The House On Mango Street Cisneros Essay

Cisneros, having grown up in America, often experienced rifts between her Mexican parents and their cultures as well, and this is reflected in her writing. In “Only Daughter” she writes, “Being only a daughter for my father meant my destiny would lead me to become someone’s wife. That’s what he believed.” Here, cultural values clash as Cisneros recounts the conflicts she has faced in her life due to different ideologies in within her household. Similarly, in “Woman Hollering Creek”, the main character feels isolated from both her father and husband due to the oppression she feels under the traditional Latino values that dictate a woman as property to the men in her life.
Each writer possess the unique perspective of someone who is an American, …show more content…
Cisneros, like Tan, uses her writing to call out aspects of her culture that oppress, such as the patriarchal rule.
Through the inclusion of these topics in their writing, these authors criticize the negative effects oppressive cultural ideals can have. In doing so, they help their cultures adapt to modern values that better the lives of those who are part of them. In this sense, the society they are trying to better is not that of the white American, but that of their own cultures. Throughout their writing, Cisneros and Tan criticize society’s opposition of cultural differences by exploring the divisions these differences can create for characters with divided cultural identities. These divisions exist in many forms, and all are discussed by these authors. Sometimes it is the separation between minority Americans and the rest of America, or the chasm between generations in families, and other times it exists between those who hold opposing values due to their cultures. Either way, both Tan and Cisneros believe that cultural differences form a “collective strength that can benefit all of humanity”, and use their works to achieve a society that believes it as