Mango Street-"There Was An Old Woman..."
The House on Mango Street
Journal Guide for Chapter Thirteen
“There Was An Old Woman She Had So Many Children She Didn’t Know What to Do”
Answer the following questions in complete sentences.
Questions
1. Who is Rosa Vargas? Why does she cry?
2. What happened to the children’s father?
3. What does Esperanza say the Vargas children are lacking?
4. How do other people in the neighborhood feel about the Vargas children? Why?
5. The title of this chapter is a reference to a nursery rhyme. How did the Old Woman in the shoe handle her children? How does Rosa handle hers?
Quotes
Explain the significance of the following quotes.
1. They are without respect for all things living, including themselves.
2. But after a while you get tired of being worried about kids who aren’t even yours.
Themes
1. This is another chapter providing social commentary. Esperanza describes a family of children with no “respect for anything living, including themselves.” What does she say is the danger that comes from giving up on children?
2. This chapter ends with the death of a child. Does anyone other than Esperanza seem to care? Why or why not? What does this say about society?
3. How does what is happening to the Vargas children apply to the larger picture of society?
Style
Cisneros has a poetic style. She incorporates both vivid imagery and spare prose. She uses both to create a picture of the narrator’s world.
1. What imagery does Esperanza use to describe Angel Vargas and the plunge to earth? What picture does this create?
Personal ResponseDo you think that society has a responsibility to children? Should the neighborhood have done more for the Vargas children? Was there anything the neighborhood could have done?
posted by dconlay @ 9:15 AM
9 comments
9 Comments:
DAVISL PER 4
1. Sheis the mother of the vargas kids who live down the street. She cries because her husband left her without leaving any money.
2. Nobody cares beause they got tired of watching kids that aren't theirs. The society is lazy, bad, And people just care for themselves.
3. they are not very nice. The vargas kids go around destroying things like trees and bouncing on cars. They are turning bad along with the society.
4. She says he learned to fly and dropped from the sky like a sugar donut. HE fell like a falling star. The image is a kid falling down and splatting.
5. I think society should help children> The neighborhood did not do much for the kids they could have done more. I dont think so because it happened fast and probably unexpected
K.Coxen
Per.4
Questions:
1.Rosa Vargas is a lady had so many children she didn't know what to do. She cries every day for the man who left her without even leaving a dollar or a note explaining why.
2.The children’s father got sick of all the children and just left.
3.Esperanza says that the Vargas children are lacking respect to others and their manners.
4.Everyone just gave up on the Vargas kids because they had no respect for anyone and they didn't listen.
5.The old women and Rosa both had to take care of their children without the father and they both were always tired.
Quotes:
1.They do not care about anyone; they hurt their selves even when people told them not to do something because they are going to get hurt. They still did it no matter what.
2.Sense the children never listened to them the people gave up worrying if they get hurt because they aren't even their children.
Themes:
1.The danger of giving up on children is the conclusion of them hurting themselves severely. Also they will never be able to gain respect of others if they can never show respect to others.
2.No one really seems to care about the death besides Esperanza because they all gave up on the children not listening to them.
3.What is happing to the Vargas family applies to the larger picture in society bye giving up on younger children can be bad because then children won't learn how to respect others nor their selves. They may also hurt others or them selves.
Style:
1.She uses that "he learned how to fly and dropped from the sky like a sugar donut, just like a flying star, and exploded down to earth without even an "oh"," this creates a picture of s child falling down from the sky like a comet.
Personal Response:
1.Society does have responsibility for children. Society teaches children things and expects them to know right from wrong, but sadly they don't. The neighbors should have told his mother that he wasn't listening to them before something like him dying happened.
Iespada Per.1
I.
1)Rosa Vargas is a woman who has too many kids.
2)The childrens father left the family "without leaving a dollar for bologna or a note explaining how come."(29).
3)Esperanza says that the Vargas kids lack respects for all things living including themselves.
4)Everybody in the neighborhood got tired of caring for kids that aren't even theirs.
