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The House on Mango Street – What are the Biggest Obstacles to the American Dream?Background Information: The House on Mango Street, a coming of age novel by Mexican-American author Sandra Cisneros is the story of Esperanza Cordero, a young Latina girl growing up in a neighborhood of Chicanos and Puerto Ricans in Chicago in the 1980s. Observing life around her, Esperanza wants to break free from socio-economic, cultural, and gender restrictions and to create her own identity. She wants to overcome the obstacles to the American Dream and be free.4953000000Attention Grabber: Gender – Are boys and girls/ men and women equal?With a partner, discuss and answer the following questions:Word*Connotation:Positive +Negative –Neutral +/-What I think it meansDictionary definitiongendersexistchauvinistfeministpatriarchal system*Remember, connotation is the feeling associated with a word.1.Do you think boys and girls are treated equally? Explain. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________2.Do you think women are treated fairly in our society? Explain. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________3. Do you think men are treated fairly in our society? Explain._____________________________________________________________________________________4.Have you ever experienced or witnessed unfair treatment of girls/ boys because of their gender? Has anyone in your family? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________6.Do you think it’s important for a woman to get an education and have a career? Why?_____________________________________________________________________________________4977765000Background EssayObstacles to the American DreamHave you ever thought about what exactly is the American Dream? The United States is a country of immigrants, and what has brought people to the United States for centuries is the hope for a better life. Approximately four hundred years ago, Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence expressed the belief that “all men were created equal” and he spoke of the “inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Even though this is a dream which still has to become a full reality, it has nevertheless brought people of all backgrounds to America in order to receive a good education, to get a well-paying job and escape poverty, and to be treated equally without discrimination. 4421505444500The short impressions or vignettes in The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros make up the coming-of-age story of Esperanza Cordero, a Mexican-American girl growing up in a poor neighborhood of Chicago. Esperanza’s coming-of-age in many ways parallels Sandra Cisneros’ own childhood. We meet the people in The House on Mango Street through Esperanza’s eyes and all of them fall short in regard to the American Dream. As Esperanza says, “Here there is too much sadness and not enough sky.” Esperanza looks around her and, starting with her great grand-mother to the girls and women in her neighborhood, sees nothing but a stark contrast to the American Dream. Her own experiences are marked by disappointment, a search for identity, and a sense of not belonging. For the people on Mango Street, the American Dream is not a reality. As you read the following documents and excerpts from The House on Mango Street, ask yourself this question: What are the biggest obstacles to reaching the American Dream and how does Esperanza overcome these obstacles and achieve freedom?-172085109220003987800-22415500Understanding the Question and Pre-Bucketing Understanding the Question What is the analytical question asked at the end of the background essay? Which terms in the question need to be defined? Rewrite the question in your own words. Pre-Bucketing Directions: Using any clues from the Mini-Q question and the Background Essay, establish general analytical categories and label the buckets.Document A.1: “Roughly Half of Hispanics Have Experienced Discrimination”Source: Krogstad, Jens Manuel, and Gustavo López. "Roughly half of Hispanics have experienced discrimination." Pew Research Center. N.p., 29 June 2016. Web. 19 Mar. 2017. <;. “About half of Hispanics in the U.S. (52%) say they have experienced discrimination or have been treated unfairly because of their race or ethnicity, according to a newly released Pew Research Center survey on race in America.Hispanics’ experience with discrimination or being treated unfairly varies greatly by age. Among Hispanics ages 18 to 29, 65% say they have experienced discrimination or unfair treatment because of their race or ethnicity. By comparison, only 35% of Hispanics 50 and older say the same – a 30-percentage-point gap.In addition, Hispanics born in the U.S. (62%) are more likely than immigrants (41%) to say they have experienced discrimination or unfair treatment.”Document A.2: “A Rice Sandwich”Source: “And then she made me stand up on a box of books and point. That one? She said, pointing to a row of ugly three-flats, the ones even the raggedy men are ashamed to go into. Yes, I nodded even though I knew that wasn’t my house and started to cry.Document A.3: “Geraldo No Last Name”Source: “The hospital emergency room. Nobody but an intern working all alone. And maybe if the surgeon would’ve come, maybe if he hadn’t lost so much blood, if the surgeon had only come, they