Potomac's eighth grade English students read and discuss The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. The book is a series of short vignettes that together capture the characters, setting, and stories of a particular neighborhood in Chicago. The vignettes are written from the perspective of a fictional narrator and are based loosely on Cisneros's own experiences as well as those of her students. Some of the vignettes are humorous or action-packed; some are heart-wrenching or shocking. All are deliberate in their use of figurative language, poetic elements, grammar conventions, and pacing.

Each eighth grader composed at least one vignette for inclusion in this digital collection. They wrote in the style of Sandra Cisneros, as they interpreted it based on their notes and our class discussions, yet they set it in a time and place of their own choosing. While some of these vignettes are based on the author's personal experience, many of them are purely fiction, an imagining of characters and circumstances that seemed ripe for this assignment. Students also used this assignment to experiment with new vocabulary words and techniques involving punctuation and sentence structure.

We encourage you to leave comments below vignettes that strike you in some way. Please keep your comments positive and specific; this is not the place for critiques or suggestions. Enjoy the creativity and vibrancy of these students' literary efforts.

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Mae

There was 6 of us. In a little house. On a farm. 3 bedrooms. We all shared a bathroom. Momma, Pappa, Rose, Jeremy, Diego and me, all in a little blue house in the outskirts of town. I’d go to school but not often. It's too far away. My momma can't always pay for the bus ticket. I had reached the age where you have to stay on the farm and work. Diego is too small to be going to school; never mind working. Rose and Jeremy work on the farm everyday. I wonder what's it's like to work out of the farmㅡon a hot day or rainy day. I have only ever worked on cloudy days (momma thinks it's too much for me on a hot day giving i'm so little) I'm little for my age. Very little. Most people infer I can't take care of myself. Rose is really tall. She’s taller than PappaㅡI can see the whole world when I'm on her shoulders.

My name is Maddalena, but I go by Mae because it's easier to say for the teachers at my school—but that's extraneous. The real problem was about a month ago. They came. They subjugated the town, burning and taking everything. Killing. Killing. Killing everyone. I was a dog in the war zone, running from hideout to hideout carrying food and messages. It wasn’t till a couple days ago when I saw rRose of the floor standing over Jeremy. Dead. I fell to the ground. One of my very own brothers, dead, cold and pale lying on the cold stone floor. I wanted tears to come but they didn't, I couldn't move. Then they came in with their big guns and shot Rose dead. I squeaked. As fast as I could I rushed to my hideout before they found me. The hideout seems quiet. Too quiet. I run to our families room. Dead. All three. Shot right in the heart. I lay next to their bodies and cried. I cried tears of sadness, anger, and grief for hours. I was all alone. I looked around the room of my families weapon stash. I got the biggest gun iI could find and set out for the people who killed my family. They were standing right outside the door. Before I could enter and point my gun, they shot me. Dead. All I could think of was. Now there are none of us.

~ Cassidy B.

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16 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 6, 2016 at 10:21 AM

    I love how the first sentence was there are 6 of us and the last was now there are none of us.

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  2. AnonymousJanuary 6, 2016 at 10:23 AM

    Wow. Dark. I think you described the main characters well, and I also think you described how Mae felt when her family was killed very well.
    -L.O.

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  3. AnonymousJanuary 6, 2016 at 10:24 AM

    The second paragraph was really exciting and kept me wanting to know what would happen. You set up the ending really well by saying how little the main character was. It showed that there are some things that will bring even mild mannered people to do awful things. Wow, that's really sad.
    -C.S.

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  4. AnonymousJanuary 6, 2016 at 10:24 AM

    I like how you italicized 'they', it really set the word apart from the rest and gave it more meaning.
    - M.H.

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  5. AnonymousJanuary 6, 2016 at 10:30 AM

    Great work I really liked how you used descriptive words to make the reader understand what Mae was going through. Well Done! ELR

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  6. AnonymousJanuary 6, 2016 at 10:31 AM

    I was very interesting how you dared to tell the story in first person even though you were dead. It made the story more interesting.

    MD

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  7. AnonymousJanuary 6, 2016 at 10:31 AM

    Your vignette was very interesting. It was a very moving and descriptive story. The last sentence was the best.
    -K.C.

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  8. AnonymousJanuary 6, 2016 at 10:32 AM

    I like how everyone died, and in some way there was situational irony since you think you would have been able to pull the trigger a few times and get a few kills but you instead died too.

    JH

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  9. AnonymousJanuary 6, 2016 at 10:32 AM

    The situational irony of the family's deaths in the story was very intriguing and scary. - CE

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  10. HeleneJanuary 6, 2016 at 10:34 AM

    This story really took a turn. I loved how you made it so people wouldn't expect that ending. -HF

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  11. AnonymousJanuary 6, 2016 at 10:34 AM

    I like your descriptive language and how subtle the deaths are.
    -CO

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  12. AnonymousJanuary 6, 2016 at 10:37 AM

    I like how the situational irony you put in the story because I didn't expect everyone to die. I also like how your story is dark.

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  13. AnonymousJanuary 6, 2016 at 10:47 AM

    GOTH!!!!

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  14. JodieJanuary 6, 2016 at 1:31 PM

    That was deep. I love how you're still thinking after you died.

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  15. AnonymousJanuary 6, 2016 at 1:54 PM

    I liked this a lot but um... Wow

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