When I Was Puerto Rican

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

PROLOGUE-CHAPTER 2

Reading Check

1. What fruit does Santiago write about at length in the book’s prologue?

2. What is Santiago’s childhood nickname?

3. What is the new baby’s name?

4. Where does Mami tell the children they are moving at the end of Chapter 2?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How do Santiago and her mother differ in their opinions of country life?

2. Why is Santiago critical of her mother’s response after Santiago and her sister accidentally frighten a hen?

3. Why is Santiago’s mother angry with Santiago’s father when he returns home from being gone for several days?

4. What does Santiago’s father reveal about Margie?

Paired Resource

“In Pink, Florals and Short Shorts, Bad Bunny Champions a New Masculinity”

• This CNN article explores the ways in which Puerto Rican musician Bad Bunny challenges traditional ideas about masculinity.
• This resource relates to the themes of Womanhood and Labels and Stereotypes.
• What traditional Puerto Rican ideas about masculinity and femininity does Santiago begin to absorb during her earliest childhood? How does the Bad Bunny example demonstrate that some things about these traditional ideas have changed or are changing?

CHAPTERS 3-5

Reading Check

1. What is the name of the friend Santiago makes after the family returns to Macun?

2. Which sister is born after the family returns to Macun?

3. What immunization does Santiago receive at school?

4. Which relative does Santiago visit for a week?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. While she is living in the city, what does Santiago get called, and why is it not as satisfying as she used to imagine it would be?

2. How does Mami’s response to the nutrition lesson at Santiago’s school demonstrate that the “experts” are a little out of touch with the real needs of families like Santiago’s?

3. What messages about womanhood does Santiago get from the strangers at the restaurant where she and her father stop to eat?

4. What does Santiago’s father’s behavior during their visit to a relative demonstrate about his character?

Paired Resource

“Emotional Neglect in Childhood: Signs, Effects, and How to Cope”

• This article explains what emotional neglect is and how it can impact children later in life.
• This resource relates to the themes of Coming of Age and Family and Family Duty.
• Does the behavior of either or both of Santiago’s parents meet the definition of neglect? What realizations is Santiago coming to about her parents’ behavior? What does this have to do with the book’s Coming of Age theme? Given the importance placed on family in the Puerto Rico of Santiago’s childhood, what is ironic about her parents’ behavior? Based on the advice in the article, how do you think writing about her childhood might help Santiago?

“How Labels Can Affect People’s Personalities and Potential”

• This 6-minute NPR audio (transcript included) discusses how labeling can impact people’s future behavior and self-image.
• This resource relates to the theme of Labels and Stereotypes.
• What main ideas does Vedantam’s story convey? What labels for people has Santiago encountered so far? How do these labels relate to the ideas in Vedantam’s story?

CHAPTERS 6-8

Reading Check

1. What is the name of the cousin who arrives for a visit, bringing her new bike?

2. What disgusts Santiago about the house in El Mangle?

3. What do the dead baby’s eyes remind Santiago of?

4. Where is the specialist that Mami wants to take Raymond to?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What change occurs in Santiago’s family following her brother Raymond’s birth?

2. Why is Mami’s behavior after Santiago kicks Tato in the shin so surprising and confusing for Santiago?

3. What is upsetting about Santiago’s experiences at her new school in El Mangle?

4. What does Santiago worry about when Mami tells her that there is not enough money to take her along to the appointment with the specialist?

Paired Resource

“The Schoolboy”

• This William Blake poem shares the perspective of a boy who feels crushed by the experience of school.
• This resource relates to the theme of Education and Learning.
• What is the speaker of the poem’s perspective on school? Why do you think he feels this way? How is Santiago’s experience similar and different? Do you guess she will have better experiences with formal education as she gets older? What makes you guess either yes or no?

CHAPTERS 9-11

Reading Check

1. With whom do Santiago and her siblings initially stay when Mami goes back to New York?

2. What business do Santiago’s parents briefly run after Mami comes back from New York for the second time?

3. What issue ultimately causes Mami to break up with Santiago’s father?

4. Who is Francisco?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does Santiago feel about the congregation’s reaction to Don Joaquin’s preaching?

2. What potentially inappropriate behavior toward Santiago does Don Luis engage in?

3. How do the radio programs Santiago is listening to influence her fantasy life?

4. What encounter with prejudice does Santiago have soon after arriving in New York?

Paired Resource

“American History”

• This well-known short story by Puerto Rican author Judith Ortiz Cofer shares the experiences of a young New Yorker of Puerto Rican heritage on the day that Kennedy is shot.
• This resource relates to the themes of Coming of Age, Labels and Stereotypes, and The American Dream and Hard Work.
• Which of the experiences Elena has is similar to Santiago’s experiences? How are their experiences different? How do both narratives relate to themes like Coming of Age, Labels and Stereotypes, and The American Dream and Hard Work?

CHAPTERS 12-EPILOGUE

Reading Check

1. What is the new baby named?

2. What kind of work does Mami end up doing in New York?

3. What new friend does Santiago make who abandons their friendship after learning Santiago’s aptitude test results?

4. How long after Chapter 13 does Chapter 14 take place?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does Santiago’s relationship with her father change after she moves to New York?

2. How does Mami’s advice push Santiago toward the performing arts school?

3. Why does Santiago end up doing a pantomime at her audition?

4. Why did Santiago miss her first day at the performing arts school?

Recommended Next Reads 

Almost a Woman by Esmerelda Santiago

• This autobiographical work tells a more in-depth version of Santiago’s teen years in New York City.
• Shared themes include Coming of Age, Labels and Stereotypes, Family and Family Duty, Womanhood, Religion, The American Dream and Hard Work, and Education and Learning.  
• Shared topics include memoir, Puerto Rican identity, family dysfunction and strength, life in mid-century New York City, cultural dislocation and acculturation, poverty, and racism and prejudice.       
• Almost a Woman on SuperSummary

Ordinary Girls by Jaquira Díaz

• This autobiographical work shares the story of Jaquira Díaz’s childhood and young adult years in Puerto Rico and Miami as she struggles with family dysfunction, violence, poverty, her own sexuality, and the complexities of being a Puerto-Rican American.
• Shared themes include Coming of Age, Labels and Stereotypes, Family and Family Duty, Womanhood, and The American Dream and Hard Work.
• Shared topics include memoir, Puerto Rican identity, family dysfunction and strength, cultural dislocation and acculturation, poverty, racism and prejudice, sexism, sexual violence, and colonialism.