Theme Analysis: Culture by Jordin Rawski https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo House on Mango Street: Ciara Lieberman, Jordin Rawski, Dylan Tusing en-us 2021-02-19 15:15:55 UTC 2025-10-20 03:07:20 UTC hello@padlet.com Culture 6375221 https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1219166390 The House on Mango Street expresses the theme of culture by showing how the various characters grow through their customs and backgrounds.]]> 2021-02-19 15:22:10 UTC https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1219166390 Literary element: Simile 6375221 https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1219190403 “The dog is big, like a man dressed in a dog suit, and runs the same way it’s owner does, clumsy and wild with the lambs flopping all over the place like untied shoes.” (21 Cisneros) 
The big dog is being compared to a man dressed in a dog suit.]]> 2021-02-19 15:28:22 UTC https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1219190403 Vignette: A Rice Sandwich 6375162 https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1219197253 This vignette highlights Esperanza's culture by stating that they did not have lunch meat to make a sandwich, so she had to put rice on a sandwich instead.]]> 2021-02-19 15:30:08 UTC https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1219197253 Literary element: Simile 6375221 https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1219581154 “She used to own a building as big as a whale, but her brother sold it.” (12 Cisneros)
This is a simile because they are comparing the building to a whale.]]> 2021-02-19 17:03:04 UTC https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1219581154 Literary element: Personification 6375221 https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1219585342 “But what you might remember most is this tree, huge, with fat arms and mighty families of squirrels in the higher branches.” (22 Cisneros)
The tree is given a human characteristics with having fat arms.]]> 2021-02-19 17:04:03 UTC https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1219585342 Literary element: Imagery 6375221 https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1219588158 “We were playing volleyball in the alley when he drove up in his great big yellow Cadillac with white walls in a yellow scarf tied around the mirror.” (24 Cisneros)
Imagery is created when reading the details about how the Cadillac looks. ]]> 2021-02-19 17:04:43 UTC https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1219588158 Literary element: Symbolism 6375221 https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1219590256 “All brown all around, we are safe.” (28 Cisneros)

]]> 2021-02-19 17:05:13 UTC https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1219590256 Literary element: Allusion 6375221 https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1219590352 “They like to stand out in the cold especially if it’s raining. They think suffering is good for you ever since they saw that movie 300 Spartans.” (44 Cisneros)
There is a connection to the movie 300 Spartans. ]]> 2021-02-19 17:05:14 UTC https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1219590352 Literary element: Anaphora 6375221 https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1219590450 “And I think if my own papa died what would I do. I hold my papa in my arms. I hold and hold and hold him.” (57 Cisneros)
The word "hold" is being repeated.  ]]> 2021-02-19 17:05:16 UTC https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1219590450 Literary element: Simile 6375221 https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1219591125 “He wasn't her boyfriend or anything like that. Just another brazer who didn't speak English” ( 66 Cisneros) 
The guy is being compared ¨like¨ just like any other brazer

]]> 2021-02-19 17:05:26 UTC https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1219591125 Literary element: Imagery 6375221 https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1219591194 “It is wooden. Inside the floors slant. Some rooms uphill. Some down. And there are no closets. Out front there are twenty-one steps, all lopsided and jutting like crooked teeth…” (21-22 Cisneros)
This quote describes Meme's house, how it was built, and gives the reader insight into how other houses in the neighborhood looked.]]> 2021-02-19 17:05:27 UTC https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1219591194 6375221 https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1219593992 This is what a barrio, where Esperanza lives, would look like.]]> 2021-02-19 17:06:04 UTC https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1219593992 6375221 https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1236759118 This article reported studies that were done when looking into the home environment of Latino children. Some of these studies can be seen in the people living on Mango Street. ]]> 2021-02-24 15:19:49 UTC https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1236759118 Source support 2 6375221 https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1236760600 2021-02-24 15:20:04 UTC https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1236760600 Prominent quote 6375221 https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1236763349 ¨All brown all around, we are safe. But watch us drive into a neighborhood of another color and our knees go shakity-shake and car windows rolled up tight and our eyes look straight.¨ (28 Cisneros)
This quote shows how people are comfortable with people who share the same culture as their own.
]]> 2021-02-24 15:20:26 UTC https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1236763349 Prominent quote 6375221 https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1236766468 ¨I will have to explain why we can't play. I will have to tell them to be quiet today.¨]]> 2021-02-24 15:20:58 UTC https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1236766468 Prominent quote 6375221 https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1236766584 "In the meantime they'll just have to move a little farther north from Mango Street, a little farther away every time people like us keep moving in" (13 Cisneros).
Esperanza associates her identity with being poor and every time poor people move into a certain neighborhood, many people leave in search of a "better" place where poor people aren't.

