“My Name” Assignment

INSTRUCTIONS: Read the following short story, “My Name”, by Sandra Cisneros. Then, follow the
template below to write your own version of the story about your name. Submit your final draft to the
schoology discussion board; it should be at least 2 paragraphs in length.

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.
I 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.

Original Text for Inspiration Directions to Write Your Name Story Mrs. Yee’s Name Story

In English my name means Search nameberry.com and fill in this sentence In German my name means
hope. stem: In [language] my name means universal.
__________.

In Spanish it means too many Explain how others react to or think about In America it means universally
letters. your name: do they struggle to pronounce it? confused with 5 other girls.
do they mix it up with a different name? do
they associate your name with something in
particular?

It means sadness, it means Option 1: “It means____, it means ____” + fill It means restless, it means
waiting. in two abstract words to describe your wanting.
personality or how you feel about your current
state.
It means hesitation, it means
Option 2: When Esperanza says her name motherhood.
means “waiting,” she has taken the Spanish
verb esperar, which means “to wait or expect,”
and superimposed it on the noun hope.
Similarly, sadness may come from the
similar-sounding but opposite verb
desesperarse, or “despair.” So if you want to
get clever, you may choose two words that
 are related to the different sounds of your
name.

It is like the number nine. A Use figurative language to compare your It is like the square root of 16. A
muddy color. feelings about your name or your situation watery color.
with images or objects. Feel free to follow her
pattern or choose your own images/objects to
compare: It is like the number _______. A
[adjective + color]. Check out this list of words
to describe colors if you need help here.

It is the Mexican records my Compare your feelings about your name, It is the CD mixtape now
father plays on Sunday yourself, or your situation to a sound and/or inoperative in a sound system
mornings when he is shaving, personal memory. that features USB and bluetooth.
songs like sobbing.

Summary: The speaker spends For your second paragraph, you have more I was supposed to be Emily up
the next two paragraphs on the flexibility for what you write about and the until the moment my mother
woman she was named after, format. Use any of the following questions as held me in her arms and decided
her grandmother. She then inspiration (you do not need to answer them Emma to be more fitting. I wish I
explains how her classmates all or answer in this order): Do you know why could have asked her why before
struggle to pronounce her your parents chose your name? Are you she died, but I am grateful for it
name correctly and how she named after someone? Is so, what is their nonetheless.
does not have a shortened story and how do you feel about the
nickname, like her sister. She comparison? How does your name sound? Do My father likes to remind me
ends the story by asserting that people pronounce it differently? Has anyone that her first words after my
she wants to change her name ever commented on your name? How did that birth were “She’s so beautiful.”
to something that shows her comment make you feel? Do you think your Dusty photo albums remind me
true self. name causes people to treat you a certain that I am nowhere near as
way? Do you think your name gives people an beautiful as she.
accurate impression of your true self? Do you
have a nickname? How did you get that
nickname? Would you change your name if
you could? If you could change your name,
what would you change it to?