When | Why |
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Oct-28-20 | Directions |
My Name
by: Sandra Cisneros (from: The House on Mango Street)
In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting. It is like the number nine. A muddy color. It is the Mexican records my father plays on Sunday mornings when he is shaving, songs like sobbing.
It was my great-grandmother's name and now it is mine. She was a horse woman too, born like me in the Chinese year of the horse--which is supposed to be bad luck if you're born female-but I think this is a Chinese lie because the Chinese, like the Mexicans, don't like their women strong.
My great-grandmother. I would've liked to have known her, a wild, horse of a woman, so wild she wouldn't marry. Until my great-grandfather threw a sack over her head and carried her off. Just like that, as if she were a fancy chandelier. That's the way he did it.
And the story goes she never forgave him. She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow. I wonder if she made the best with what she got or was she sorry because she couldn't be all the things she wanted to be. Esperanza. I have inherited her name, but I don't want to inherit her place by the window.
At school they say my name funny as if the syllables were made out of tin and hurt the roof of your mouth. But in Spanish my name is made out of a softer something, like silver, not quite as thick as sister's name Magdalena--which is uglier than mine. Magdalena who at least- -can come home and become Nenny. But I am always Esperanza. would like to baptize myself under a new name, a name more like the real me, the one nobody sees. Esperanza as Lisandra or Maritza or Zeze the X. Yes. Something like Zeze the X will do.
Added October 28, 2020 at 9:11pm
by Samuel Reed III
Title: Directions
Directions: As you read the piece below, highlight or underline words, phrases, or sentences.
Mark things that are interesting or surprising with an exclamation point (!) .
Mark things that are confusing or that you don’t understand with a question mark (?) .
Annotate the text by commenting on things that stand out to you and remarking on others' comments.
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she keep complaining abt her name wen she dealing sum much work
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the name hope isn’t a name too me
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Do you think she is saying her great grandmother, was someone that men could not control or tame like a wild horse? I know some strong women like that. Maybe not wild horses, but I know someone, that men try to control or tame and they fail.
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Why does she bad mouth her grandma and the person she is
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I was named after my father, I didn’t grow up with him. But it called me Junior. I rejected him calling me Junior, and Made myself Samuel Reed, III. I X out the Junior. Ahmir, thanks for making me remember this about my name :)
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Everybody deserves to be different in their own way, especially when it comes to names, everybody’s name is not meant to be similar.
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I know it is not good to say someone’s name incorrectly. I am working on it :)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0CGsw6h60k
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nobody should make fun anybody name.
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General Document Comments 0
My mother told me my name Samuel comes from the bible and means, one who hears god?
Do you know what your name means or where it comes from?
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my name is james it come from my dad and his grandfather
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My name comes from my aunt.
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no i dont
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my cousin gave me that name. i believe my name is a water bottle smh.
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I heard that name in the bible, that is really cool and meaningful:)
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my mom wanted something different name from everybody else
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