Minerva Writes Poems

This chapter talks about Minerva. Minerva is a little older then Esperanza and already has 2 kids and a husband who has left her. Her mother was a single parent, she raised Minerva by her self, it seems like Minerva is taking the tracks of her mother. Minerva feels very unlucky. After all she is a teenage single parent.  Minerva loves to write poems. She’s a very good poem writer, her and Esperanza. She let's Esperanza read her poems and Esperanza let's her read hers, Minerva writes about her sadness and how she is feeling. Minerva and Esperanza seem to be close.

Judeline , Alexus

Papa Who Wakes Up Tired In The Dark

In the chapter "Papa Who Wakes up Tired in the Dark" Esperanza's grandfather has passed away. Her father told her this early one morning as he reacts to this by curling up and crying. Esperanza, shocked of this, never seen her brave father cry. She doesn't know how to comfort him since this is the first time she's ever seen him breakdown like this. Esperanza knows that her father has to go to Mexico for the funeral, she has to tell all of her younger siblings the heartbreaking news and for them to be quieter so their father can deal with the passing of his father a little bit easier. Esperanza then thought about how her life would be if her father died suddenly. All the daily routines that she's used to seeing him do come to a halting stop and having this empty space in her life which he used to fill.

~Alexus and Theresa~

Those Who Don't

In this chapter called "Those Who Don't" Esperanza talks about how people think that Mango Street is a dangerous place even though they never been or know how it feels to live there. They automatically assume that it's a horrible place to be at. Another thing that they might think would happen is that someone will attack them with shiny knives or getting lost becuase they ended up there by mistake. Although, Esperanza also mentioned that she also feels the same way when she's not with people that's Chicano like her. Because of that, she feels a little uncomfortable and out of place when she goes to a different place outside of Mango Street.

~Alexus and Theresa~ 

Marin

In this chapter "Marin" she shows Esperanza and her friends the letters between her and her boyfriend and they make a promise not to tell anyone about them. But when she goes back to Puerto Rico they're getting married, he didn’t get a job yet but she's starting to save money she gets from selling Avon and taking care of her cousin's. But if she stays here next year, she's going to get a real job downtown because that’s where the real jobs are.
Next year Louie's parents are going to send her back with a note saying she's too much trouble, which is too bad because Esperanza like's Marin. Esperanza and her friend's really don’t see Marin till he aunt gets home from work. And Esperanza feels like Marin would be under the streetlight, dancing by herself, singing the same song somewhere, I know is waiting for a car to stop, a star to fall someone to change her life.

 ~Alexus~

The First Job.

In this chapter "The First Job" Esperanza wants to get a job to help pay for her private school because it's very expensive her father said “No body went to public school unless you wanted to turn out bad." Esperanza thought she'll find an easy job, like the other kid's had like; working at a hotdog stand. Tito pushed Esperanza into the open water hydrant, then before she could change out of her soaking wet clothes her mother called her into the kitchen, and her aunt Lala was sitting down drinking her coffee with a spoon. Her aunt said “I found a job for you at Peter Pan photo finishers on north Broadway, where she also worked. Esperanza had to show up tomorrow saying she was one year older then she really was." the next morning she went she didn’t feel so confident in herself, which made her lack on her work because she was so afraid of what other people will think. But after all she was worried about nothing she had to give it a chance to kick in that she was working with mostly adults.
Alexus

The Monkey Garden

The name of this chapter is called “The Monkey Garden”. This particular place in the neighborhood is where a family who just recently moved out that owned a monkey had a garden and all the Mango Street kids use it for their amusement. But, as time passed, the garden wasn't as pleasant as it used to be. Well in Esperanza's case.

