Study Questions

1. What occasion is Esperanza’s family celebrating in “Chanclas”?

2. Why does Esperanza not want to dance?

3. Who finally gets Esperanza to dance?

4. Who watches Esperanza dance all night?

5. Why does Esperanza agree with the stupid thing that Nenny says?

6. In what way are hips “scientific”?

7. What does Nenny say swaying one’s hips is for?

8. What is Esperanza’s first job?

9. Why doesn’t Esperanza eat lunch in the lunchroom?

10. What happens with the Oriental man?

Answers

1. They are celebrating her cousin’s baptism.

2. Esperanza doesn’t want to dance because she’s embarrassed about her shoes.

3. Esperanza’s Uncle Nacho finally gets her to dance.

4. Esperanza’s cousin by communion watches her dance all night.

5. Esperanza agrees with Nenny so that Lucy and Rachel won’t laugh at Nenny.

6. Hips are scientific because they are the skeletal bones that distinguish men from women.

7. Nenny says hips are for lullabying the baby inside to sleep.

8. Esperanza’s first job is matching photographs with their negatives.

9. Esperanza doesn’t eat in the lunchroom because she is afraid to eat alone among strangers.

10. The Oriental man forces Esperanza to give him a lewd kiss.