would know who to notify and where…..Just another brazer who didn’t speak English. Just another wetback… His name was Geraldo. And his home was in another country. The ones he left behind are far away, will wonder, shrug, remember. Geraldo – he went north… we never heard from him again.”Questions:According to the study by Krogstad and Lopez, how many Hispanics have experienced discrimination or have been treated unfairly?Is there a higher chance of being discriminated against in younger or older Hispanics?How does the nun make Esperanza feel about herself and her neighborhood?Why do you think Esperanza does not correct the nun and tell her she is pointing to the wrong house?Why do you think the nun is so insensitive?Who is Geraldo and why does he die?How do those who don’t know Geraldo look at him?How does Esperanza see him?In what way does discrimination contradict the American Dream?Document B.1: “Can Poverty Be Passed Down?”Source: Johnston, Katie. "Breaking the cycle of poverty with science - The Boston Globe." . N.p., 12 July 2016. Web. 19 Mar. 2017. <;. “Many variables factor into the inability to escape poverty, but how and where children are raised plays a major role. Among children who experience high levels of poverty, 45 percent are poor at age 35, according to the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University. Of adults who never experienced poverty as a child, less than 1 percent grow up to be poor.”“It’s a vicious circle…If you don’t have those (educational) skills, you’re much more likely to be poor. And if you’re poor, you’re much more likely to not acquire those skills.”Document B.2: “A Smart Cookie”Source: Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. New York: Vintage Books 1991, c1989. “I could’ve been somebody, you know? My mother says and sighs. She has lived in this city her whole life. She can speak two languages. She can sing an opera. She knows how to fix a T.V. But she doesn’t know which subway train to take to get downtown. ...Esperanza, you go to school. Study hard….Shame is a bad thing, you know. It keeps you down. You want to know why I quit school? Because I didn’t have nice clothes. No clothes, but I had brains.Yup, she says disgusted, stirring again. I was a smart cookie then. Document B.3: “Alicia Who Sees Mice”Source: Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. New York: Vintage Books 1991, c1989.“Alicia, whose mama died, is sorry there is no one older to rise and make the lunchbox tortillas. Alicia, who inherited her mama’s rolling pin and sleepiness, is young and smart and studies for the first time at the university. Two trains and a bus, because she doesn’t want to spend her whole life in a factory or behind a rolling pin.”Questions:What is the likelihood of children who are raised in poverty?What are you most likely going to NOT have if you are poor?What is required to break the vicious cycle of poverty?What regret does Esperanza’s mom have?What advice does she give Esperanza?What is Alicia’s motivation to attend the university?What makes you think that Alicia and Esperanza’s mom are important examples for Esperanza – one in a positive, one in a negative way?Document C.1: “Teen Pregnancy Affects Educational Achievement”Source: NCSL. "Teen Pregnancy Affects Educational Achievement." NCSL National Conference of State Legislators. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2017. <;. “High School CompletionTeen pregnancy and parenting are significant contributors to high school drop-out rates among teen girls. Thirty percent of teenage girls who drop out of high school cite pregnancy or parenthood as a primary reason. This rate is even higher for Hispanic and African American teens, at 36 and 38 percent, respectively. Nationally, only about half of all teen mothers earn a high school diploma by age 22. And among those who have a baby before age 18, about 40 percent finish high school and less than two percent finish college by age 30.Intergenerational ImpactTeen childbearing not only has the potential to affect the mother’s education, but has implications for children as well: children born to teen moms often do not perform as well as children of older mothers on early childhood development indicators and school readiness measures, such as communication, cognition and social skills. Research shows that children of teen mothers not only start school at a disadvantage, they also fare worse than those born to older parents later on. For example, children born to teens have lower educational performance, score lower on standardized tests, and are twice as likely to repeat a grade. Additionally, only around two-thirds of children born to teen mothers earn a high school diploma, compared to 81 percent of children born to adults.”Document C.2: “Minerva Writes Poems”Source: Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. New York: Vintage Books 1991, c1989. “Minerva is only a little bit older than me but already she has two kids and a husband who left. Her mother raised her kids alone and it looks like her daughters will go that way too. Minerva cries because her luck is unlucky. Every night and every day. And prays. But when the kids are asleep after she’s fed them their pancake dinner, she writes poems on little pieces of paper…She lets me read her poems. I let her read mine… She has many troubles, but the big one is her husband