Identity can be defined as the condition of being oneself and not another. We have already examined how one’s family of origin and one’s need to belong can affect his or her sense of self. However, the society we live in also has written and unwritten rules that define who we are supposed to become. Our culture, gender, socioeconomic status, age and race are factors that contribute to our uniqueness. However each of these characteristics brings with it stereotypes that others may use to categorize us and limit our vision of who we can become. In this section we will examine a number of selections that deal with complex process of defining oneself.
Demonstration Lesson 3: My Name: Exploring Identity
Objectives:
· Students will identify how her culture, gender, family history and social class affect how Esperanza feels about herself
· Students will analyze how Cisneros reveals character through the use of figurative language.
· Students will explore their own identity by composing their own vignette
Activities
Introduce the novel the
House on Mango Street
by giving students a brief biography of Sandra Cisneros and showing them the format of the novel. Define the term vignette. Have students turn to a partner and briefly share their thoughts and feelings about their name. They might consider the origin of their name, its meaning within their family, its associations etc.
Read “My Name” aloud. Next ask students to read the piece again silently and underline key words and phrases. Have students do a quick-write, responding to one of the important pieces of text they selected. After students share with a partner have them share out to the group.
Once students have constructed the gist of the piece ask them to identify similes, metaphors and striking images in the piece. Have them determine the effect that they have on the reader and what they reveal about Esperanza.
Through her descriptions, what does Esperanza reveal about her feelings toward her family, her gender, her culture and her self at this juncture in her life.
Have students construct some original metaphors and similies about their names:
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If my name were an object it would be…because…
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If my name were a song it would be…because
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If my name were a season it would be…because
Ask students to volunteer some of their answers.
For homework have them imitate Cisneros’s vignette. Suggest that they look up the literal meaning of their name on the web and ask their parents why they chose or created their name. Ask them incorporate original similies and metaphors into their vignette.
An excellent film to include at this juncture is the “Almost a Woman” written by Esmeralda Santiago for the PBS Masterpiece Theater Series. The story is an adaptation of her autobiography. It is the story of Santiago’s coming of age as a 13-year-old girl who comes from Puerto Rico to New York with her family in the early 1960s.
Two scenes are particularly noteworthy and can provide focal points for discussion. The first is a scene where Esmeralda is having a discussion with her drama teacher. Here she reveals the difficulty she has playing so many different roles in real life:
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I walk out of our apartment. I’m the English-speaking Esmeralda Santiago.
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Actress, dancer, Americanized teenager who looks people in the eye even though
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it’s disrespectful. At home I’m the Spanish-speaking, humble, traditional girl with
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eyes down. But home is really Puerto Rico. And I jump from one to the other and I
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come here. I’m not that good an actress to play three roles at a time.
Most students will relate to Santiago’s struggles and to the multiple, sometimes conflicting roles that she plays. Sometimes each “self” has a different language. Amy Tan explores this aspect of the immigrant experience in her essay “Mother Tongue.” Tan explains how she uses distinct “Englishes” for each of her roles: daughter, student, friend etc. For example she speaks more formal English in school, American slang with her friends and a Chinese-English hybrid with her mother. After discussing Santiago’s situation and reading Tan’s essay, students can write about their different roles and the different “languages” they speak when addressing different audiences.
A second scene to focus on is the one where the Esmeralda is beaten by girls belonging to a gang. The girls accuse Esmeralda of wishing to be a
blanquita
(white girl), and insult her by calling her a “spick” and a
jíbara
. This scene will bring to mind the whole dynamic of “group think.” As students reflect on why the gang of girls are so hostile towards Esmeralda, they may revisit their earlier thinking about the group mentality. Are these girls gaining a sense of unity and belonging by attacking the other? Does Esmeralda represent aspects of their Latino culture that they are trying to distance themselves from?