Esperanza states in the last chapter, “…but what I remember most is Mango Street, sad red house, the house I belong but do not belong to.” In a formal, academic essay, explain what Esperanza meant by this statement. Explain these paradoxical feelings. Explain how her feelings explain her entire life from beginning to the end of the book. How does this statement represent her entire life?
Exemplary papers will make cogent
arguments that are substantiated by citations from the text, manifest a
thorough understanding of the book, and will be free of numerous mechanical
errors.
See Nocket's Essay as an example.
RUBRIC SCORING
6 (Truly Exceptional; Insight; A)
The student demonstrates a clear and consistent focus. The essay is logical and the student uses transitions to connect ideas. The student supports ideas with details, quotations, examples and other evidence. The student uses well-formed sentences that vary in structure. The vocabulary is rich and includes precise language that is appropriate for the purpose and audience. The essay contains no significant errors in language usage, mechanics, or spelling.
5(Commendable; Imagery A-)
The student demonstrates a clear and consistent focus. The essay is logical, but may be predictable or unnecessarily mechanical. The student uses transitions to connect ideas, and supports ideas with details, quotations, examples and other evidence. The student uses a variety of sentence structure and vocabulary. The essay may contain a few errors in language usage, mechanics, or spelling
4 (Satisfactory: Narrative B or C+)
The student demonstrates a fairly clear focus. The essay shows an organizational pattern, but connections between ideas may be difficult to understand. The essay contains supporting evidence that may lack effect, and therefore only superficially develops ideas. The essay has complete and varied sentences most of the time, and contains some errors in language usage, mechanics, or spelling.
3 (Proficient: Answers/Supports; B- or C)
The student demonstrates a vague focus so the essay may contain some irrelevant details or may stray from the topic. The essay shows an organizational pattern, but connections between ideas are difficult to understand. The essay lacks supporting evidence or does not sufficiently develop ideas and shows little sentence variety. The essay contains several serious errors in language usage, mechanics, or spelling which may cause distraction and some confusion about meaning.
2 (Limited: Answers Only; C- or D)
The student identifies the topic but has little elaboration. The essay lacks plausible support for ideas, shows limited word choice and contains serious errors in language usage, mechanics, or spelling which lead to confusion about meaning.
1 (Minimal: Misses Question; D-or F)
The student minimally addresses the topic and the essay lacks identifiable ideas. The essay shows minimal word choice and may be incoherent and may have serious errors in almost every sentence.