1) Adónde fue él cuando se rompió el brazo?
He went to the hospital when he broke his arm.
Él fue al hospital cuando se rompió el brazo.

2)Por qué llegó tarde él a la escuela?
He arrived late because he missed (perder) the bus.
Él llegó tarde porque él perdió el autobus.

3) Por qué pensó él que el miércoles sea (would be) mejor día?
Because his friend gave him good news about his wallet.
Porque su amigo le dio buenas noticias sobre su cartera.

4) Por qué recibió una detención en la clase de ciencias?
He received a detention because he talked too much (demasiado) in science class.
Él recibió una detención porque él habló demasiado en la clase de ciencias.

5) Qué comió él para el almuerzo?
He didn’t eat nothing for lunch.
Él no comió nada para el almuerzo.

“For once I wish I didn’t have someone else to look after and take care of!” “Tell me about it! I mean I can’t help but feel bad for the big guy since he’s got mental problems. But I’m the only person that’s going to look after him, and I can’t help but love the big idiot.” “I’m glad my little sister isn’t challenged in any way. She’s just younger, but I still have to watch after her and keep her out of trouble. Who do you have to take care of?” “His name is Lennie. He’s my work partner. We’ve traveled a lot together. He’s strong, but he doesn’t have enough sense to make it on his own. I’m always with him to make sure he doesn’t hurt anyone or anything on accident. If he’s holding on to something and gets scared, he won’t let go. He doesn’t mean any harm. The poor guy honestly doesn’t know any better. What’s your little sister’s name?” “Her name is Nenny. That’s cool that their names rhyme. I wonder if they’d get along together. I bet they would be good friends.” “I don’t know. She’d probably start crying if Lennie killed a small animal while they were petting it. Then he’d just be confused and get all upset.” “That’s awful! He must hate being the way he is! I wish I could help him!” “I know he struggles to just be friendly and do what he’s told. He doesn’t want to hurt anybody. I have to yell at him to defend himself, and then he ends up hurting the bully when he gets scared and won’t let go of them. Then I have to reassure him that it’s not his fault, because he didn’t start the fight in the first place.” “I’m just glad that Nenny doesn’t get herself into trouble with bullies, and I hope she stays that way.” “Goodluck to her. I’ve just got to take care of Lennie for as long as possible until one day when I have to let him go.” “One day I’ll have to say goodbye to Nenny when I leave our home on Mango Street. She’ll still have my family to look after her when I’m gone.” “That’s nice. Well, it was nice talking to you, Esperanza.” “Thank you! It was nice talking to you too, George.”

“I Knew You Were Trouble” by Taylor Swift is a song that describes Sally. All of the boys think that she is beautiful, but she just wears a lot of makeup and attractive clothes to impress them. Her father says to be that beautiful is trouble and makes her stay inside when she doesn’t have school. Esperanza admires Sally, because she is very beautiful and attracts attention from all the boys. However, Sally doesn’t really care about being Esperanza’s friend. She doesn’t give Esperanza good advice or warn her about having her heart broken by some selfish guy that doesn’t really care about her. Sally doesn’t teach Esperanza to have respect for herself. When Esperanza tries to save her from the boys, Sally just tells her to go home and leave them alone. This makes Esperanza feel ashamed of herself. When Esperanza watches Sally flirt with the boys, she thinks that getting attention from boys will make her happy. Sally creates this troubling allusion that ends up leading to Esperanza getting hurt. She makes it seem like the affection that the boys give her is all that matters, and for her, that is enough. Esperanza quickly learns the difference between affection and truly caring for someone. When this happens, she also realizes that Sally was nothing but trouble for her. She realizes that Sally is a bad influence and is not trustworthy. When Esperanza was taken advantage of and got hurt, Sally was not there to comfort her. She abandoned Esperanza and left her to feel sorry for herself.

