The House On Mango Street Gender Roles

Many girls desire a female role model from a young age. The way these women are treated, and deal with this treatment can heavily impact the way young girls view themselves, and their future as well. Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street brings attention to issues of sexism and gender roles. This is done through a series of vignettes about the main character Esperanza navigating life by the example of her many role models. Each role model impacts Esperanza in a special way, Sally who is married at 13, Marin who is waiting to be rescued by a man, and Alicia who is balancing school and home responsibilities. These problems coming to light through the many women Esperanza looks up to, drive her to rise above her obstacles, and become more than just another poorly treated woman.

Although it is not always clear, women are constantly being treated as lesser than men. Women and men are approaching equality, but many women are still being treated unfairly. White communities usually pretend that everything is perfect and cover up this problem. Hispanics, on the other hand, often make the mistreatment of women perspicuous. This is portrayed in the novella The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros. Cisneros displays the mistreatment of women in the hispanic culture through the women in Esperanza’s life.

Mitchell Curtis English 9 / Period 6 Mr.Boyat 17 October 2016 Three Influential Characters in The House on Mango Street In the novel The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, the story is developed through the eyes of a young girl Esperanza. She learns about the realities of life in a house that she recently moved into. There are many characters that are written as she learns about her new neighborhood. The three most influential characters in the novel are Sally, her Mother ,and Marin.

In Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, a young, impoverished girl with Hispanic origin, named Esperanza adapts to her new life in Chicago, on Mango Street. Throughout her time living on Mango Street Esperanza observes how other people are living around her, especially women and young girls like her. Esperanza has a variety of female role models in her life. Many are trapped in abusive relationships, waiting for others to change their lives. Some are actively trying to change things on their own.

In Mexican American society , women are deemed inferior to men, evident in traditional family roles, the male is the head of the family who provides for the family , while the woman stays at home to look after the children she is expected to provide for her husband . In the third vignette of ‘The House on Mango Street’ titled ‘Boys and Girls’ the reader is informed of the division between men and women when Esperanza refers to herself and her sister Nenny , and her brothers, “They’ve got plenty to say to me and Nenny inside the house. But outside they can’t be seen talking to girls”. The male dominance begins at a very young age.

The House on Mango Street is a touching and timeless tale told in short vignettes. It tells the story of a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago. Her life, and the lives of the people around her, are laid bare to the readers in this touching novella. In the beginning, Esperanza is not accepting of herself. Her family’s poor financial situation, the sadness of the people around her, and the problems she faces in her daily life make her very cynical.

The House on Mango Street is set in a poor, primarily Hispanic neighborhood. Author Sandra Cisneros creates an atypical, yet easily digestible world for the reader to experience while learning about Esperanza’s childhood. The culture of her environment influences Esperanza’s development as she becomes a young woman, and contributes to the book’s driving theme of self-empowerment. Mango Street is the source of Esperanza’s growth through her childhood, and it hides sadness and longing underneath stereotypes of Hispanic people. The characters that live in the broken-down neighborhood all seem to represent pigeonholed views of Latino individuals.

The House on Mango Street, is a broad interpretation of a Hispanic girl’s life and her coming of age. Throughout the course of the book, Esperanza, the narrator and protagonist, is constantly fighting a war between her autonomous mind and her forever changing sexual body. You, Esperanza, whose name means hope in English, how did you lose your hope? Your innocence? Your purity? Esperanza, after exploring her changing world profoundly and deeply, experienced a series of psychological changes (changes in her maturity, intelligence, and including personal degradation associated with pubescent teenagers) as she encounters men whom loudly express the negative, masculine stereotypes constantly argued for by feminists. Cisneros uses multiple symbols,

Esperanza’s Achievement of Cultural Identity and Autonomy In the coming of age story of Sandra Cisnero’s novel The House on Mango Street, the author uses simple but profound language to express the young girl and main character, Esperanza’s, goal is to become an autonomous individual who controls her own choices. She is driven by her observations of the many trapped and powerless people of Mango Street. This desire is physically represented by her dream of a new house in a different place—at first it is a house for her family, but at the story’s end, it is a house she owns alone, where she can write. It not only symbolizes her dream of agency of trying to change her name to something that shows the “real” her.

Have you ever had to eat a rice sandwich? If so, you might identify with a certain little girl named Esperanza. Esperanza Cordero is the main character of the book The House on Mango Street. Esperanza exhibits many strong character traits. Esperanza is a very timid, or shy girl.

In The House on Mango Street written by Sandra Cisneros, the dominant theme for these collection of vignettes is the dreams and beauty expressed throughout the book using poetic devices. For instance, Esperanza grasps onto the dream of having her own house as she remains discontented with the house on Mango Street. On page 5, she stated, “I knew then I had to have a house. A real house.”

Obstacles Numerous people stumble upon obstacles, but only a few can overcome them. Most obstacles are influenced by the values of the society. In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Liesel Meminger overcomes her lack of education and her different beliefs on Jewish people. In Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet both overcome the obstacle of not being able to be together because of the feud between their families. In “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros, Esperanza overcomes the obstacle of not fitting into her society because of her lack of money.

Believe it or not, people are not entirely unique. It is certain that no one is truly the same as another person, but it would not be ridiculous to think that everyone does in fact share many similarities. After all, the majority of the population grows and develops opinions or values based on what they see or hear. For Esperanza, the protagonist of Sandra Cisneros’s, The House on Mango Street, the perspective she has is built upon her childhood on Mango Street. This coming-of-age novel illustrates how Esperanza’s experiences on Mango Street play an important role during her period of growth. As she transitions into womanhood, Esperanza gains a new understanding of weighty concepts such as gender roles. On Mango Street, she is exposed to a variety of females who fill the role model and non-role model categories. Specifically, Esperanza’s observations of the characters, Marin, Sally, and Alicia, reveal the oppressive or often dangerous roles placed on women and how they ultimately influence the development of her identity.

Ochoa-Estevanes1 Introduction A. In the book, Esperanza experiences different individuals down where she lives. B. While Esperanza is always in the process of moving, she explains her life on Mango Street to one of the unique experience for her. C. The book, The House on Mango Street, is a great example of a Hispanic young lady taking what she loves, sees and explains her feelings towards her house by using literary elements such as imagery and allegory.

One cultural aspect presented in The House on Mango Street is gender roles. Throughout the book, I noticed differences between the roles of men and women in society. There are several similarities and differences between gender roles in the Hispanic culture and my own culture, the Indian culture. By researching and reflecting on the two different cultures, I gained more knowledge on the characters and plotline of The House on Mango Street.