"Born Bad"
Overview: A Double Entry Log is a way to closely read passages from a text, to discover what individual words
and sentences reveal about characters, conflicts, themes, etc. The passage below shows something about
Esperanza, her relationship to someone else in the neighborhood, and/or her opinion about a particular social
issue.
Directions: First, identify who is speaking or narrating. Second, explain what the context or situation is that is,
who is involved, where she is, at what time, and what is going on, etc., Third, explain what the quotation means
and how it is significant to the novel. (In other words, why is this quote important?) Keep in mind that quotations
rarely tell you why they are important, so you must use the clues given to you and really dig beneath the surface.
Fourth, note any stylistic devices (similes, metaphors, personification, symbols, alliteration, etc.), and finally, what
connections do you see between this excerpt and other vignettes in the novel? (Ideas of waiting feeling trapped,
making friends, etc.)
EXAMPLE:
Speaker: Esperanza is narrating
Situation: Esperanza has been watching Marin in the evenings. Her observations help
her to get to know Marin and to interpret what her actions might mean Esperanza has
a sense that Marin is waiting for change to happen to her.
Sample: from "Marin"
Significance: Esperanza understands that Marin thinks that her life will change when
someone comes into her life. That someone will be a man. Marin knows she can use
her physical attractiveness to get out of Mango Street, a place she doesn't like
Marin, under the streetlight, dancing by Esperanza appears to relate to Marin because she says, "I know." Esperanza also has
herself, is singing the same song
somewhere I know. Is waiting for a car singing the same song." I think that Esperanza would like to make change happen,
dreams of changing her life and getting beyond Mango Street But while Marin is stuck
to stop, a star to fall, someone to
change her life (27)
not just wait for someone to change her life."
Stylistic devices: A falling star is something you wish upon. It symbolizes Marin's
dependency on something outside herself to bring change.
Connections: Marin is like Sally, Rafaela and Minerva, other women on Mango Street
All of them seem trapped in relationships and circumstances that they want out of, but
don't know how to escape.
See task below:
