someone gets arrested having had a car accident
c) It describes the impact of a long-distance relationship
d) Something in this chapter provokes a recollection of Mexico.
e) This chapter describes the way other’s judge Esperanza’s community.
f) It depicts a back yard with an impressive tree
Exercise B: Match the similes to what they are compared with
1. ‘like a pile of dishes breaking’ _________
2. ‘couches that spin dust in the air when you punch them’ _________
3. ‘the whole store has skinny aisles to walk through’ _________
4. ‘I never said nothing to him’ _________
5. ‘Some rooms uphill.’ _________
6. ‘The balls that never came back down to earth’ _________
7. ‘Meme won. And broke both arms’ _________
8. ‘cop car’s siren spun a dizzy blue’. _________

a) double negative d) simile g) appealing to senses

b) alliteration e) juxtaposition h) fragment
c) personification f) pathos
Which literary devices did you find the most effective? Why did they work well?
Exercise C: Comprehension Questions
1. In what way are Esperanza and Nenny alike as sisters?
_________________________________________________________________________________
2. Where has Esperanza probably lived before, owing to a recollection of a house?
_________________________________________________________________________________
3. Who talks more to Gil, Nenny or Esperanza?
_________________________________________________________________________________
4. What kind of car was Louie’s cousin driving?
_________________________________________________________________________________
5. Who does Marin take care of?
_________________________________________________________________________________
6. Where does Louie and his family come from?
_________________________________________________________________________________
Exercise D: Language
Discuss the following
Esperanza says in ‘Gil’s Furniture Bought and Sold’, ‘You can get lost easy’.
Is ‘You can’t get lost easy’ a grammatical mistake? Why has Cisneros chosen to do this?
Exercise E: Language
Moths Gutters Fixed up To floor
Slants Tucked Alley Shiny

1. If something is ___________ then it emits light.

2. ____________ are pipes that are open so that rainwater can collect in them.
3. ____________ are like butterflies, but they are nocturnal.
4. If you ____________ the accelerator of a car, then you drive very fast.
5. He ____________ his shirt inside his pants so that he looked smart.
6. A thing that _____________ is not straight. It is on an incline.
7. Another word for _____________ is renovated.
8. An __________ is a walkway connecting two street that may have walls on either side.
Exercise F: Writing
Imagine that you have emigrated to London. Describe what life might be like there in the form of a first
person narrative, writing in the style of Cisneros.