"The House on Mango Street," by Sandra Cisneros is a book about the obstacles Latin women encounter while residing on Mango Street. Men dominate their community and women are treated as if they as inferior human beings to the men. A woman's merit is placed on her outward appearance, as well as her loyalty to the men in her life. Throughout "The House on Mango Street," Sandra Cisneros utilizes the first-person frame of reference, portraying her struggle to augment her sexuality in a feminine fashion along with the firmly embedded longing for independence, amongst a community influenced by societal male gender roles. Cisneros scrutinizes the women who surround her within a parlous and male-dominated community, in which each women's circumstances are predestined by social as well as economic restrictions. For the large majority of the women living on Mango Street, these limitations are too formidable to conquer. Nevertheless, Esperanza exemplifies the potential to look past her lot in life, while the women surrounding her become victims of their society, continuing its vicious pattern.
Many gender roles and themes are observed, throughout the course of this story, in particular, the single mother role. Women are also contrasted with the men as their lives are constrained inside of the home while the men are permitted to enjoy life outside. Divisions in gender are revealed from the very beginning of the book. For example, in “Boys & Girls,” Esperanza communicates the contrast between herself and her brothers, Kiki and Carlos as she states, “The boys and the girls live in separate worlds. The boys in their universe and we in ours. My brothers for example. They’ve got plenty to say to me and Nenny inside the house. But outside they can’t be seen talking to girls” (Cisneros 8). Esperanza can only interact with her sister, Nenny, but Nenny is "too young to be [her] friend" (Cisneros 8). Esperanza is lonely and dreams of a true friend. She feels that she is like "a red balloon, a balloon that is tied to an anchor" (Cisneros 9). Esperanza is apprehensive that she will be trapped on Mango Street, like all the other women. This particular situation demonstrates the first indication of gender issues in her community.
In the world of Esperanza's childhood, there is a separate universe between boys and girls (and, accordingly, between men and women). Esperanza and the other children of the barrio learn the intricacies of their gender roles by watching neighbors treat each other in certain ways. The fact that these gender roles are already so clear to Esperanza and the other children is indicative of their prominence in their society; instead of a bunch of kids playing together, they are already boys and girls, divided into two separate worlds.
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
Have you ever felt like the place you belonged to didn’t belong to you? In The House on Mango Street, this is how the main character, Esperanza, felt. The author, Sandra Cisneros, did a good job in portraying a girl who couldn’t find her place. She had a problem accepting where she was from, The House on Mango Street is heartfelt novel and is great to pass the time. In this story, you will be shown the lives of Esperanza, her sister Nenny, their two best friends Rachel and Lucy, and the many people who lived on Mango Street. This book is about a girl who went from denying her place to accepting it.
Esperanza, a strong- willed girl who dreams big despite her surroundings and restrictions, is the main character in The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Esperanza represents the females of her poor and impoverished neighborhood who wish to change and better themselves. She desires both sexuality and autonomy of marriage, hoping to break the typical life cycle of woman in her family and neighborhood. Throughout the novel, she goes through many different changes in search of identity and maturity, seeking self-reliance and interdependence, through insecure ideas such as owning her own house, instead of seeking comfort and in one’s self. Esperanza matures as she begins to see the difference. She evolves from an insecure girl to a
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.
In the novel, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, the theme of growing up is prevalent throughout the book. Throughout the novel, a young mexican girl named Esperanza goes through experiences as she matures that involve her friends, society, dangers that expose her to the outside world and help her to realize what the real world is like.
In the novel, “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros, the main character Esperanza has many positive influences on her life. Hardships do not define one’s life either in a mental or physical capacity. Throughout the novel, Esperanza’s grandmother, Marin, and Rosa Vargas enable her to overcome the hardships of becoming a woman.
In the novel, The House On Mango Street, the women of Mango Street face numerous challenges in their lives. Women face abuse, objectification, and oppression. They are also subject to the societal roles that hinders them from being free and successful. Cisneros utilizes metaphors to reveal the theme that society’s gender roles and double standards restrict women’s sexuality and success.
