Gender Roles In Sandra Cisneros's The House On Mango Street

The definition of gender is the state of being male or female, nowhere in that definition does is state that one gender has power over the other. So why do we think that way and why is there such a thing as gender “roles”? We as humans have a habit of treating females as lower beings than males, but they are really equal. Many women face this problem everyday, especially women of ethnicity. They face this problem more than others, they sometimes get treated like servants and are stripped of their freedom. Which happens in The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, gender roles significantly shape Esperanza’s identity because women do not have power or freedom in their community which is shown when Sally and Alicia are afraid of their fathers …show more content…
79). In this quote Rafaela gets locked up because she is too “beautiful”, but really her husband wants to keep her to himself so she would not want to leave him.In this quote Rafaela is stripped of her freedom because her husband keeps her locked up in her house. He does this because he has the power over her to do so. This makes her more vulnerable because she is unknowledgable about the world and only has her husband’s words about it. So he has all the control about what she knows about it. By limiting her knowledge it makes her has no control over herself. Esperanza is not like this because she does not need anyone controlling her she follows her own path. Esperanza states that Sally got married and her husband controls who she is allowed to see and do. She has no more freedom. “ Sally got married like we knew she would... He won’t let her talk on the telephone. And she is not allowed to look out the window… She is afraid to go outside without permission” (Cisneros, pg. 101-102). In this quote states that Sally got married and that her husband has control over everything she does. Sally tried marrying to escape her father as Ezperanza state by “like we knew she would”. But she realizes that she will be free. She will always have a man controlling her. In this quote Sally marries so she cna be free from he father, but it does work she is in controll of a man. Sally is relying on her husband to take her away from her father so she will not be abused anymore, but she is still in control by a man. She is afraid of him and will not disobey him with out. By being fearful of him that makes Sally vunerable so she is easier to control and she is more likely to not do anythig that could get her in trouble. Esperanza is not like Sally or any other girl from her communtiy because she does not rely on men to safe her or control her. Being