1. Thinking about “My Name” and “No Speak English”:
Write a theme statement about the theme concept of ‘language’ or ‘culture’ for BOTH vignettes together. (one total theme statement about both vignettes together)
Provide 2 pieces of evidence from each vignette to support your theme statement.

2. “My Name” (10-11) Questions
What do we know about Esperanza’s great-grandmother?
Do we think she was literally carried away by her great- grandfather?
How might this relate to Esperanza as an unreliable narrator?
Was what we guessed about Esperanza’s feelings about her name the other day accurate?
What does the difference between the meaning of her name tell us about her feelings about her American heritage vs her Hispanic heritage?
What metaphor does Esperanza use for her great- grandmother? What does this tell us about her?
What comes to your mind with the line “I have inherited her name, but I don’t want to inherit her place by the window”? (Cisneros, 11).

3. Remember when Sandra Cisneros said:
Part of who Cisneros wrote The House on Mango Street for was the young women looking “for another way to be” outside what can be “inherited from our male dominated culture.”
Feminist idea about how many women don’t have a successful female role model to look up to
How does this purpose relate to the vignette “My Name”?
What was Esperanza’s great-grandmother like as a person? What could she have been good at?
What does Esperanza want? How does that relate to her looking “for another way to be” outside what can be “inherited from our male dominated culture”?

4. No Speak English (76-78)
What is mamacita’s life like? Where did she come from?
What does mamacita want?
Why does it break her heart when her son starts singing the Pepsi commercial?
What is the theme concept of “No Speak English”?

5. Thinking about “My Name” and “No Speak English”:
Write a theme statement about the theme concept of ‘language’ or ‘culture’ for BOTH vignettes together. (one total theme statement about both vignettes together)
Provide 2 pieces of evidence from each vignette to support your theme statement.
THEME STATEMENT: ____________________________________________
“My Name” (10-11)
“No Speak English” (76-78)
Evidence 1:
Evidence 2:

6. What a “text” is really about is called it’s theme
We talk about theme in two ways:
Theme Concept: the topic the text is really about– sometimes this is hidden through figurative language
Theme Statement: the author’s specific message about that topic, this is created by how the author writes about the subject

7. What a “text” is really about is called it’s theme
Theme Concept
Theme Statement
love
Love is blind.
revenge
Revenge is a dish best served cold.
good vs. evil
Good always conquers evil.
beauty
Beauty is only skin deep.