Question

born like me in the chinese year of the horse—which is supposed to be bad luck if youre born female—but i think this is a chinese lie because the chinese, like the mexicans, dont like their women strong. 11 my great - grandmother. i wouldve liked to have known her, a wild horse of a woman, so wild she wouldnt 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. thats the way he did it. 12 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 couldnt be all the things she wanted to be. esperanza. i have inherited her name, but i dont want to inherit her place by the window. 13 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 sisters name—magdalena—which is uglier than mine. magdalena who at least can come home and become nenny. but i am always esperanza. 14 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. think question 5 find the word ferocious in paragraph 16 of the house on mango street. use context clues in the surrounding sentences, as well as the sentence in which the word appears, to determine the words meaning. write your definition here and identify clues that helped you figure out its meaning.

Explanation:

The word "ferocious" in The House on Mango Street can be inferred from the context. In paragraph 16, the narrator describes her great - grandmother as a "wild horse of a woman" who "wouldn't marry" until forced. The imagery of a wild horse (which is often seen as fierce and untamed) and the description of her as not conforming (a trait that can be associated with being strong - willed and perhaps having a fierce spirit in the context of not following traditional marriage norms at the time) are clues. So, "ferocious" likely means having a fierce, untamed, and strong - willed nature.

Answer:

The definition of "ferocious" is having a fierce, untamed, and strong - willed nature. Clues include the description of the great - grandmother as a "wild horse of a woman" (wild horse imagery implies fierceness and untamed quality) and her refusal to marry (showing a strong - willed, non - conforming nature which can be related to a ferocious spirit in this context).