The House on Mango Street Unit Objective

1. The House on Mango Street Unit Objective • You will understand, recognize, and apply creative writing devices like economy, precision, concreteness, simile, metaphor, imagery, and dialogue. • You will then use Mango as a springboard to create your own series of vignettes all linked to one central theme.

2. The House on Mango StreetEssential Questions • What role does our family, culture, and community play in shaping us? • How can reading one woman’s story of self-acceptance and purpose help us find our own while telling it in an honest, authentic voice? • How can a writer use creative writing techniques to express point of view and voice?

3. Read and Respond “The House on Mango Street” (3-5) “My Name” (10-11)

4. About Sandra Cisneros • Born: Chicago in l954, the third child and only daughter in a family of seven children. • Occupations: teacher and counselor to high-school dropouts, taught creative writing at every level except first grade and pre-school, a college recruiter, an arts administrator, and as a visiting writer • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Pyf89VsNmg (story)

5. Sandra Cisneros’ Inspiration & Story • “I am the sum of all stories that pass through me.” And so are you. • What do you know? What can you write about that no one else can write about? • Writers block means you’re afraid to say what you really mean to say.

6. “I am the sum of all stories that pass through me.” Mind Mapping • You are in the viewing room of your life… • Brainstorm a list of as many important moments (stories) in your life. • Of that list, find 8 stories that may share a common thread.

7. Modifiers • Words or groups of words that change or limit the meanings of other words. Adjectives and adverbs are modifiers. • Misplaced modifiers—placed so far away from the word it modifies that it makes the meaning unclear. • EX: We sell chairs for secretaries with swiveled legs. • EX: WE found the dog in the park that was missing.

8. What is a Vignette? A Novella? • A short, well written sketch or descriptive scene. It does not have a plot which would make it a short story, but it does reveal something about the elements in it. It may reveal character, mood, or tone. • It may have a theme or idea of its own that it wants to convey. It is the description of the scene or character that is important. By linking these vignettes, Cisneros attempts to reveal the life of a young girl, a daughter of Mexican immigrants, growing up in the inner city of the United States. • Genre: Is this a novel? • Is The House on Mango Street a novel? Well, maybe it is a novella. It is hard to categorize Cisneros’ work and just because we cannot does not mean that the work is in any way diminished. In fact, it may enhance its reputation in many ways. • Cisneros breaks the rules. She writes a work of fiction and she does not follow the conventional rules of plot or form. • Is it prose? Mostly, but there are short chapters which are sort of prose poems (Ex: “My Name” or “Geraldo No Last Name”).

9. The House on Mango Street Themes • Individual identity and communal loyalty • Estrangement and loss • Escape and return • Lure of romance and the dead end of sexual inequality & oppression

10. Mango’s Appeal • It speaks especially to Latino Americans, but it captures universal pangs (of growing up and finding oneself of) otherness—“the shame of being poor, of being female, of being not-quite-good enough.”

11. The Necklace • Mango suggests from where that otherness comes and shows how it can become a cause for celebration rather than shame. “You, the reader, are Esperanza…you cannot forget who you are.” --Sandra Cisneros

12. Sensory details: Sights, sounds, smells, tastes, etc. Name: _________________________ Date: __________________________ Period: _____ Dialogue: Who said what? Context: Who was there? Where were you? How old were you? etc. Vignette title: Significance: How has this incident affected my sense of self? What did I think or feel at the time? What do I think or feel about the incident now? Events: Exactly what happened? (List the events in order) Cluster Chart: Vignette Writing

13. A Deceptive Work • Language seems simple but it possesses the richness of poetry. • Slang and breaks from grammatical correctness contribute to immediacy. • Narrated in a young voice, yet it's convincing because it's the creation of a mature and sophisticated writer. • Stories come together to tell one complete story. • Apparent randomness disguises an artful exploration of themes. • A common misconception with The House on Mango Street is that it is concise and readable, so therefore it must be unliterary. Do not be fooled. Cisneros is sending you a message about what it is like for people growing up in the world.

