John Rosado Ms. Bader 8/108 04/23/24 Argumentative Essay- The House on Mango Street Women battle against gender norms and male dominance, showing their fight for freedom and identity all around the world. In the novel The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros illustrates the lives of women in a neighborhood of color, where social expectations and male manipulation limit their opportunities. Through Esperanza’s journey, we witness the struggles Esperanza and other women face to break free from this feeling of entrapment. The struggles against gender norms and male dominance are equally important, revealing how these issues shape the characters lives and reflect the intricacy of power and identity. As we explore the lives of the women on Mango …show more content…
Through characters like Tito's mother and Alicia, we witness the limits imposed by traditional gender norms. For instance, Tito's mother expresses the fact that they are just boys and that’s what they do, saying, "Those kids, she said, are not looking up from her ironing. That’s all for now. What do you want me to do, she said, call the police?" Page 97 of the book. Furthermore, her lack of care for the situation also suggests acceptance of the phrase that "boys will be boys," an excuse often used to justify male behavior regardless of its impact on women. Similarly, Alicia's determination to escape a life of domestication is evident in her decision to take "two trains and a bus, because she doesn't want to spend her whole life in a factory or behind a rolling pin" (Pages 31-32). This rebellion against the prearranged roles assigned to women accentuates the desire for freedom and self-determination. Additionally, Alicia’s father reinforces traditional gender roles, dismissing Alicia’s ambitions with the pronouncement that "a woman's place is sleeping so she can wake up early with the tortilla star" (Page 31). This statement exemplifies the societal expectation for women to prioritize their duties over personal dreams and goals. Overall, these instances highlight the influence of gender roles in shaping women's …show more content…
Despite mentions of racial identity, like when Esperanza is called "Spanish girl," the main concern is the mistreatment of women. For example, when Esperanza is grabbed by a boy who rapes her, he refers to her based on her ethnicity, it's not just about race but about his disregard for her and her consent as a woman. As seen in the text, "the one who grabbed me by the arm, he wouldn't let me go." He said "I love you, Spanish girl, I love you," (Page 100), this focuses on the boy's abusive behavior rather than racial identity, showing how women are mistreated and discriminated against in The House on Mango Street. Similarly, when Tito's friend sets a rule that forces Sally to kiss them to retrieve her keys, it's about declaring power over her. This is evident when one of Tito's friends declares, "you can't get the keys back unless you kiss us" (Page 96). This evidence once again shows us how women are taken advantage of and treated as objects on Mango Street. Additionally, when Esperanza is kissed by an old man who refuses to let go, it's a violation of her agency and highlights the issue of the mistreatment of women. As seen in the text, "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" (Page 55), it's clear that the focus is on how women
The House on Mango Street is a novel by Sandra Cisneros. It is set in a poor, Latino neighborhood around 1960. The main character, Esperanza, is expected to get married in order to support herself. However, Esperanza strives for independence, and seeks to end the cycle of abusive patriarchy that holds Mango Street in thrall. Through the use of syntax and figurative language, Cisneros establishes that a sense of not belonging can fuel an individual’s desire for a better future.
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros is about a girl who struggles finding her true self. Esperanza sees the typical figures like Sally and Rafaela. There is also her neighbor Marin shows the “true” identity for women on Mango Street. She also sees her mother is and is not like that at the same time. The main struggle that Esperanza has is with beauty. This explains why most of the negative people that Esperanza meets on Mango Street, and her gender, helped her see the mold she needed to fill in order to give herself an identity.
“The House on Mango Street” emphasizes on this issue, even broadens to explain other controversial matters such as abuse, misogynistic views, and stereotypes. The protagonist, Esperanza Cordero moves to Mango Street where she must witness the abuse affecting her friends, neighbors, and family. Either Sally a close friend, Mamacita a neighbor, or her own mother handling 4 children. Over the course of the novel Esperanza changes physically and mentally. Through the use of imagery as well as complex, descriptive vignettes Cisneros epitomizes the misogynistic views within Esperanza’s
As an American short story writer, Sandra Cisneros was influenced by her mother. She made her get library cards and check out books to read when she was young. During her childhood experiences and ethnic heritage as the daughter of a Mexican father and Chicana mother, Cisneros adresses poverty. She is best known for the award winning House On Mango Street in 1983.This book mainly focuses on the treatment of woman in a Chicano community. The House on Mango Street as well as her recent books, Woman Hollering Creek and other stories have won critical condition of hispanic woman. She wrote the house on Mango Street which started without high expectations. Critics say that this book was highly acclaimed, but she then wrote a poem called The Wicked Wicked Ways, and it was perhaps the most widely read. As today, Sandra Cisneros is considered the most visible chicana in literary circles. She received her first fellowship in 1982,an which allowed her to write full time.She writes in very descriptive; yet simple language creating images through personification. She descriptively wrote on the House on Mango Street about Esperanza’s colorful world of beauty and ugliness. She is a writer who writes in her own way, she wanted to write books that were as unique as her. The books she writes are not like any other books she had checked out form the library or read in school. She wrote about her childhood memories and also the every day language she heard in her “vecindad’ meaning neighborhood in Spanish. She lived in an apartment that had no attic, she felt homeless because neither did she have cellars or crannies but, only a basement which consisted of spiders and mice where no one wanted to store things down there. She then realized that s...