who left and keeps leaving…Next week she comes over black and blue and asks what can she do? Minerva. I don’t know which way she’ll go. There’s nothing I can do.”Questions:According to the article on teen pregnancy by NCSL, how does teen pregnancy affect educational achievement?What is the connection of Minerva and her mom to the above article?What do Minerva and Esperanza have in common?What do you think is Esperanza’s assessment of Minerva and her future? Do you think Esperanza is at risk ending up like Minerva? Why?Document D.1: “Struggling with Sexism in Latin America”Source: Watson, Katy. "Struggling with sexism in Latin America." BBC News. BBC, 18 Aug. 2015. Web. 19 Mar. 2017. <;. “Protecting women's honour is a fundamental part of Middle Eastern culture, and it is often used as an excuse for preventing women from having equal rights as men….I often thought about how this compared with the machista culture so prevalent in Latin America - a concept that emphasises manliness…. Whether it is honour or so-called machismo, the end result is the same. Women become second-class citizens.Men in Latin America are often proud of being machista and many women like their "protective" macho men.‘It's a very Latin belief,’ she says. "’If he isn't being jealous and possessive he doesn't want to be with you and he doesn't love you. Men are taught to be this way and women are taught to want it.’Dangers faced by women in Latin America?In Mexico, it is estimated more than 120,000 women are raped a year - that is one every four minutes.”Document D.2: “My Name”Source: Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. New York: Vintage Books 1991, c1989. “It was my great-grandmother’s name and now it is mine. She was a horse woman too, born like me in the Chinese year of the horse – which is supposed to be bad luck if you’re born female – but I think this is a Chinese lie because the Chinese, like the Mexicans, don’t like their women strong.My great-grandmother. I would’ve liked to have known her, a wild horse of a woman, so wild she wouldn’t marry. Until my great-grandfather threw a sack over her head and carried her off. Just like that, as if she were a fancy chandelier. That’s the way he did it. And the story goes she never forgave him. She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow. …. Esperanza. I have inherited her name, but I don’t want to inherit her place by the window.”Document D.3: “Sally”Source: Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. New York: Vintage Books 1991, c1989. “Sally is the girl with eyes like Egypt…Her father says to be this beautiful is trouble. They are very strict in his religion. They are not supposed to dance. He remembers his sisters and is sad. Then she can’t go out. Sally I mean…. You don’t laugh, Sally. You look at your feet and walk fast to the house you can’t come out from.”Document D.4: “Beautiful and Cruel”Source: Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. New York: Vintage Books 1991, c1989. “I have decided not to grow up tame like the others who lay their necks on the threshold waiting for the ball and chain.In the movies there is always one with red lips who is beautiful and cruel. She is the one who drives the men crazy and laughs them all away. Her power is her own. She will not give it away.I have begun my own quiet war. Simple. Sure. I am one who leaves the table like a man, without putting back the chair or picking up the plate.”Questions:According to the article by Katy Watson on “Struggling with Sexism in Latin America,” what happens to women in Middle Eastern and Latin American culture?Esperanza also notices common factors in the treatment of women across different cultures. What does she say about the treatment of women in Mexican and Chinese culture?What culture does Sally come from and how does this culture affect the way her father treats her?What happened to Esperanza’s great-grandmother that made her sad for the rest of her life?What kind of life does Esperanza not want to have?How does she rebel against the cultural role of women? What do you think will be her ticket to independence and freedom?Bucketing—Getting Ready to Write Bucketing Look over all the documents and organize them into your final buckets. Write final bucket labels under each bucket and place the letters of the documents in the buckets where they belong. Remember, your buckets are going to become your body paragraphs.Thesis Development and Road Map On the chickenfoot below, write your thesis and your road map. Your thesis is always an opinion and answers the Mini-Q question. The road map is created from your bucket labels and lists the topic areas you will examine in order to prove your thesis.From Thesis to Essay Writing DBQ Essay Outline Guide Title – DBQParagraph #1 Grabber Brief and relevant plot summary Restating the question with key terms defined Thesis and Road Map Paragraph #2 Baby Thesis for bucket one Evidence: Supporting detail and quotation from document with document citation Argument: Connecting evidence to the thesisParagraph #3 Baby Thesis for bucket two Evidence Argument Paragraph #4 Baby Thesis for bucket three Evidence Argument Paragraph #5 Baby Thesis for bucket four Evidence ArgumentParagraph #6 Conclusion: Restatement of main idea, along with a fresh insight or wrinkle ................
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