14. Think of the story of Little Red Riding Hood. Here are some reminders: • LRRH’s mother packs her some goodies to take to grandmother’s house • She starts on her way • She meets the wolf • She tells the wolf of her destination and purpose • She is told of a shortcut • The wolf goes to the house and takes care of grandmother and replaces her • LRRH is saved by a woodsman

15. What messages were being sent to you? Did you get all of them? Ask yourself: The Big AHA: Intelligent and sophisticated people send messages and they are not hidden messages. They are messages that they expect other intelligent and sophisticated people to understand. • What is LRRH’s name? How old? • Who would send a little girl out into the woods with wolves? • What sex is the wolf? Young or mature? • Who saves LRRH? • In this story, which sex is active and which sex is passive? • Why is the dominant color red? • What do you think the wolf represents? the path through the woods? • What do you think the shortcut is all about?  All of these questions deal with the theme. Theme is what the story is about.

16. Mango Reflection • Identify one vignette from The House on Mango Street that affected you in some way. Explain • “This isn’t about me understanding the book. It’s about me understanding myself.” ~Jose Oliver

17. Life Lesson According to Cisneros • The world does not love you the way you are loved at home. • Pain gives you a special vision—a vision to help others who are suffering…. • Horrible experiences are there to guide you. • Welcome rage, shame, and grief especially if you have a reason to feel them. • Humility is essential to finding your voice and hearing others.

18. Finding Your Voice • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXO8a6HYttw (inspiration) • Write from your power, your experience. Make it authentic! • You can’t be perfect when you pick up the pen and write. Be willing to make mistakes. • Listen to your heart. • Use humor—a powerful and subtle too. • Imagine yourself at the kitchen table in your p.j.’s—allow the reader to see you like that and write in that voice. “Red Clowns”

19. Like Beads on a Necklace • Identify each of your 8 beads (vignettes) by filling in this stem: It’s about…. • Now, what’s the topic that links all of these 8 stories together? • Ex: otherness, traveling, community, growing up, identity, humor, pain, talent, loyalty, success….

20. Like Beads of a Necklace Sample • Topic: childhood memories, imagination, wonder • Vignette Ideas: As a child… • Potions in the bathroom with Carolyn Green • Nearly driving Dad’s car into the Kishwaukee River at age 6 • Tree fort across river • The bending tree Continuing Wonder through Adolescence… • Canoeing down “Kish” and not knowing where we’d end • Big wheel races in the rain at midnight Re-Experiencing the Wonder through the Eyes of My Sons… • Discovering Santa’s Cookies • Luke’s Laboratory Thesis: Childhood memories spark the wonder and magic that lies within. OR Childhood memories help us hang on to the imagination and wonder that a child possesses.

21. What’s your thesis—that unifying thread that holds your 8 beads together? • Formula: Thesis= Topic + attitude or feeling about topic EX: Mango suggests where that otherness comes and shows how it can become a cause for celebration instead of shame. My experiences have shaped me into the person I am. INSTEAD: Name that person you are.

22. Like Beads on a Necklace Thesis Ex. (Note: topics are in bold) Fear is a clever illusion that inflicts unnecessary anxiety. Courage is not the absence of fear but the mastery of fear. The more generous we are, the more joyous we become. Curiosity leads to creativity.

23. Like Beads on a Necklace Thesis Reminders • Your thesis should be written on the table of contents page. • An epiphany should be expressed in each vignette. • Build your thesis into your first and final vignette. • Your epiphany is like the topic sentence of each vignette.

24. Progression of House on Mango Street Vignettes Begins with self & family (comfort), moves to friends (Nenny, unknowingly her closest friend), wanting to grow up, experiences harsh realities (coat room and death), other women and the role they take on, signs from other women that Esperanza should stay strong and be more, and a willingness to get out and give back. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JryqbTk0ETQ • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2Axoc2K1rU (“Chanclas” and “Beautiful and Cruel”)

25. Structure of Vignettes • 1-39…Introduces narrator and establishes setting • 43-70…Esperanza describes the world beyond Mango St. Despites disappointments, she enjoys life. • 72-84…Focus on Esperanza and the people around her; portraits of other women emerge. • 86-90…Esperanza describes her family & her interactions with them. • 92-101…Esperanza continues to dream and mature…& the progression with Sally (note juxtaposition) • 103-109…Return to Mango Street & home as the subject of Esperanza’s thoughts. • Based on these abstractions, what might be the thread (thesis) that holds these beads (vignettes) together?

26. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien “War is hell” vs. Rat Kiley and the baby buffalo In “Chanclas” Cisneros paints the picture. We deduce that Esperanza is ______________________. Note details that paint the picture: repetition, imagery, juxtaposition, allusion, shift in point of view, economy. This is the stuff that makes the writing concrete. Look at vignette. What is it about? What does the picture show us? That is the abstraction. You provide the picture. Let the reader deduce the feeling. Telling & Abstracting Vs. Showing & Concreteness

27. Telling: It was foggy. Showing:The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panesThe yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panesLicked its tongue into the corners of the evening,Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,And seeing that it was a soft October night,Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.- excerpt from "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot The Power of Poetic Devices

28. The Power of Imagery • Imagery gives you an edge—THE POWER OF ASSOCIATION • Imagery=illustration with words; perception filters into imagery. • Thus, imagery lends itself to economy. It allows you to say more with less. • “Sally with eyes like Egypt and nylons the color of smoke.” • Egypt=exotic, Cleopatra, alluring • smoke=dangerous, dirty, rebellious • “She was a wild horse of a woman.” • Wild horse=free, not meant to be tamed, independent • “No Speak English” (76)

29. Due Dates • 1/19: lab; thesis, 8 topics, and 1 vignette for submission • 1/22: lab; 4 vignettes—3 stamped; 1 turned in for review • 1/25: classroom; 2 vignettes completed and ready for peer review. Total of 6 stamped. • 1/26: lab; all 8 vignettes stamped; 1 submitted for review. • Lab on Tuesday –Thursday; show me “one good thing.” • Classroom for crafting book on Friday, 1/29 • 2/1: Final product due when you walk into the room

30. a narrator whose account of events appears to be faulty, misleadingly biased, or distorted, so that it departs from the ‘true’ understanding of events shared between the reader and the implied author. The discrepancy between the unreliable narrator's view of events and the view that readers suspect to be more accurate creates a sense of irony. The term does not necessarily mean that such a narrator is morally untrustworthy or a habitual liar, he may simply be harmlessly naïve, ‘fallible’, or ill‐informed. Write in the voice that was you at that age. “The Earl of Tennesse” “Cathy,” &“Empty Tree Skirt” Unreliable Narrator

31. Peer Editing • Read the evaluation sheet, so you know what to observe. • You will read the vignette 3 times. • Read once noting, “Overall, does it tell or show?” and complete the evaluation • Read twice noting and correcting grammar & mechanics. • Read a third time. This time add imagery, showing, metaphor, dialogue….

32. Description Imagery & allusion Sensory details Simile, metaphor, personification Grammar to accentuate, add immediacy Dialogue to advance story Active action verbs Juxtaposition--comparison Power of deception, trick ending Repetition Unreliable narrator Your task: To write concretely, to show Your reader’s task: To abstract, to deduce, to name What’s in Your Writers’ Tool Box?

33. writing that's just too flowery, too melodramatic, too over the top - in short, too overdone. Examples of Purple Prose: rosy fingers of dawn I was an alien out of this world Butterflies in __________ King of the ____________ Better Use of Metaphor: Cars in the frigid cold sputtered, as if gasping for breath I wrap myself in my pink armour (reference to her pink bathrobe) Purple Prose—Laying It on Too Thick • http://www.fiction-writers-mentor.com/purple-prose.html

34. “First Job” Expand the Moment

35. “Sally” A Lesson in Economy

36. Vignette Reflection • Complete the assessment rubric for yourself. Be honest and fair. • What tools did you use from your writer’s tool box, and which one did you rely on most? Why? • What part of this assignment was the most challenging for you, and why? • What is your best vignette , and why? • If you had one more day, what vignette needs more work, and why?

37. Vignette Reflection

38. Writing Prompts: Respond to the following topics or questions with detailed responses. Don’t just tell me how you felt show me! Use sensory imagery to help me develop a mental picture of what you are describing. • What is it about your home or family that provides you with a sense of security? • Our own happiness is affected by how well we treat others. Describe a time when you felt great after doing something kind for another person. • Nobody’s perfect! Identify two of your weaknesses. How can you improve in these areas? Reveal a time when one of your weaknesses caused you make a poor decision. What were the consequences? • Think of a friend. Describe his or her strengths. How do your strengths complement that person’s strength? Use a specific incident to reinforce your conjecture. • Write a letter of apology to a person you have mistreated or offended. • Write about a situation in which you did not go along with the group. Explain why. Were you treated differently afterwards? • A well-known saying states that we should not judge a person until we walked in that person’s shoes. Explain what this means. Apply it an experience in your own life. • What does your family mean to you? What are you responsible for in your family? Are you the “comedian,” the “avoider,” the “care taker”? • Under what circumstances would you be willing to sacrifice your own needs to help others?