House On Mango Street Gender Roles Essay

Gender roles play a big part in many people’s daily lives, and from a young age, people are conditioned to see women and men in different ways. Women are usually seen as the weaker sex who take care of the home, while men are seen as the strong suppliers of the household. House on Mango Street is about a twelve year-old girl named Esperanza and her life growing up in a Chicago barrio with many interesting neighbors. In particular, we meet several women who follow their gender roles and do what is expected of them and also women who go against the path laid out for them by society to follow their heart. In House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros reveals the idea that although gender roles influence the way a person is perceived by society, it

One of the first people she meets is Alicia in “Alicia Who Sees Mice,” whose going to college while trying to keep up the house since the passing of her mother, “Alicia, who inherited her mama’s rolling pin and sleepiness, is young and smart and studies for the first time at the university. Two trains and a bus, because she doesn’t want to spend her whole life in a factory or behind a rolling pin,” (32). Alicia struggles to keep up the housework and schoolwork because her father makes her take care of her younger siblings. However, she is following her dreams and is happy because she does not want to be like the other women on Mango Street. Another woman she meets is Ruthie in “Edna’s Ruthie,” who was married but decides to come back to Mango Street, “She got married instead and moved away to a pretty house outside the city. Only thing I can’t understand is why Ruthie is living on Mango Street if she doesn’t have to,” (69). Ruthie is described throughout the vignette as childish, and this evidence shows that there’s another side to her. Although at first she decides to do what is expected of her and get married, she eventually decides to come back to where she feels most at home and where she is most happy. Esperanza sees two types of role models on Mango Street: Those who follow their specific roles and those who follow their

In “Beautiful and Cruel,” Esperanza decides to follow her own path and stray from what is expected of her, “I have begun my own quiet war. Simple. Sure. I am one who leaves the table like a man, without putting back the chair or picking up the plate,” (89). She does not want to end up like any of the unhappy women on Mango Street. As one of the last vignettes, this shows that Esperanza has decided to do what she wants and not just what others expect her to do. Throughout the story, Esperanza gets conflicting opinions on what she should do with her life but in “Smart Cookie,” her mother shares some good advice, “I could’ve been somebody, you know? Esperanza, you go to school. Study hard,” (91). Most people look to their parents as the people who influence them the most. Even though her mother didn’t go to school and follow what she wanted to do, she tells Esperanza to and that solidifies her choice in the last vignette. She decides to follow her own