The first thing was that the garden was becoming more and more like a dump then a little street park. Abandoned broken-down cars are left there to rot out. The other thing was because of Sally and that marked the last time Esperanza ever went to The Monkey Garden. When Sally and Esperanza were at the garden, Sally stayed behind talking with Tito and some of his friends because she didn't want to dirty her clothes. As stated in the text, Esperanza saw that Sally might be in trouble so she tried to stop it by going to Tito's mom. That didn't end well because Tito's Mom didn't care what was going on. So, she decided to take matters into her own hands and solve the problem by herself. However, Tito, Sally and the other boys told her to go away because she bothered them. From that embarrassing moment, Esperanza ran towards a tree in the garden and attempted to stop her breathing.

She ultimately failed at her pursuit of suicide and fainted from it also. When she awoke, she became confused and scared. She realized at this point that this isn't the same place as it was before. It's not safe at all and from there, she never returned back.

~Kirsten, Theresa, Alexus, Judeline~

My Name

In the chapter "My Name" Esperanza inherited her grandmothers name. Esperanza says she doesn’t like her name. In Spanish it means sadness, waiting, she said it’s like the number 9 and a very ugly color. She also said it is the Mexican records her father plays on Sunday mornings while he shaves. In English her name only means Hope. Esperanza starts to talk about how she is much like her grandmother. Esperanza states that she does not want to end up like her grandmother did. She really wanted to meet her. She was very wild, she was unable to marry which disappointed her dad so he put a sack over her head and carried her away.


Judeline , Kirsten , Theresa , Alexus 

Meme Ortiz

In this chapter, Esperanza describes a neighborhood boy named Meme Ortiz and the house he lives in. However, she goes into more detail about the tree in his backyard then anything else. Even though the land around the tree isn't as great, the tree stands out even better in comparison because of it making it more memorable for Esperanza.

As said in the text, she says: "But what you remember most is this tree, huge, with fat arms and mighty families of squirrels in the higher branches". In the surrounding area next to the tree, is all the houses and apartments on Mango Street. This gives Esperanza a sense of adventure when she was climbing it during the "First Annual Tarzan Jumping Contest" and also the freedom and possiblity of escape from the neighboorhood. Another thing is that, Esperanza gets a new perspective of what Mango Street looks like from above: "All around the neigborhood of roofs.......the balls that never came back down to earth. Down at the base of the tree.......our house with its feet tucked under like a cat."

-Theresa, Alexus           

Cisneros as Esperanza

Cisneros uses Esperanza to symbolize her life in many ways. Cisneros uses Esperanza as alter ego as herself. She uses her own personal experiences such as thoughts and feelings to create the character Esperanza. Not everything in the book The House on Mango Street is true it is a realistic fiction piece. She adds additional information to make the book interesting for the readers.

Esperanza is a Mexican- American young girl who has multiple siblings. She is the oldest out of four. Esperanza’s family has been moving a lot. They could never find the right place to live. Its either they don’t have enough money to pay the rent or the house isn’t good enough. But they finally got a house. The house isn’t that pretty; it’s not that big either. The house on Mango Street is very small. The house is very old. There are three bed rooms and one small bathroom. It’s not quite a house someone would want to live but at least they have a house instead of an apartment.

   Cisneros is Spanish- American almost like Esperanza. Cisneros grew up with a lot of siblings; she was the daughter among seven children. Just like Esperanza Cisneros’ family kept moving back and forth from the United States to Mexico because of her father’s homesickness to his country.  She felt lonely and displaced while growing up, she had no one to look up to or have a girl to girl talk to except her mother which of course was too old to understand what Cisneros was going through. She felt comfort in reading and writing.

- Judeline, Kirsten

Alexus's Vignette

                           I was about 3-4 years old when I first went on vacation to Saint Louis, Missouri with my parents. I really didn’t know how the trip was going to turn out, I didn’t know if I was going to like it or not. The drive from New York to Missouri was about 18-19 hours, but to me it felt like days. Being stuck in a minivan for 18-19 hours wasn’t very fun at all. But when we were going I saw some really nice things on the way, I was amazed what everything looked like.  Finally after hours and hours of driving we were finally there and I was so happy I couldn’t wait for my mom to open the door so I could run around and stretch my legs like any other 3-4 year old would. We got to our hotel where we were staying for the next week, the people at the front desk greeted us with a big smile and said “welcome to Crowne plaza how can we help you?”  While my dad was checking us in my dad asked my mom to call his friends who live in the area, Ricardo and his wife Lorena and his other friend Fernando and his wife Joselyn.  

