PART ONE: Looking at Dialogue and Character Portrayal in Mango Street*

This assignment is due on Tuesday, October 19 in-class (no lates!).

You will need five (5) different highlighters and/or colored pencils/pens for this assignment.

The chapter, “And Some More,” from The House on Mango Street, incorporates a dialogue between four of the characters in the book, Rachel, Esperanza (the narrator), Nenny, and Lucy AND a few of the narrator’s thoughts.  There is practically no action, descriptions of appearance, descriptions of personality, etc.  Another issue in this chapter is that the author, Cisneros, doesn’t use quotation marks and she doesn’t always tell you who is saying what line.

Your job this assignment is to work through the chapter to figure out which lines belong to which character.  You will need 5 different highlighters for this.

 

1.      In the white space at the beginning of the chapter, make a key for yourself.  Assign one color each to Esperanza (the narrator), Rachel, Lucy, and Nenny.  The fifth color should be used for designating Esperanza’s thoughts.  [Nenny is Esperanza’s little sister; Rachel and Lucy are their friends.]

2.      After reading the chapter several times and making some notes IN PENCIL FIRST, highlight all of Esperanza’s lines of dialogue in the color you assigned to her.  Do the same for the other 3 characters in the chapter.  Then highlight all of Esperanza’s lines of thoughts in the color you assigned to that.

  

* Please note:  If you are reading Mango Street independently, then you can still choose this chapter for an InQuIRE. 

 

 

name: ________________________________

PART TWO: Looking at Dialogue and Character Portrayal in Mango Street*

 This assignment is due on Tuesday, October 19 in-class (no lates!).

"And Some More" 

PART TWO:  Making Sense of the Characters and Format (Worth 2 punches on your Reading Card.)

Answer the following questions as completely as you can.  PLEASE WRITE IN COMPLETE SENTENCES.

 

Text explicit (“right there”): 

1)      What do snow and clouds have in common, according to the narrator?

  

Text implicit (“read between the lines”):

2)      Which character is the most oblivious to what’s going on around her in this chapter?

3)      How is the narrator (Esperanza) portrayed in this chapter?  Narrow your answer down to 2 different words (the words cannot be synonyms).  Justify your answer by explaining bits of the chapter.

 

Text significance (“interpret an element”):

4)      Locate and write down one simile used to describe “clouds” in this chapter.

5)      Where does the mood of the chapter shift the most?  Justify your answer by explaining bits of the chapter.

6)      Why doesn’t Cisneros give us more information to figure out who is saying what in this chapter?  Explain yourself clearly.

 

Thematic connection (“universal statement”):

7)      What might be one theme (big idea) in this chapter?  Why?

* Please note:  If you are reading Mango Street independently, then you can still choose this chapter for an InQuIRE.  However, you may not use the questions I came up with as your questions for this chapter.