Learning Objectives

After studying Sandra Cisneros's The House on Mango Street,
students will be able to:

1. Identify important cultural and historical aspects of the text that ground the story in a specific context: Chicana / Chicano / Mexican-American / immigrant / Chicago / 1950s / low income.

2. Analyze the perspective, voice and character development of the narrator, Esperanza.

3. Differentiate among female characters in the text; describe what they have in common, as well as how they differ from each other and from their male counterparts.

4. Analyze the poetic prose style of the text and list key structuring or graphic elements of the book that contribute to or re-enforce Cisneros's poetic style. [Four Skinny Trees | Old Maids ]

5. Interrogate the "American Dream" and think critically and creatively about strategies for addressing identity, race, ethnicity, class, and gender problems in terms of that concept. [Definition | New Dream| MLK Sermon | Puerto Rico]

6. Identify and explain several major themes or motifs that emerge from the text

• Search for identity and self-definition, including the significance of names/naming
• Search for physical and emotional place of one's own--a place to call home, a place of security and comfort, a place of satisfaction and pride (rather than shame) [MTV Cribs | Chicago Neighborhoods | City Tours]
• Gender training and performance, especially for females in this and other cultures [Judith Butler]
• Language, speech, and writing as empowering or disempowering in the culture [Interview - Spanish and English]
• Roles and responsibilities of the Artist in a community [Poet | Voice of the People]
• Definition and power of the elusive and problematic "American Dream"

7. Reflect on how these themes / motifs / issues connect with their own experience and influence their own thinking, identity development, and value systems.

8. Formulate a written and visual or kinesthetic interpretation of one or more themes / motifs and support that interpretation with sufficient evidence from the text.

9. Relate the themes / motifs / issues in this text to those of other texts in the course.