            After we settled in we went to meet up with Ricardo, Lorena, Fernando, and Joselyn, they couldn’t believe how big I’ve gotten I started getting hungry so we went out to lunch we ate at a pizzeria it was good but not as good as New York pizza. After we had a late lunch we decided to go back to the hotel and go swimming it was so much fun, I didn’t want it to end. We went back up to our room to change out of our dripping wet bathing suits, then we got ready to go out for dinner at a really nice place it was beautiful. The past couple days we’ve been sightseeing, Saint Louis looks similar to New York city but doesn’t have a he arch going across, at night you could see the city out of our window it looked like a whole bunch of stars glowing up the night. The last day we were there we went to the Arch with my dad’s friends, it was so cool how we could go in the Arch and look over the city, and it was amazing how everything looked so beautiful from 630 feet in the air. You could see about 1-2 miles from the top of the arch, it was such a great experience to be able to go and see things in Saint Louis. And every time I look at the pictures from the trip I’ll always remember the feeling like I was on top of the world.

Four Skinny Trees

In the chapter "Four Skinny Trees", Esperanza compares herself with the four trees that are planted in the city in front of her house. She points out saying how they have the same skinny necks and pointy elbows like her. Another thing she states is that the trees and her doesn't belong to the area. From a reader's perspective, they both are loners by force, they didn't choose to be like this, it just happened to them.

Esperanza looks at the trees for guidance of strength. Even though they could die at any given moment without all the nutrients they need, they still preserve in the concrete and draw roots to the ground to get what they need to survive. They also show how not to give up by saying "keep, keep, keep". She will strive if only she believes she can.

The trees also relied on each other. As stated in the text, "Let one forget his reason for being, they'd all droop like tulips in a glass, each with their arms around the other." They follow the 'all for one and one for all' kind of motto. They got each others back and if one falls they all do. This shows Esperanza that she can also trust people around her.

-Theresa, Kirsten, Judeline, Alexus-

Kirsten's Vignette

Saturday morning at 6:30 it was still dark outside and we were stuck in traffic, my father was driving and my mother was sleeping in the passenger seat. On our way to my first level 4 gymnastics competition that started at 8:00 in long island. my heart was pounding, although my parents were more excited than I was, my father was trying to give me a inspirational speech but I wasn’t even listening,  I was too nervous for beam as usual because to me that is my weakest event. As I was imagining my beam routine in my head I hear “Can we play I spy” said my little brother Ethan sitting right next to me, being a good older sister I said “sure” and started to play. We played until he fell back to sleep but I couldn’t sleep because I was still very nervous I kept thinking about what happed a few days before I was practicing and I fell and got beam burn on my thigh (strawberries is what my coach calls it) it hurt so much that every time I got back on the beam I would have a flash back of what happened to me.
    As we stepped out of the car my coach Edger was wearing his sweat suit which was black and white that said Rockland gymnastics academy on it (RGA) as he was telling me and my team mates schedule rotation which was of course beam first than vault, floor and bars last. Anastasia who looked even more nervous than I did and Maura who looked perfectly fine, as always. My hands were shaking and I thought what worse can happen, but I spoke to soon I was first on beam I couldn’t believe it I was so scared. It was time for warm up so Maura, Anastasia and I took our warm-up suits off and started to stretch out. The bell for the first event rang so I had to get on the beam and start. Walking towered the beam tears running down my face my hands shaking thinking about what im about to do, I feel a hand pulling me to them and it was my coach he looked me in the eyes and wiped my face and told me that I was a power gymnast and that to forget my nerves and just let me body do what it does best and go for it looking at him back I could see in his eyes that he really believed in me.

