Correspondingly, the women in The House on Mango Street are unsatisfied with their lives and seek ways to find purpose and equality. In Esperanza’s community, women are treated as if their worth is far less than a man’s and the likelihood of breaking away from the poor treatment and little roles are quite slim. Esperanza decides to go against the odds and refuse to succumb to the discrimination placed upon women. Esperanza learns first hand from what she has heard about her great-grandmother that ‘a place by the window’ is not a life worth living. Esperanza speaks of her great-grandmother saying, “She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow. I wonder if she made the best with what she got
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Alicia refuses to let gender roles keep her from receiving an education in order to escape poverty. Alicia’s community often sets women’s education to the side in order to face their more ‘pressing’ matters like, finding a husband. Women in communities similar to Mango Street grow up with the beliefs that education is not of value and rather that focusing on pursuing a career or aspiring to be better they should focus on learning to meet needs of their family or husband. Alicia knows she wants more for herself and pushes to break free from the life expected of her. Cisnero writes, “Alice who inherited her mother’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”(31). Alicia is striving to follow a different path than her deceased mother and most of the other women who live on Mango Street. Although it will be a rough journey she wants more for herself than what her mother had. Alicia is faced with the burden of fulfilling the role of a mother due to the passing of her mom while still attending college. A difficult task that she accomplishes because of a lot of ambition brought on to her by the fear of ending up like her mother. Alicia’s mindset to want to exist for more than her expected roles is inspiring to not only Esperanza, but the readers of The House on Mango Street as
Alicia refuses to let gender roles keep her from receiving an education in order to escape poverty. Alicia’s community often sets women’s education to the side in order to face their more ‘pressing’ matters like, finding a husband. Women in communities similar to Mango Street grow up with the beliefs that education is not of value and rather that focusing on pursuing a career or aspiring to be better they should focus on learning to meet needs of their family or husband. Alicia knows she wants more for herself and pushes to break free from the life expected of her. Cisnero writes, “Alice who inherited her mother’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”(31). Alicia is striving to follow a different path than her deceased mother and most of the other women who live on Mango Street. Although it will be a rough journey she wants more for herself than what her mother had. Alicia is faced with the burden of fulfilling the role of a mother due to the passing of her mom while still attending college. A difficult task that she accomplishes because of a lot of ambition brought on to her by the fear of ending up like her mother. Alicia’s mindset to want to exist for more than her expected roles is inspiring to not only Esperanza, but the readers of The House on Mango Street as