]]> 2021-02-24 15:20:59 UTC https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1236766584 Ciara 6375221 https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1236770552 Esperanza's culture is crucial to her identity.  Throughout the novel, we see her go through hardships and events that shaped her into who she is.  At the beginning of the book, she comes off as more self-centered and worried about her self image, which is normal for a child.  It is natural to want to fit in with your peers.  At the end, however, we see her completely transform into an individual who is thinking about how she can help others escape too.  Mango Street is merely a metaphor for poverty.  By escaping Mango Street, she recognizes that she's leaving her old life and her impoverished family members behind, but not for long.  Esperanza at the beginning of the novel most likely would have left without a second thought, but the fact that she is willing to come back to help shows how much she has grown up.  Without "A Rice Sandwich", "Cathy Queen of Cats", or "Papa Who Wakes Up Tired in the Dark", she may not have become the selfless person that she ended up being at the end of the novel.]]> 2021-02-24 15:21:41 UTC https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1236770552 Jordin 6375221 https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1236772470 Esperanza's culture helped shaped her to become the person she was. Her culture cannot only be seen in her own live but as well as the others who live on Mango Street. You can see everyone's beliefs and customs as the story continues. An example of how her culture was expressed in the story was when she had the rice sandwich for lunch. ]]> 2021-02-24 15:22:00 UTC https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1236772470 Dylan 6375221 https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1236773003 The theme of Culture plays an impactful role in Esperanza's life.In the beginning of the book,Esperanza is seen as kind of egotistical.As shown in the vignette ¨our good day ¨ she takes nenny´s money without asking her and assuming that she will be okay with.She also doesn't tell Rachel or Lucy about it either,thinking that they will be okay with sharing the bike with an extra person.This was her waying of trying to fit in with Lucy and Rachel,like all kids do.But towards the end of the book in the vignette  ¨papa who wakes up in the dark¨ , we see Esperanza change and her face major impact in her culture.She does with respecting her father and keeping everyone quite.She also starts to take in the fact of wondering what she would do if her papa would die,and not worrying about herself and making it all about her,and understanding what death means to her culture.This shows how much she has mature from the beginning of the book towards the end.With out this Vignette and major impact it has on Esperanza she might of not turned out the way she did.

]]> 2021-02-24 15:22:05 UTC https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1236773003 Weighted Shoulders 6375221 https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1236778529 This picture captures Esperanza and all the other female influences standing behind her. She has the history of her grandmother's name and she has a weight on her shoulders to become someone better.]]> 2021-02-24 15:23:03 UTC https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1236778529 Character Development 6375221 https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1236781236 The impact of culture shows how Esperanza grows and matures throughout the novel. The Hispanic culture is the culture that Esperanza and many of her neighbors emerge from, as well as the culture of Mango Street. She starts off as a pre-teen and eventually matures into a young adult. The background of her family culture impacts her in a way that reminds her not to end up like her grandmother. As shown in ¨Papa Who Wakes Up in the Dark¨, when her abuelito dies, she talks about how in her culture they take a black and white photo in front of the tomb. The flowers are also shaped like spears in a white vase. Lastly, this vignette shows her maturity by her having to explain to her siblings why they must be silent and honor their dead abuelito.]]> 2021-02-24 15:23:32 UTC https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1236781236 6375221 https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1236784367 How does the theme of culture impact Esperanza's 
understanding of others?

Does Esperanza's age make her have a different view on culture? Do the people around her see it the same way as her?

Can you make any similarities between Esperanza's and your own culture?]]> 2021-02-24 15:24:02 UTC https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1236784367 Literary element: Hyperbole 6375162 https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1241529051 “...nobody looked up not once the day Angel Vargas learned to fly and dropped from the sky like a sugar donut, just like a falling star, and exploded down to earth…” (30 Cisneros)
Angel didn't actually explode and didn't actually learn how to fly, so this is just an exaggeration.]]> 2021-02-25 15:24:11 UTC https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1241529051 Literary Element: Simile 6375162 https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1269508527 "Two girls raggedy as rats live across the street" (12 Cisneros).
The neighbor girls are being compared to rats]]> 2021-03-04 15:21:13 UTC https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1269508527 1 more 6375221 https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1298568861 2021-03-11 15:30:52 UTC https://padlet.com/6375221/e1vxpz5ok13uj6bo/wish/1298568861