Sample Vignette on Home: The House on All Points Drive by Veronica I didnt always live on All Points Drive. I was born in Brooklyn and lived in a three-family.

Sample Vignette on “Home”: The House on All Points Drive by Veronica

I didn’t always live on All Points Drive. I was born in Brooklyn and lived in a three-family apartment building with my grandparents, two unmarried aunts, and my mom, dad, and two sisters. But I was only three when we left Brooklyn, and I really don’t remember that place. The house on All Points Drive is the home that I remember. The house was so big that at first, I needed a map to find my way around it! It had two apartments -- one upstairs for my immediate family and one downstairs for my aunts. This big abode boasted two kitchens, two living rooms, and was brimming with bedrooms. That’s what everyone always noticed about it -- that it was different. You could feel that it wasn’t like most of the houses in the neighborhood and we weren’t like most families. Most families had a mother, father, and children -- but we wereextended. Though living with extended family can be fun and loud and busy, it is usually just complicated. Nothing seems private, nothing seems “normal.” Even at a very young age, I understood that.

Sample Vignette on “Home”: The House on All Points Drive by Veronica I didn’t always live on All Points Drive. I was born in Brooklyn and lived in a three-family apartment building with my grandparents, two unmarried aunts, and my mom, dad, and two sisters. But I was only three when we left Brooklyn, and I really don’t remember that place. The house on All Points Drive is the home that I remember. The house was so big that at first, I needed a map to find my way around it! It had two apartments -- one upstairs for my immediate family and one downstairs for my aunts. This big abode boasted two kitchens, two living rooms, and was brimming with bedrooms. That’s what everyone always noticed about it -- that it was different. You could feel that it wasn’t like most of the houses in the neighborhood and we weren’t like most families. Most families had a mother, father, and children -- but we were extended. Though living with extended family can be fun and loud and busy, it is usually just complicated. Nothing seems private, nothing seems “normal.” Even at a very young age, I understood that.

1) Is there a title? What does it tell us? 2) What is the point of view of this piece of writing? How do you know? 3) What is a first-person narrative? What does it do for the reader? 4) Can you find any examples of figurative language in this piece? Where? Why are they used?5) What is the narrator’s tone? How do you know this?6) What do you know about the narrator? How do you know this? 7) What don’t you know about the narrator? Name or sex.8) How does the narrator describe the house on Mango Street? What does it look like? How does she feel about it?9) How do the words on the page sound/look? What do you notice about the punctuation, or lack there of, on the last page? Does this remind you of anything?10) How else is the punctuation used to show meaning?

Scaffolding for “The House on Mango Street”

1) Is there a title? What does it tell us?

2) What is the point of view of this piece of writing?

How do you know?

3) What is a first-person narrative? What does it do for the reader?

Yes – “The House on Mango Street.” It tells us whatthe piece is about and what will be presented – that the piece is about a house on a street named “Mango Street”.

first-person

use of the words “I,” “we,” “ours”.

A first-person narrative is a literary technique in which the story is narrated by a character. It gives the reader insight and an intimate glimpse into the narrator’s outlook on the world.

4) Can you find any examples of figurative language in this piece? Where? Why are they used?

Figurative language is used to enrich the narrative, convey emotion, and create a picture in the reader’s mind about what the narrator is saying).

3rd Paragraph:1) “It’s small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you’d

think they were holding their breath.” and 2) Bricks are crumbling in places, and the front door is so swollen you have to push hard to get in.”

Personification – human qualities are given to the house so that the narrator can control how the reader sees it. This shows how important the issue of a home is to the narrator. Also, the house is being shown as having an agency of its own that stands in the way of the narrator’s happiness or what she truly wants in a home.

3) The “house” is a metaphor for the narrator’s discontent and it symbolizes the “difference” between the narrator’s dream of what a “real” home would look like and mean to her, and the reality of the home in which she lives.

5) What is the narrator’s tone? How do you know this?

6) What do you know about the narrator? How do you know this?

The narrator’s tone is one of frustration. She is frustrated with his/her family’s size and the home in which they live. The narrator addresses the poverty in which his/her family lives and how their homes are related to their economic situation. The narrator intimates his/her desire to break free from her situation and find her “dream” home, one that he/she can “point to,” and possibly her own identity.

That he/she is part of a family of six; that he/she has had to move numerous times – this can be seen by his/her recollection of all of the street names on which he/she lived; that he/she is not proud of his/her home; that he/she is frustrated with his/her present situation and wants something more.

7) What don’t you know about the narrator?

8) How does the narrator describe the house on Mango Street? What does it look like? How does she feel about it?

9) How do the words on the page sound/look? What do you notice about the punctuation, or lack there of, on the last page? Does this remind you of anything?

Name or sex

It’s not “the house” they thought they’d get; It’s small, red, dilapidated, with no front yard; it has ordinary stairs and only one washroom. The narrator constantly contrasts her “dream” home with the harsh reality of her present home.

• The words are very descriptive and create vivid visual images.

• The writing almost sounds like poetry. The last few paragraphs do not have proper punctuation in that quotation marks are not used to show dialogue. This break in grammatical “correctness” is characteristic of poetry.

10) How else is the punctuation used to show meaning?

• -- dash is used twice to stress that the narrator was part of a family of six, and how that seemed to be a burden.

• italics of the word “there” several times stresses the word and shows the narrator’sembarrassment about where he/she lived, as well as the tone the word was spoken in.

HOW DOES ALL OF THIS HELP TO MAKE MEANING?

The narrative is an intimate accounting of a character’s constant moving from one poor place to another. The constant referral to all of the homes in which he/she lived emphasizes the importance of his/her need to find a home which he/she can be proud of. Though this home is the first one that the large family of six owns, it is not the home that they dreamed of. The narrator harshly contrasts the dilapidated home in which her family lives with the home in which she wants to live. Her language enriches her writing, creates visual images for the reader, and conveys her meaning. Her frustration is evident as she desperately wants to find a place of her own – literally, in a home that she can be proud of, and figuratively –by herself, in the world.

These two stories are not simply a poem or simply flash fiction. They are called “vignettes”. What do you think that means?

vignettehttp://www.vineleavesliteraryjournal.com/vignette-writing-tips.html

What do you notice about the way they are written? Why might someone use improper grammar?

The House

on Mango Street

By Sandra Cisneros

The House on Mango StreetTold in a series of vignettes stunning for their eloquence, The House on Mango Street is Sandra Cisneros's

greatly admired novel of a young girl growing up in the Latino section of Chicago. Acclaimed by critics, beloved by children, their parents and grandparents, taught everywhere from inner-city grade schools to universities across the country, and translated all over the world, it has entered the canon of coming-of-age classics.

Sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes deeply joyous, The House on Mango Street tells the story of Esperanza Cordero, whose neighborhood is one of harsh realities and harsh beauty. Esperanza doesn't want to belong -- not to her rundown neighborhood, and not to the low expectations the world has for her. Esperanza's story is that of a young girl coming into her power, and inventing for herself what she will become.http://www.sandracisneros.com

In 150-200 words, write a vignette about one of the homes you have lived in.

Be sure to use at least 2 examples of figurative language (see your Literary/Poetic Devices definitions).

Your job is to “show” your peers how it looked and how you felt about it, rather than “tell” them those things.

To do this you will need to use vivid description and active verbs. Brainstorm association you make between your house and your senses.

"The House on...

smells

sounds

sight

tastes

Emotions/feelin

gs

touch interior

exterior