5)The Old Lady in the shoe couldn't take care of all her children and neither could rosa Vargas.
II.
1)This quote shows that the Vargas kids don't care about anything, not even their safety.
2)This quote shows that the people just stopped caring for kids so reckless and realized that if something happened to one of them, it would be the kid's own fault.
III.
1)Esperanza shows the danger of giving up on children is that eventually, they are going to get seriously hurt or die and nobody will care.
2)Angel Vargas ends up dying and Esperanza is the only one who cared. Nobody else cared because they knew it would happen and they stopped caring.
3)What's happening to the Vargas kids applies to the larger picture of society by showing that people are becoming reckless and care less about everything that goes on.
IV.
1)She says that Angel Vargas fell to earth like a suger donut or a falling star. This creates the image of something distant but coming fast falling to Earth.
V.
1)Society has a responsibility to children. Children need help growing up and the neighborhood could have urged Rosa to take better care of her kids. If the neighborhood paid attention to the other kids getting hurt, the other kids might have been more careful.
J Calderon P.1
Questions:
1. Rosa Vargas is a woman with too many kids who cry's for the man who left her without a penny.
2. The father just left them and didn't leave an excuse.
3. They don't have respect for all things including themselves.
4. Everyone looked out for them,like not to get hurt, but then they didn't listen so they just gave up.
5. I dont know how the woman in the shoe handled her children but Rosa Vargas just tries to provide them with food and keep them alive but she can't control them.
Quotes:
1. They don't care about othersand their things, and they don't care about themselves either.
2. Everyone tried to watch out for the kids but after a while it just got old.
Themes:
1. The danger when you give up on children is that they think it's ok to keep doing the bad things they do.
2. The death of the child didn't seem to move anyone maybe because it was a common thing.
3. It applies to the society as a whole because this can happen to anyone in the neighborhood since they are all equal.
Style:
1. "Learned to fly and dropped from the sky like a sugar donut, just like a falling star, and exploded down to earth without even and "'OH'" " this makes it seem like his death wasn't really painful or anything big.
Personal Response:
1. I think that the neighborhood did what they could for as long as they could for the vargas children but it wasn't realy their responsibility to do anything for them but they still did what they could.
Questions
1.Rosa Vargas is the mother of a lot of kids and cries because her husband left her to raise them all by herself.
2.The father just left.
3.The children are lacking attention.
4.Most people feel the Vargases are lost causes because they do not listen to anyone and have no respect for their lives.
5.I can't really remember the rhyme, but Rosa just lets her children run wild.
Quotes
Explain the significance of the following quotes.
1.The children are about at par with animals who never think about their mortality.
2.You eventually give up hope for the children and don't think they can learn any better.
Themes
1.Esperanza sees that if they dont look after themselves and neither does anyone else, that they will just be careless and could have something very bad happen to them.
2.Esperanza doesn't really seem to care that much herself, let alone anyone else. This could be seen as society not caring about someone who didn't seem to have anything going for them in the first place.
3.What is happening to the less well off children also kind of mirrors what goes on in the vast society today where if people who die weren't thought of as worthy in the first place, that no time should be spent to mourn them.
Style
Cisneros has a poetic style. She incorporates both vivid imagery and spare prose. She uses both to create a picture of the narrator’s world.
1.The way she described the event I hadn't even known that she meant that he died when he hit the ground.
Personal Response
The neighbors could have done something for them out of the kindness of their hearts but the children are not their responsibility.
R Ortiz
Per.1
Questions:
1.Mother of the vargas kids and crys for the husband that left her.
2.He left the vargas family.
3.They need to learn respect.
4.They are menaces to society.
5.The mother doesnt do anything.
Quotes:
1.They are going to get themselfs killed.
2.Other poeple take care of them besides there mother.
Themes:
1. They will run wild and get themselfs killed.
2.No, society only cares for themselfs.
3.This is happening around us every day and nobody cares.
Style:
1.He didnt respect his life so he paid for it.
