Theme Of Sexism In The House On Mango Street

Tired of Being Beautiful In The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros tells the story of a young girl named Esperanza living in Chicago. The story begins with Esperanza and her family moving into their new house on Mango Street. This house is made of crumbling red brick, and isn’t what Esperanza had hoped for when she envisioned a new house. As the story continues in a series of vignettes, a more complex theme begins to emerge. Cisneros suggests in a refection on her own experiences that being subjected to sexism and viewed in a sexual way is a negative influence. This becomes evident in the young girl's’ actions in “The House of Little Feet,” Marin’s actions in “Marin,” and Esperanza being forcefully kissed by her coworker in “The First

Though we are not told why, Marin is not allowed to come outside when her aunt is not home, and even then she can’t leave the front yard. When she is finally let outside, Marin gives strange advice to the kids, including Esperanza. Marin also says that it is most important for “the boys to see us” and “for us to see them”(27). This phase and other phrases like “she was older than us in many ways”(28), give the impression that Marin is a sort of prostitute. She uses her sexuality to gain benefits from men, and hopes to bring herself out of her current situation and into a better

While one man warns the girls about the consequences of wearing the shoes by saying “Them are dangerous,” and “You girls too young to be wearing shoes like that”(41), others are not so kind. Most people (all of them male) only yell out derogatory remarks such as “Ladies, lead me to heaven”(41). These comments, however, do not seem to affect the naive girls very much, as they all agree that “these are the best shoes”(41), in the midst of their walk.The fear and realization comes when a homeless man calls Rachel “a pretty girl”(41), and offers a dollar for a kiss. Even though the girls run away from the man, they can never run away from the realization that they are constantly being judged by the people all around them. Esperanza and the girl’s obviously don’t enjoy this newfound attention as they “are tired of being beautiful”(42), and hide the shoes where they are eventually thrown away. These high-heeled shoes may seem innocent at first, but is is soon clear that they shift the perception of the girls and attract unwanted sexual attention they don’t