Assignment: Please discuss one of the following questions clearly and concisely, focusing your discussion on a single theme or idea. Devote equal space to each question. (at least 1 1/2 typed, double-spaced pages total)

Cisneros, The House on Mango Street (read to the end)
1. Locality and geography play an important role in both Borderlands and The House on Mango Street, yet the scale of locality is much different in the two works. How does Esperanza delineate the "house" she lives in? How do her immediate environs determine her own identity? What sort of living space does it provide for her? How does she describe her neighborhood? What does she like a bout the house? What does she dislike? How do others in the novel define her house and neighborhood? Discuss Cisneros' depiction of her own "local geography" in The House on Mango Street.

2. The House on Mango Street not only tells the story of a young women but of a young woman on the verge of adolescence with a growing awareness of her own sexuality. Throughout the novel we see depictions of the various men in Esperanza's life, and, as she grows older, men play a changing role in her life. How do Esperanza's attitudes toward men change in the novel? How does she negotiate the often difficult time of growing into an adult, developing sexual desires and interests? What are her attitudes toward romantic love? How does her ideal of a love relationship differ from the way men actually treat her or the young girls she knows? How do men both repel and allure, representing both danger and power for young women in the novel? Discuss Esperanza's own (changing) attitudes toward men in The House on Mango Street.

3. Even more important in the novel than the men (arguably) are the women in Esperanza's life. How do the women in Esperanza's own family serve as role models for guiding her to the future? How does she characterize the behavior of her mother? Of the women in her neighborhood? How do her attitudes of female norms of behavior change? How does she become, for example, critical of her own mother's behavior? What do the three sisters tell Esperanza toward the end of the novel? How is Esperanza both like and unlike the women who have come before her? Discuss the role of women in the novel in determining Esperanza's awareness of her own "womanhood."

Mi Vida Loca

4. All of the homegirls in the Echo Park barrio must contend with a code of living quite rigid in its assumptions. Homeboys are expected to "take care" of their girlfriends, and in return women must give back to their men in several ways. Is the urban Chicano gang culture of Mi Vida Loca a patriarchal society like other examples we have seen in this class? Why do Sad Girl and Mousey meet to fight each other in the park? What do they expect of Ernesto before he dies? Do any women of the movie seek alternatives to the codes of their culture? Discuss the limits of patriarchy and women’s roles within the gang culture of the movie.

5. Mi Vida Loca depicts two generations of gang culture in Echo Park. How do the attitudes about gang life differ between representatives of the two generations, between Giggles and Sad Girl or Big Sleepy and Little Sleepy, for example? How have things changed for men and women in Echo Park? Have things gotten better? What attitudes about life in the future does each generation adopt? Given that things seem to be getting better for these characters at the end of the movie, how do you interpret the film’s ending? What does the ending say about the future of Echo Park? Discuss the past and the potential future of the Echo Park barrio.

6. Gomez-Peña’s New World Border seems, as we have seen before, a formulation of some cultural space that lies in the space between national cultures. What are the characteristics of his New World Border? How is it different than the concept it mocks: the New World Order? Is Gomez-Peña’s border limited to the space between the US and Mexican cultures? What is his definition of mestiza? How is Gomez-Peña's image of the New World Border contrasted with the image of the borderlands described in other Chicano/a works we have read? Who are the mestiza in his borderland? Discuss the concept of the New World Border as it is defined or "performed" in the New World Border.