Gender Roles In The House On Mango Street By Sandra Cisneros

Throughout The House on Mango Street Esperanza learns to resist the gender norms that are deeply imbedded in her community. The majority of the other female characters in the novel have internalized the male viewpoint and they believe that it is their husbands or fathers responsibility to care for them and make any crucial decisions for them. However, despite the influence of other female characters that are “immasculated”, according to Judith Fetterley, Esperanza’s experiences lead her to become a “resisting reader” in Fettereley’s terminology because she does not want to become like the women that she observes, stuck under a man’s authority. She desires to leave Mango Street and have a “home of her own” so that she will never be forced

In today’s world there are countless social problems. People are often treated as an inferior or as if they are less important for many different reasons. In The House on Mango Street, the author Sandra Cisneros addresses these problems. Throughout the story Cisneros does a thorough job explaining and showing how these issues affect the public. This novel is written through the eyes of a young girl, Esperanza, growing up in a poor neighborhood where the lifestyles of the lower class are revealed. Cisneros points out that, in today’s society, the expectation of women and their treatment, discrimination based on poverty, and discrimination because of a person’s ethnicity are the major

When passing through a poor neighborhood, have you ever thought, “this place is dangerous.” even though you just see what’s on the surface? The dirty buildings, run down stores, and unkempt roads persuade us to perceive that neighborhood in a negative light, but you might do this unconsciously because ever since we were young, socioeconomic status is what separates the “good”, from the “bad”. Sandra Cisneros’, House on Mango Street, shows us how harmful having a previous notion of a place or person can be. In the novel, we meet Esperanza Cordero, a girl whose parents never strived above the working class. Because of their low income, they are forced to move into neglected homes on the verge of crumbling, their final stop being Mango

Stereotypes have a way of getting inside your head, and sometimes you end up in a tough situation without even knowing it. In the novella, House on Mango Street, author Sandra Cisneros describes the lives of several women of who live on Mango Street. In the community, stereotypes are given to women, which most of them succumb to. The girls tend to get married young to someone they do not love and end up trapped. Very few women actually made the smart decisions and made a successful life for themselves without a man. Despite the power of negative stereotypes given to women in Esperanza’s community, individuals who are strong and determined enough can overcome the unfavorable outcomes.

In the collection of vignettes, The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros develops the theme that people should not be devalued because of their financial circumstances through metaphors of classism, the motif of shame, and the contrast between minor characters Alicia and Esperanza’s mother. Esperanza, the protagonist, is a Mexican-American adolescent living in the rural Chicago region. She occupies a house on Mango Street with her father, mother, two brothers, Carlos and Kiki, and little sister, Nenny. Mango Street is filled with low-income families, like Esperanza’s, trying to adapt to their difficult circumstances. Esperanza realizes it is difficult, but she dreams of leaving her house and Mango Street altogether.

In addition to Esperanza facing society's standards for women, so did many of the women on Mango Street. In this time period, countless women are stuck in gender roles. Sally says, “He never hits me hard” (Cisneros 92). Sally’s father makes her feel belittled when he abuses her because it is socially acceptable to hit your own daughter. Her father makes it seem like she is less valued than a male. Esperanza talks about Sally, “But Sally doesn’t tell about that time he hit her with his

The theme of a patriarchal society where beauty is a weakness and having too much of it only means darkness is very prominent in Sandra Cisneros's The House on Mango Street. Esperanza, the protagonist of the numerous vignettes, highlights how this affects the young women on Mango Street.

“The boys and the girls live in separate worlds.” - House On Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Simply because of our gender, we are expected to take different roles in our lives, especially in Esperanza’s society, many people view that women have to become a housewife or work in a factory. Anyone can take a role, no gender has to dominate. I learned from Esperanza that more danger is on women, because we are usually viewed as weak and unable to defend ourselves, as Esperanza got sexually assaulted this proved true to some cases, but not all women are the

Identity is defined as “the fact of being who or what a person or thing is” (Oxford University Press). Personal identity deals with questions that arise about ourselves by virtue of our being people. Some of these questions are familiar that happen to all of us every once in a while: What am I? When did I begin? What will happen to me when I die? There are many different categories that define us as people (Olson). Our Race, Class, and Culture define who we are so much that it affects how we should live our life.