Symbolism is the key to understanding Sandra Cisneros’ novel, “The House on Mango Street”. By unraveling the symbolism, the reader truly exposes the role of not only Latina women but women of any background. Esperanza, a girl from a Mexican background living in Chicago, writes down what she witnesses while growing up. As a result of her sheltered upbringing, Esperanza hardly comprehends the actions that take place around her, but what she did understand she wrote in her journal. Cisneros used this technique of the point of view of a child, to her advantage by giving the readers enough information of what is taking place on Mango Street so that they can gather the pieces of the puzzle a get the big picture.
Maria Elena de Valdes writes her review based upon the novel The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros analyzing the identity of the main character, Esperanza, and how the text relates to Mexican-American individuals. Valdes’ review evaluates The House on Mango Street with a feminist view on to show the struggles of a young chicana girl coming of age and how she chooses to establish her own identity.
Gabriela Quintanilla Mrs. Allen A.P English 12 12 March 2014 The House on Mango Street Sandra Cisneros once said “'Hispanic' is English for a person of Latino origin who wants to be accepted by the white status quo. ’ Latino' is the word we have always used for ourselves.” In the novel I read, The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros, the main character, a twelve-year-old Chicana (Mexican-American girl), Esperanza, saw self-definition as a struggle, this was a major theme in the novel through Esperanza’s actions and the ones around her. Esperanza tries to find identity in herself as a woman as well as an artist throughout the novel through her encounters.
The author of The House on Mango Street and the producer of The Color Purple are able to integrate numerous important thematic ideas. Many of these ideas still apply to our current world, teaching various important lessons to many adolescents and adults. The House on Mango Street is a collection of vignettes written by Sandra Cisneros, a Mexican-American writer. The novel depicts many aspects of Sandra Cisneros’ life including racism, and sexism that she and the main character face. The novel revolves around Esperanza Cordero, a young Latina girl, who is growing up in Chicago as she faces the various struggles of living in America. The various vignettes reveal many experiences Esperanza has with reality and her navie responses to such harsh
“I don’t set out to be different, I set out to be me people think it’s different.” Lil Wayne expresses how he feels about his career. Meanwhile, this quote is saying that everyone is trying to be themselves whether people think it’s different or not. In House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros the motivation for those in poverty is dreams; therefore, those who struggle economically overwork those who are economically stable to obtain their goals and dreams. Cisneros uses her choice of words to display the attitude about how the characters feel about their dreams and goals.
In The House on Mango Street, Cisneroz agitates the theme of diversity through her use of characters and setting. Cisneroz paints a multitude of events that follow a young girl named Esperanza growing up in the diverse section of Chicago. She is dealing with searching for a release from the low expectations that the Latino communities often put women whether young or old are put against. Cisneroz often draws from her life growing up that she was able to base Esperanza's life experiences on and portray an accurate view on Latino societies today. Cisneroz used the chapter “Boys and Girls” and “Beautiful and cruel” to portray Esperanzas growth from a young curious girl to a wise woman. She came into her own personal awareness and her actions that she has to now be held accountable for.
One recurring theme in the House on Mango Street is independence. In the novel, Esperanza dreams of the day she will leave Mango Street and the oppression from men, to become truly free. However, as she matures, she begins to desire love from men. In the vignette, “Beautiful and Cruel”, Esperanza describes her admiration for the women in the movies who are beautiful, desired my men, yet retain their own power. Sally Rafaela is an important character because she teaches Esperanza that such a dream is an insurmountable challenge. At first glance Sally Rafaela embodies the traits of the movie heroines; she is gorgeous, dresses nicely, and has the attention of the boys, but as we dive deeper into her life, we discover that she is not free. Scared that Sally will run away, her abusive father dominates her life by constant and savage beatings over miniscule issues.
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 to depend on a man (Cisneros 108). During the course of the novel Esperanza eventually realizes that it is also her duty to go back to Mango Street “For the ones that cannot out”, or the women who do not challenge the norms (110). Esperanza eventually turns to her writing as a way to escape from her situation without having to marry a man that she would be forced to rely on like some of her friends do.
Author Sandra Cisneros was born in 1954 in the Latino section of Chicago (Encarta 1). Cisneros is an “American novelist, short-story writer, essayist, and poet (Encarta 1).” Her works have brought the perspective of the Mexican American woman into the “mainstream of literary feminism (Encarta 1).” She earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Loyola University in 1976 and her Master’s Degree from the University of Iowa in 1978 (Encarta 1). The House on Mango Street is Cisneros’ first novel, and “is her most critically acclaimed (Encarta 1).” The novel is constructed with a “series of short interconnected chapters (Encarta 1).” Cisneros writes of the “hopes, desires, and disillusionments of a young writer growing up in a large city (Encarta 1).” After reading The House on Mango Street, the reader is left with a greater sense of the everyday oppressions the “roles created for women in Hispanic society (Encarta 1).” Cisneros decides to accept the oppression as part of culture, but also detach from this view by telling women, old and young alike, to find their own independence. Cisneros uses Esperanza as a vehicle to express the power of womanhood and determination to reach certain goals.
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 mature young lady through her difficult life experiences and the people she comes across. It is through personal encounters and experiences that Esperanza begins to become sexually aware and acceptance her place and self-definition in her community.
In the novel, The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros describes the problems that Latino women face in a society that treats them as second class citizens. A society that is dominated by men, and a society that values women for what they look like, and not for what is on inside. In her Novel Cisneros wants us to envision the obstacles that Latino women must face everyday in order to be treated equally.