 When I got my head back together it was time for me to compete, I saluted to the judge and started my routine. First I did a leap which is a split in the air, than I did a handstand. I did two fabulous jumps and a dismount which ended my routine. I couldn’t believe it; I got 9.9 out of 10 which is really, really good. I I couldn’t believe it as I turned around I see my coach and my friends running towards me, I felt so proud of myself. The rest of my completion I did perfectly, I got a 9.45 on bars, a 9.75 on floor and a 9.925 on vault which didn’t surprise me at all because vault is my best event. Ever since I loved gymnastics and I never want to stop. Now I am a level 7 and there is nothing that I am afraid to do in gymnastics because when I’m in gymnastics there is no such thing as I can't do or I never will be able to do. GYMNASTICS IS MY LIFE!!!!!!

Theresa's Vignette

Flying High

The clouds look so fluffy like perfect white pillows surrounding her. If she wasn't in this airplane, she would probably attempt to lie on them and just lounge for hours on end. Staring at these objects gives her a warm feeling inside. Something rare that can't be found else where.

The ground, so far below her, frightens her. She looks over occasionally to see her mother and who gives a smile that signals everything will be ok. Don't worry. Nothing bad will happen. Ever.

Then comes the daydream. Floating through the air, no weight to drag down from. Pure weightlessness. Sometimes she just want to be like this all the time. Be in her own little world. No problems. No drama. Just all about her. It never fails to please her. Or even me.

She tells me these things. Happens all the time when she's in sadness or doubt. Clearing her mind of all things troubling her. At such a young age, she understands that reality is something not even the strongestest of people can deal with.

Fly High, little me. Fly High and touch the sky. Without a fear or care in the world, she transports herself back to the clouds.

Judeline's Vignette

Today's a very special day to me. I can feel my body shivering. The day is going by very slowly I wish it would go faster so I can get this over with. Sitting in class thinking about it has my head hurting. I didn't know how to do it, I never done this before ... I thought about this all day. What if I did it wrong? I kept thinking. He'd never talk to me again. Picturing my lips touching his lips would be so magical. It was such a perfect picture in my head. His lips would taste like peppermint gum. We would be floating in the sky like the stars at night.  All throughout the day, I had these little tiny butterflies in my stomach. My teacher thought I was sick.

        
         It finally came to the end of the day I rushed to my locker without talking to anyone and got my jacket rushed on my bus. I was hoping he would stay after school and not come on the bus but guess what? My wish did not come true. He showed up on the bus a few minutes after me. There were no other seats on the bus except for mine so he sat next to me. I turned my head to the window pretending I did not see him sit down next to me. He tapped me on the shoulder and said hi. I could not get any words to come out. My lips kept vibrating and everything. I was so embarrassed. He said you can’t say hi now and I said sorry hey. The conversation went on and he was asking me about if we still wanted to get this done with I said yes I do even though I was scared I really wanted to say YES!! But I was trying to keep calm. When we got off the bus I followed him. I didn’t want to go in his house because I had this feeling inside of me that was telling me no so we didn’t.
        We stayed outside by the trees. We had a very long conversation about stuff that doesn’t even matter now. He asked me if I ever kissed anyone before I said yes but not real kissing just a peck. I felt like a total loser. Did I really tell him that? I kept thinking. He leaned over and started to kiss me. OMG his lips tasted like fresh gum, it was so magical and pretty. The moment his tongue touched my tongue I felt this little relief inside of me. After we kissed he walked me home. I felt like the happiest girl ever that day. If I could, I would replay that day because it was so special to me. It’s one of those days I can’t and will never forget.

The House on Mango Street: Team Trees , Period 5 :D

- The house on mango steet is a novel by Sandra Cisneros which included some of her past  life and her real thoughts and feelings. This book is realistic fiction. Our team has to write about anything that has to do with trees that was included in the book. While reading Trees were only mentioned twice so far. We look foward to reading more about trees in this novel. We read about 10-20 pages each night and we answer at least 2-3 questions. At this pace we will complete the book in a short period of time.

-Judeline, Kirsten, Alexus and Theresa-