Personal response:
1.Yes, they should have said something. yes, the they should have helped them.Maybe
Questions
1. Rosa Vargas is the woman with so many kids. She cries because she has no money and she can't handle all the children.
2. The childrens father got tired of the children and decided to leave them behind with nothing.
3.Esparanza says that the children are lacking discipline. They are becoming bad along with society.
4. Other people in the neighborhood dont feel too bad for the Vargas kids because they are bad.
5. Rosa didnt really handle her children very well. she would yell, they would spit. Both mothers didnt have a father.
Quotes
Explain the significance of the following quotes.
1. The Vargas kids dont have respect for anything, not even themselves or their own mom.
2. People around the neighborhood get mad that the Vargas kids are everywhere, but they start not to care because it's not their responsibility.
Themes
1. She says that the dander that come from giving up on children are the ones who will grow up and become criminals to society.
2. Nobody really cares about the death because people already saw it coming. Esparanza cares because she understood that that is how society is.
3. It shows that most bad things start out early and get worse. Most criminals these days had a bad lifetstyle and are reacting to it recently.
Style
1. Esparanza imagery to Angel Vargas and the plunge to earth without even an "0h". It creates the picture that he didn't even care, along with everyone else.
Personal Response
No,I think soceity has something to do with is but not everything.The parent has the most responsibility and should handle their child. The neighborhood should have at least shown some sympathy towards the child.
KMolter Per1
Questions
1. Rosa Vargas is the woman with many kids. She cries because she has no money her husband left her and she can't handle all the children.
2. The childrens father got tired of the children and decided to leave them behind with nothing at all not even any money.
3.Esparanza says that the children are lacking discipline. They are becoming bad along with society and do bad things.
4. Other people in the neighborhood dont feel too bad for the Vargas kids because they are bad.So they don't really care for them.
5. Rosa didnt really handle her children very well. she would yell at them and they would spit.They basically just did what pleased them. Both mothers didnt have a father and the kids ran all over the mothers and took control.
Quotes
1. The Vargas kids dont have respect for anything, not even themselves or their own mom.
2. People around the neighborhood get mad that the Vargas kids because they always make a mess. The people start not to care because its not there responsibility.
Themes
1. She says that the danger that comes from giving up on her children are the ones who will grow up and become criminals to society.
2. Nobody really cares about the death because people already saw it coming. Esparanza cares. The reasoning is because she knows how society is.
3. It shows that most bad things start out in earlier years and they progessively get worse later on i not fixed.
Style
1. Esparanzas imagery of Angel Vargas and the plunge to earth without even an "0h". It creates the picture that he didn't even care, along with everyone else.
Personal Response
Yes, I think in ways society has responsibility to children by the shows and things that kids see.The neighborhood really had nothing to be able to help the Vargas children with I dont personallt think they could of helpd.
J Limon
Per.1
1.Rosa Vargas is a lady with to many kids. She cries everyday for the man that left without giving her any money.
2.The father of the children left without telling them why.
3.The Vargas kids are not very nice. They go around destroying things.
4.People in the neighborhood don’t care about the Vargas kids any more because those kids are rude.
5.The old woman and Rosa had to race there children without a man in the house.
Quotes:
1.If no one cares about the kids why should they care about other people.
2.Doesn’t care much for the kids because they aren’t really hers.
Theme:
1.The children know that no one cares about them anymore. So how is the children suppose to care about there selves if no one does.
2.Esperanza was the only one who cared about the children death. No one else cared maybe because they knew it was going to happened sooner or later.
3. I think if you give up on a children it is really bad because the children would do bad stuff so it could get action.
Style:
1."Learned to fly and dropped from the sky like a sugar donut, just like a falling star, and exploded down to earth without even and "'OH'" the kid had to know that falling from the sky had to really hurt but to him was like whatever.
Personal response:
1. I don’t think that the society has to do any think with the responsibility with children because that’s the parents job. I think the neighborhood could of done more for the Vargas kids. The could of care more about the children and at least show them that they care and maybe children wouldn’t be as they were.
Post a Comment
<< Home