Kids with younger siblings are like babysitters who work everyday but never get paid. Their younger sibling is part of their responsibility. Older siblings are like counselors. They give great advice and encouragement. However, they can also be like bullies. They tease you and embarrass you and bug you while refusing to leave you alone. When you go up to them and say hi to them in front of their friends, they either tell you to go away or pretend like they don’t even know you. You ask them why they ignore you in public but won’t leave you alone in private, and they just say it’s because you’re their younger sibling. It’s their job to act that way, and it’s your job to be a pest. Siblings don’t choose each other and can’t return or exchange each other for someone else’s siblings. Kids without siblings often misunderstand what it’s like to have a younger sibling. They think that a younger sibling is just a person who is younger than them who can keep them company when they’re lonely. This is far from the truth. Siblings do keep each other company, but they annoy each other more than anything. However, siblings do make for good friends when they’re isn’t a big age difference between them. Siblings who go to school together can watch after each other. They protect each other from bullies and stand up for each other. They can be each other’s chauffeur and help each other with school work. While many kids would trade their siblings without hesitation, some are just too close to us to give away. We eventually learn to love them and miss them when they are gone.

“Nenny is too young to be my friend. She’s just my sister and that was not my fault. You don’t pick your sisters, you just get them and sometimes they come like Nenny. She can’t play with those Vargas kids or she’ll turn out just like them. And since she comes right after me, she is my responsibility.” (Cisneros 8)

Dear Nenny,

You’re my little sister, and I love you. I hope you love me too, but I also hope you know how much of a burden you are. I didn’t ask for a younger sibling to take care of and tie me down with extra responsibility. I just want to live my own life and not have to worry about someone else to take care of. I wish you could just be another girl my age that I could talk to about my problems and share my secrets with. I wish you were old enough to understand me so I wouldn’t have to explain everything to you. Please don’t think that I’m angry at you for being my sister. I don’t blame you for being born, because that’s not a choice that either of us could’ve made. I hope you grow into an independent woman who is confident and able to take care of herself. Always remember to be yourself and no one else! Have pride in yourself and don’t let anyone bring you down! I will be here if you need a shoulder to cry on or just some sisterly advice. You also have Mama to talk to and encourage you at any time you need her. She loves you more than she or I can even explain. Don’t ever forget where you belong! I’ve struggled to realize where my home is for so long. I just wanted to run away and be free from Mango Street. It shouldn’t have taken a stranger predicting my future for me to realize that we all have a home in the heart. Your family loves you and will always be here for you. I love you!

Yours truly,

Esperanza

In the novella The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros uses characterization in her vignette titled “The Monkey Garden”. She uses characterization to emphasize Esperanza’s goal to fit in both with her young friends and with Sally and the older boys. Cisneros compares the behavior of Esperanza and the younger kids with Sally and the older boys, “I only remember that when the others ran, I wanted to run too, up and down and through the monkey garden, fast as the boys, not like Sally who screamed if she got her stockings muddy,” (Cisneros 96). This reveals the energetic and immature side of Esperanza. She wants to run around and have fun and doesn’t care about getting her clothes muddy. She thinks it’s strange that Sally doesn’t want to do the same thing and wishes that Sally would loosen up and join in on the fun. However, Esperanza also wants to fit in with the older kids and be accepted specifically by Sally. She admires Sally even though she doesn’t always understand why Sally looks or acts the way she does. Esperanza doesn’t understand the fact that Sally enjoys the attention from the older boys in the monkey garden, and she attempts to save Sally when they are hiding behind the truck, “ran back down the three flights to the garden where Sally needed to be saved…But when I got there Sally said go home. Those boys said leave us alone,” (97). Esperanza is very embarrassed and disappointed when she is rejected by the older kids to the extent that she tries to run away and kill herself. This exposes Esperanza’s sensitivity and lack of self confidence. She aches for approval from the people she admires and wants to be accepted by everyone she meets.

The House On Mango Street: Fitting In

        Sandra Cisneros employs a thematic motif of “Fitting In” in her novel of vignettes entitled The House On Mango Street. She reveals this motif throughout the novel with stories about Esperanza’s home/neighborhood, her school and work life, and her friendships.

The first struggle that Esperanza has with fitting in involves a time when a nun from her school was walking around the neighborhood and asked Esperanza where she lived. Esperanza points to her and the nun is in disbelief, “You live there?” (Cisneros 5). This kind of response embarrasses Esperanza and makes her want to live in a nicer house that she is proud to call her home and will help her fit in with other kids her age. However, when Esperanza describes a few of the people in her neighborhood, “Joe the baby-grabber” and “Two girls raggedy as rats” (12), she explains that she lives in a neighborhood where anybody can fit in as long as they are not afraid of the people due to racism. Although Esperanza desires nothing more than to move far away from Mango Street, it is the one place where she belongs and is always accepted.

