Under The Mesquite

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

Part 1, Chapters 1-6

Reading Check

1. Who does Mami say is her first love?

2. What is the name of the troublesome plant that grows in Mami’s rose garden?

3. Which vocation does Lupita plan to pursue in exchange for God protecting Mami’s life?

Short Answer

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

1. What secret is Mami keeping from the children?

2. Why does Lupita end her friendship with her best friend, Mireya?

3. What is the future Mami envisions for Lupita?

Paired Resource

Mesquite entry on Texas A&M's Virtual Herbarium

• The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension provides images, descriptions, and information on the mesquite’s usual habitat and role in its ecosystem.
• This resource gives students a visual reference for the novel’s most important symbol; the information on its dangers as a toxin and other roles in its environment will prompt students to consider the symbolic meanings of the mesquite and prepare them for its role reversal later in the novel.
• What is the role of the mesquite in the novel so far? Why do you think the author chose to open the story with the definition of “mesquite” as an epigraph? How do you predict the mesquite will become important to Lupita’s story?

Part 2, Chapters 7-12

Reading Check

1. Who first tells Lupita that she has the gift of words?

2. What word does Lupita use to describe her feelings about moving to los Estados Unidos?

3. What metaphor does Lupita use to describe her relationship with her sisters?

Short Answer

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

1. Why does Mami feel that her children are “the luckiest children” after they move to the United States?

2. What does Papi do every time Mami has a bebé?

Paired Resource

Map of Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras

• This map shows Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras in relation to each other and the Rio Grande and Mexico-Texas border.
• This resource will give students a visual reference to consider the proximity of important locations in the novel and will also prompt them to think about borders and transitioning between two worlds.
• How is Lupita affected by the family’s move to the United States? What does Mexico mean to Lupita? How does adapting to a new language and new surroundings impact her developing sense of self? How does Mexico remain a significant place in Lupita’s life even though she no longer lives there?

Part 3, Chapters 13-23

Reading Check

1. What is the “Mexican gold” Lupita and her siblings indulge in after church at Abuela Inez’s iglesia?

2. Which activity do Mami and Lupita bond over during their special time together before dinner every day?

3. What does Mireya write in Lupita’s notebook before returning it to her?

4. What is the newfound passion Lupita discovers in addition to her writing?

Short Answer

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

1. Why does Mr. Cortés make Lupita practice speaking with Blow Pops in her mouth?

2. What does becoming a señorita mean to Lupita?

3. How does Lupita define being Mexican?

Paired Resource

“La Quinceañera: A Coming-of-Age Ritual in Latino Communities” by Norma Cantu

• Norma Cantu, an English and literature professor at the University of Texas San Antonio and prominent scholar of Chicano folklore, discusses the quinceañera as a coming-of-age ritual in Hispanic culture.
• This approximately 30-minute lecture includes a detailed overview of every aspect of the quinceañera, from its origins to the components of the ceremony and their symbolic significance. Key moments are tagged in the video so that the teacher can easily excerpt clips.
• How does Lupita view the experience of becoming a señorita? What things change in her life or in others’ perspective of her after she turns 15? In what ways is Lupita’s 15th birthday a coming-of-age ritual for her, even if it doesn’t include a traditional quinceañera? Connect your discussion to the novel’s developing theme of Coming of Age and Adapting to Change.

“The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes

• At the University Interscholastic League (UIL) Poetry Interpretation contest, Lupita takes first place with her dramatic performance of “The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes.
• After reading the poem, students can be prompted to consider how Lupita might have “interpreted” the poem’s sounds and rhythms and adapted them for a dramatic performance, as well as what changes she might have to make in order to represent the poem’s themes for an audience. This discussion will also prepare students for adapting some of Lupita’s poems for performance in one of the after-reading activities.
• How does Lupita’s win in Poetry Interpretation transform the audience’s understanding of the varied ways in which language is an important tool for Lupita? Is there a kind of self-expression in performing the words of others, as much as there is a power in expressing yourself through composing your own words?

Part 4, Chapters 24-33

Reading Check

1. What is the news the family receives at the beginning of Part 4?

2. What does Mami say raising children is like?

3. Who is Lupita’s only “confidant” for her poems?

Short Answer

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

1. Why does Papi throw away the family’s record books of all their savings accounts?

2. What new role must Lupita take on while Papi is away caring for Mami in Galveston?

Paired Resource

Andromache and Hecuba scene from Trojan Women

• The video is from a high school production of Trojan Women, likely very similar to the one Lupita would have been performing for the UIL competition. The two characters, Andromache and Hecuba, meet after the fall of Troy, and Andromache learns that her son, Astyanax, will be slaughtered by the Greeks.
• The young actress portraying Andromache in this production mirrors the emotions Lupita says she used in her own performance—taking it from “melancholy to desperate to angry”—and addresses themes of death, loss, and mourning in her monologue, as Andromache is implored to accept her son’s execution gracefully so that he will receive a proper burial. The scene takes place from 18:30-21:00; it begins with a messenger entering and informing Andromache that Astyanax is to be killed, and it ends with Andromache falling to her knees after accepting the execution of her son.
• What is the emotional arc that Andromache goes through in this monologue? How does her resolution—accepting her son’s death, however unwillingly—relate to Lupita’s situation with Mami? How does the allusion to Euripides’s Trojan Women and the characters of Hecuba and Andromache enhance the audience’s understanding of Lupita’s own emotional conflicts?

Part 5, Chapters 34-40

Reading Check

1. Where do Lupita and her family go for the weekend?

2. Who does Mami insist she saw during the storm?

3. What news do Analiza, Victoria, and Lupita receive when the telephone rings in the middle of the night?

Short Answer

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

1. How does Mr. Cortés suggest Lupita cope with her situation at home?

2. What are some of the similes Lupita uses to describe her mother at the end of this part?

Part 6, Chapters 41-47

Reading Check

1. Where does Papi send Lupita for a “change of scenery?”

2. What “welcome uprooting” does Lupita embrace at the end of the novel?

Short Answer

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

1. Why does Lupita spend her time in the garden and under the mesquite tree?

2. How does Lupita symbolically let go of Mami?

3. Why doesn’t Papi want Lupita to leave home?

Recommended Next Reads 

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

• Fifteen-year-old Xiamora Batista feels unheard in her Harlem neighborhood as she matures into a young woman with her own identity. As she grapples with questions about her developing sexuality, her relationship to her parents, and her connection to her mother’s Catholic faith, Xiamora turns to poetry to uncover her own voice.
• Shared genre: verse novel
• Shared topics include power of language and self-expression through poetry, developing identity, and role of heritage.
• Shared themes include Coming of Age and Adapting to Change.
• The Poet X on SuperSummary

Summer of the Mariposas by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

• Loosely inspired by Homer’s Odyssey, Garcia McCall blends magical realism and Mexican folklore in her second novel following Under the Mesquite. The novel chronicles the journey of Odilia and her four younger sisters as they embark on a journey across Mexico and Texas to find the home of their long-lost grandmother with the aid of supernatural entities.
• Shared topics include familial relationships and Mexican American identity and culture.
• Shared themes include Family Is the Most Important Foundation and Coming of Age and Adapting to Change.
• Summer of the Mariposas on SuperSummary