“The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros is a unique piece of literature that brings an interesting style of writing to life. Cisneros writes in vignettes that are as powerful as they are short and to the point. These snapshot stories illustrate the life of a young adolescent girl named Esperanza, who is trying to understand the ways of life, and fit in her culture. She learns that some of her expectations don’t quite match with the reality of her world and every action has a consequence. This is a prevalent topic throughout the book as Esperanza is growing up and facing life’s challenges as a female teenager in 1984.
Domestic Violence: Victims Should Leave For many years, domestic violence has been a subject of many discussions, concerns and fears. As we all have probably heard or seen, most of the victims of domestic violence are women. It’s not unusual to question- Why don’t they just leave? Why silently endure the pains inflicted by the perpetrator when the door is open and there is so much help out there.
The house on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros is really a coming of age novel of a Mexican American female developing in a working class Chicago neighborhood. The writer is similar to the main character Esperanza in a number of ways. It being that Cisneros was in addition a Mexican American female growing up in a Chicago working class community. While Esperanza is ashamed of becoming a Mexican American around white Americans, Cisneros is proud to be considered a Mexican American female. But she endeavors to defy the roles and limitations of this culture. In the novel, Cisneros portrays the problems that Latino females face in a culture which respect them as lower class people. A culture which is stressed by males, along with a general public which esteems females for whatever they resemble, moreover not for what's on the inside.
She gets excited when boys look at her on the streets. But her illusion of true love is destroyed by sexual violence. Her friend Sally’s behaviour towards boys contributes to Esperanza’s caution and distance by dealing with the opposite sex, too. Nevertheless, Esperanza does not stop dreaming of leaning against a car with her boyfriend in a place where that does not bother anyone. But she has set her standards higher than most of the women around her. She do not search for a man to escape from this place, she has seen too many unhappy marriages. Ruthie exemplifies such an one. She has run away from her husband and seems to be mentally disturbed. The young Rafaela is locked up by her husband because of her beauty. Nevertheless the tragic event is Sally’s which ends in abuse. Sally, Esperanza’s friend, only wanted to dream and share her love like Esperanza. Hurt and beaten by her father who just wanted to prevent the familiy’s ruin by Sally. To escape, despite of her minority, she marries a salesman. But unlike her wish, the abuse continues.
When writers are first coming to the drawing board to think of a story to create, most of the advice given to them is “write what you know.” This was perfect advice for Mexican-American writer Sandra Cisneros, who draws upon her coming-of-age events throughout her childhood and adolescence in “The House on Mango Street.” Drawing from life stories, her alter ego “Esperanza” describes everything from the house she lived in, to the hair on people’s heads. These personal stories show a stark contrast for any reader of a different culture, and confirm feelings for those of the same culture. However, these stories include themes that are essentially the dealings of growing up, something that most all, including myself, can relate to. The structure of the collection of stories is as bright and exuberant as the words she uses to describe them, often sporadic and intuitive, something that feels like a teenager would write. Her narrative tone as Esperanza sets her unique upbringing into the spotlight, along with the figurative language and persona she uses to communicate her perspective. The relation into this story I feel the most is the simple struggles of the surrounding cultures and happenings on Mango Street, that inform much about how you’re raised and see the world. Through this, Cisneros comments both on the culture she was raised in, and makes you question the one you were raised in, as she recounts her distinctive formative years.
“The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros is a perfect example of feminist theory in literature in the twenty’s century. In “The House on Mango Street,” Sandra Cisneros pictures the lives on Mango Street. She shows us how differences between the roles of men and women in Esperanza’s life, and Latino women’s lives are influenced by the Spanish culture. She also lets
Sandra cisneros novel, The house on mango street, is describing the problems latino face in society. A society that is mostly dominated by men, and a society that is juges women on what they look like, instead of judging them on what's inside. Cisneros wants us to see the daily complications a latina woman must face in order to be treated like everyone else. The novel also talks about how females should be loyal to their husband. And love is not something they should rely heavily on.