Society has built a role for women. And there’s no better example of this idea than The House on Mango Street, in which Esperanza describes specific moments of her life which lead her to believe in women independence and feminism. She has different ideas and thoughts on the definition of women and what they should be. Esperanza doesn’t fit into the constructed definition Mango Street has of how women should be.

In The House On Mango Street, the metaphor of the “[red] balloon tied to an anchor” (Cisneros, 9) helps reveal the theme of how societal roles limit women. The anchoring of the red balloon demonstrates how gender roles oppress women. Cisneros uses red to indicate sexuality as in the “Red Clowns” and “red lips” (88) of the femme fatale in the chapter “Beautiful & Cruel”. Additionally, the red balloon represents women because the anchor keeps the balloon from being free and in a similar way, gender roles keep women from being free. Women on Mango Street enter a stifling cycle of taking up the typical roles of women. Society expects women to “wait... for a husband” (88) and to “spend [their] lives… behind a rolling pin.” (31-32). In Sally’s case, she is dependent on men and she marries “young and [unready,] but married just the same.” (101). Sally marries “to escape” (101), entering the cycle that women on Mango Street go through, and ends up a prisoner of her own home. Sally is the red balloon tied to an anchor because she can’t escape and she doesn’t have any freedom. By submitting to the gender roles of her

For centuries, a great deal of ethnic groups have been disempowered and persecuted by others. However, one should realize that none are more intense than the oppression of women. In the novel, The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros, women living in the Mango Street neighborhood suffer from their restricted freedom. Three such women, Rafaela, Mamacita, and Sally, provide great examples. All try to escape from their dreadful environment. Most of them fail, but at first, Sally seems to succeed in escaping from her father. However, she ends up meeting a husband as equally bad as her father. Ultimately, the men who live with Rafaela, Mamacita, and Sally act as insuperable obstacles that limit the freedom in their women’s lives.

Sandra Cisneros’, “The House on Mango Street” focuses on the narration of Esperanza, a young adolescent growing up in Chicago. Throughout the novel, Esperanza strives to develop her own sense of identity, while searching for the means out of her poverty-stricken neighborhood. With the help of her friends and family, Esperanza discovers how the world works, and what she needs to do in order to successfully better herself. The novel features several concepts of gender and sexuality studies including that of class structures, red-lining, gender, sexuality, intersectionality, and beauty. Those listed are simply a few more prominent features, as each character Esperanza introduces displays many more concepts within each scene. The concept of gender is portrayed widely throughout the novel and creates a foundation for the expectations the girls are about to face as they grow. Intersectionality interplays within the daily lives of each girl, and is seen within every page of the novel. Finally, beauty standards play an important role in the transition from adolescent to young adult each girl faces. Together, gender, intersectionality, and beauty standards, make up the novel, as it portrays the importance of each of these three core concepts of gender, women and sexuality studies.

1 in 3 women have been victims of some form of physical violence by an intimate partner within their lifetime (ncdav.org, 2016). On the outside, many believe that violence is uncommon; they think that the women who are solely dependent on men, or abused in relationships can just walk away. In reality, it is not that simple. These victims do not know any different; many begin to deem themselves as worthless. On the contrary, there are many women not in these situations who do know differently. The novelette, “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros, explores into the lives of three women in three very different positions. Many women in society are trapped in abusive relationships, and many are waiting for someone to make a change in their lives for them. But some do have the opportunity, and are actively attempting to do something to impact their lives. Through these women, Cisneros displays not only the hardships

In Sandra Cisneros novel The House on Mango Street the characters experience the challenges of growing up in a society full of racism, discrimination, and class distinction. Their experience is exceedingly similar to people in urban areas and cities today. Both the protagonist Esperanza, a young teen and people in today’s hispanic cities experience discrimination making progression in life challenging. The indifferent attitudes regarding the importance of education in Esperanza’s world and in today’s cities present challenges to those attempting to break out of their oppression and succeed in life. Ultimately, however, it is the racism and class distinction that exists in Esperanza’s world and in today’s society that hold individuals back, making the desire to escape their situation a necessity.