Women In The House On Mango Street

Women Women today are seen very differently than the women years ago. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros portrays the women of the Mexican Culture and their life here in the United States set in Chicago. The women are portrayed by Esperanza who narrates the novel. The roles of women are different for each charterer in the vignettes from being entrapped by men, to coming of age, the daughter at home or leaving Mango Street. Women become entrapped by their husbands and fathers in this town. Cisneros shows us the negative side of this community. Before Esperanza left to go leave on Mango Street, she tells us about her life before it. Esperanza’s great-grandmother was always at home. She sat at the window waiting on her husband to
Esperanza, Rachel and Lucy get high heels from a lady in their neighborhood. The girls get all excited because this was their first time in high heels. They start walking down the street, never wanting to take them off. They get stopped multiple times on their walk down the street. After a guy talks to them about their heels do they realize that they are still girls. Esperanza is on the naïve side when it comes to guys. She gets a job at a Photo company. During lunch one day she eats with this old man. This old mad asks her for a kiss because it was his birthday. She was too young to know that it was wrong. Cisneros lets known that Esperanza is just a girl. Esperanza will make mistakes. Esperanza tells us “I thought I would because he was so old and just as I was about to put my lips on his cheek, he grabs my face with both hands and kisses me hard on the mouth and doesn’t let go.” (Cisneros, 55). Esperanza was not expecting the old guy to come and kiss her on the lips. It shows that men take advantage of young girls. Alicia is a neighbor and becomes a friend to Esperanza. Alicia’s father makes her take care of the family after the mother died. Alicia once told Esperanza that she “Is afraid of nothing except four-legged fur. And fathers.” (Cisneros, 32). Cisneros shows that the four-legged fur refers to the mice are the symbol for her escaping her father. He extorts his power to
That her name means different things in different languages. Esperanza tells us “In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters.” (Cisneros, 10). Esperanza is named after her great-grandmother. The hope is what helps her to leave Mango Street. Esperanza also talks about what she wants in her house along with kids. She is finally able to leave but promises to come back to Mango Street. Esperanza can leave Mango Street but has to come to it. Aunts of Lucy and Rachel’s warns not to leave the people behind. Cisneros is portraying that the aunts were the fates and saying Esperanza’s fate. Doyle writes:
Esperanza dreams of release and of reunion. She will leave Mango street, “the house I belong but do not belong to” (110), but she tells us, “I won’t forget who I am or where I came from” (870). (Doyle, “More Room of Her Own: Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street”).
Cisneros is letting that Esperanza will not forget where she came from, Mango Street is her home. This novel of vignettes takes us on a journey through Esperanza’s life. The women have their ups and downs in the vignettes. In the end that if a women is strong enough then she is able to leave Mango Street. Cisneros creates a story for us to live in. She creates on where events like Esperanza’s might happened in Chicago or