The House on Mango Street, My Name quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What does Esperanza say her name means in English?

   • Sadness
   • Correct answer: Hope
   • Waiting
   • Patience

   She opens the vignette by saying that in English her name means hope, while in Spanish it means too many letters.

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2. 2

   Question 2. To what number does Esperanza compare her name?

   • The number three
   • The number seven
   • Correct answer: The number nine
   • The number eleven

   She says her name is like the number nine, and in the same breath calls it a muddy color.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What music does Esperanza say her name sounds like?

   • Church hymns sung at Sunday morning mass
   • Correct answer: Mexican records her father plays while shaving
   • Radio songs her mother hums while cooking
   • School songs the class sings every morning

   She compares her name to the Mexican records her father plays on Sunday mornings while he is shaving — songs like sobbing.

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4. 4

   Question 4. Esperanza inherited her name from which relative?

   • Her mother, who chose the name herself
   • Her grandmother on her father's side
   • Correct answer: Her great-grandmother, whom she never met
   • Her older sister, who later changed it

   The name belonged to her great-grandmother, a woman Esperanza never knew but says she would have liked to have known.

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5. 5

   Question 5. How did Esperanza's great-grandfather force her great-grandmother into marriage?

   • He offered her family money for her hand in marriage
   • Correct answer: He threw a sack over her head and carried her off
   • He promised her a house of her own and then lied
   • He waited outside her window until she gave in

   Esperanza says he threw a sack over her head and carried her off, as casually as if she were a fancy chandelier.

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6. 6

   Question 6. Why does Esperanza reject the belief that the year of the horse is bad luck for a girl?

   • Because her family has never believed in signs
   • Correct answer: Because she thinks cultures use it to keep women weak
   • Because a teacher at school told her it was false
   • Because her great-grandmother had good luck instead

   She calls the superstition a lie, since in her view the Chinese, like the Mexicans, do not like their women strong.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What does Esperanza envy about her sister Magdalena?

   • Magdalena has the prettier of the two names
   • Correct answer: Magdalena can come home and become Nenny
   • Magdalena was born under a luckier zodiac sign
   • Magdalena is allowed to choose her own name

   Esperanza admits Magdalena is the uglier name, but her sister can shed it at home and become Nenny, while she is always Esperanza.

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8. 8

   Question 8. What does Esperanza mean when she refuses to inherit her great-grandmother's place by the window?

   • She does not want to live in the family's old house
   • Correct answer: She refuses a life of watching instead of living
   • She dislikes the room her great-grandmother used
   • She wants a bedroom with a view of the street

   The window stands for a woman who can see a life she is not allowed to enter. Esperanza accepts the name but rejects the fate attached to it.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events actually occur in the vignette "My Name"?

   • Esperanza compares her name to the number nine and to a muddy color.

     Happened

   • Esperanza's great-grandmother eventually forgives her husband.

     Didn't happen

   • Esperanza says her name sounds like tin when it is said in English.

     Happened

   • Esperanza tells her parents she wants to be called Zeze the X.

     Didn't happen

   • Esperanza's great-grandfather carries her great-grandmother off in a sack.

     Happened

   • Esperanza's sister changes her name at school to avoid teasing.

     Didn't happen

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does "chandelier" mean as used in: "as if she were a fancy chandelier"?

    • Correct answer: A decorative light fixture that hangs
    • A heavy travelling trunk with a lock
    • A woven blanket worn over the shoulders
    • A tall ornamental mirror in a frame

    A chandelier is an ornamental hanging light. Comparing a woman to one turns her into a decorative object a man can simply carry off.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does "inherited" mean as used in: "I have inherited her name"?

    • Chosen deliberately from a list
    • Correct answer: Received as something passed down
    • Earned through hard work over time
    • Borrowed for a short period only

    To inherit is to receive something handed down from an ancestor. Esperanza receives the name without ever having chosen it.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does "baptize" mean as used in: "I would like to baptize myself under a new name"?

    • To disguise oneself in a crowd
    • Correct answer: To name formally in a ceremony
    • To apologize for a past mistake
    • To promise something in secret

    Baptism is the rite that admits a person to the church and traditionally gives them a name. Esperanza borrows it to describe naming herself.

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