1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read.
Esperanza, she's a girl living with her family and starts off by saying that she has moved houses many times and eventually ended up in the house of mango street. It was a house she did not really want to live in and always dreamed of moving into a big house with a big back yard and many restrooms. Once she moves in there, she meets two other girls named Rachel and Lucy who then become her closest friends. As days go by, she begins to mature and starts learning new things each and everyday about life. She experiences what she has never experienced before like her crushes and even the kiss that she got from an older man at her first job. Throughout the novel, Esperanza tells us different stories of each of her neighbors and family members.
2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.
The theme of The House on Mango Street would be, appreciate the things you have in life.
3. Describe the author's tone. Include three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).
The author's tone in this novel would be "hopeful". Throughout the whole novel, Esperanza expresses herself with hope of somehow her life changing into the better. She is tired of not being able to stick to one thing and always has dreamed of living in nice big house. For example, there's a time where she says "I want a house on a hill like the ones with gardens where papa works". There's also a time where Mama says "When we win the lottery..." and in the beginning, Esperanza says "They always told us that one day we would move into a house, a real house that would be ours for always so we wouldn't have to move each year." These three excerpts express hopefulness in each character; they are all hoping that they'll get a new house that will not look like the house on mango street.
4. Describe five literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the theme and/or your sense of the tone. Include three excerpts that will help your reader understand each one.
Five literary elements/techniques that strengthened my understanding of the theme/tone would be setting, point of view, protagonist, imagery, and symbols. The setting mainly helped me in the understanding of the theme because the novel took place in mango street and the entire time she would express herself in a negative way about it and that was the place that ended up to be where she learned new things and met so much people but she still did not appreciate it at times. At the end she says "Before Keeler it was Paulina, but what I remember most is Mango Street, sad red house, the house I belong to but do not belong to" this quote talks about the setting as well as the protagonist and how she felt. Symbolism is another literary element that was part of my understanding of the tone and theme. In the book, Esperanza made a connection with four skinny trees, she thought that those trees did not belong there just like she didn't belong in that street. Her point of view also was a big part of my understanding, she dislike living on mango street which of course made her keep hoping that she'd one day move out of that street so hopeful that she ended up going to a palm reader.