        In the second section of Cisneros’s novel, Esperanza strives to fit in with the kids that she admires at school and eventually her coworkers at the Peter Pan Photo Finishers on North Broadway. Esperanza admires “the special kids”, because they “get to eat in the canteen” (43). Esperanza admits that it’s crazy for her to ask for permission to eat in the canteen, “I got it in my head one day to ask my mother to make me a sandwich and write a note to the principal so I could eat in the canteen too,” (43). However, she is willing to ask anyway, because she knows it will help her fit in with the other kids. When Esperanza begins her first job, she is very lonely and insecure, “I was scared to eat alone” (54). She befriends another employee who is very kind to her, “he said we could be friends…and I felt better,” (54-55). This reveals that Esperanza has a low self-esteem and just wants to be accepted by anyone wherever she goes. She doesn’t want to stand out as strange or be judged by people that she doesn’t even know.

        In the final section of The House On Mango Street, Esperanza experiences fitting in with her friends. One example is “Ruthie, tall skinny lady…is the only grown up we know who likes to play,” (67). Esperanza and her young friends realize that Ruthie is more physically mature than they are, but they still accept her anyway, “We are glad because she is our friend,” (69). However, Esperanza learns how it feels to be excluded when Sally decides to kiss the boys in the Monkey Garden instead of playing with her, “But when I got there Sally said go home. Those boys said leave us alone,” (97). Esperanza is disappointed, because she can’t fit in with the older kids who behave so much differently than she does. Esperanza just wants to be accepted by anyone that she calls her friend despite how mature they are compared to her.

        Overall, Esperanza learns about how difficult it can be to fit in both as a child and as an adult. She strives to be accepted by everyone outside of her community and forgets that she will always be accepted at home where she belongs, in the house on Mango Street.

When my mom wants our family to spend time together at the house, it often involves a board game or card game played at the kitchen table or on top of blankets laid on the living room floor. I prefer Skipbo or Uno, but my mom loves to play a dice game called Yahtzee. One day when my dad was at work and the rest of us were relaxing at home, my mom called for me and my brother to come into the kitchen. My brother and I trudged into the kitchen thinking that our mom was about to assign some chores for us to do. She just wanted us to spend some time together while we weren’t busy. She walked to the hall closet and pulled the Yahtzee box down from its spot. “Do we have to play Yahtzee? We can’t even remember the rules!” my brother and I groaned in protest. “That’s why the game comes with instructions when you buy it,” my mom replied. When Preston and I realized that we had no choice but to play at least one game, we both sat down at the kitchen table and listened to our mom read the instructions. We all took turns rolling the dice and adding our points up. Preston and my mom even made fun of the way I moved my arms in a circular motion when I rolled the dice. They said I looked like someone churning butter. I just told them I was bored and wanted to try my luck by rolling the dice differently than they did. I guess it worked, because I eventually won the game.

My Most Prized Possession

Most of the time I’m not a huge fan of jewelry. I notice it on other people, but I don’t wear mine on a regular basis. It was never a big deal for me to wear a necklace or a ring until Christmas Eve 2013. That was the night that I was given my two most prized possessions, a sapphire necklace and a matching ring. They are identical blue stones with white diamonds surrounding each side. The size is about 1cmx1cm. My dad went with me to the mall, asked me which pieces of jewelry I liked, and even had me try on the ring to see if it would fit. He didn’t buy the necklace or ring in front of me, because he wanted me to be surprised. When I opened the box on Christmas Eve, I recognized the beautiful stone and smiled. Not only is the sapphire my favorite color, but it is also my birthstone. My necklace and ring represent when I was born and symbolize a part of who I am. I treasure them, because they cost more money than any piece of jewelry I would buy with my own money. I also treasure them as gifts of love and generosity from my mom, dad, and brother. They sacrificed their personal time to sneak behind my back and pick out the necklace and ring that I hadn’t even asked for but would still adore when I saw them. Even though my necklace and ring are replaceable, the memory of opening my gift that night and the gratefulness and happiness that I felt are priceless.