The House on Mango Street

Essential Questions (you will address one of these questions at the conclusion of select readings)

1. In what capacity and to what degree do gender and socioeconomics inform people’s experiences and identity development?
2. What factors shape people’s gender expectations or society’s gender norms?
3. How do writers use structure and literary devices to convey their message?
4. What does the novel reveal about healing?
5. What are the obligations, if any, of those who bear witness to violence?
6. Why is it important to explore trauma in literature?

Electronic Copy of The House on Mango Street

Topic 1: Gender

"We Should All Be Feminists," Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie TED Talk

Video Transcript Exercise

Topic 2: Domestic Violence

Guiding Question: How accurately does Cisneros depict the realities of domestic violence, as understood through the two articles?

Article 1: "Understanding Why Victims Stay" Article 2: "Children: The silent victims of domestic violence "

Topic 3: Consent and Sexual Assault

Guiding Question: In what ways is the information found in the non-fiction resources below evident in the chapters read in this section of the novel?

• Rape Culture Pyramid
• NJ State Police Sexual Violence Information
• Bystander Intervention
• Everything You Need to Know About Consent That You Never Learned in Sex Ed. What it looks like, what it sounds like, how to give it, and how to get it.