The House On Mango Street Summary

One of the many topics discussed by Sandra Cisneros in her story The House on Mango Street is male and female gender roles. In the vignette, My Hair, Esperanza states, "the Mexicans, don't like their women strong". What the author means by this is that in Mexico it is common that the woman stay home, cook, clean, and take care of the children while the husband goes to work. In this situation, and really any other, the women is considered weak and is expected to obey the husband. It is not uncommon that the husband abuses the wife if they do not obey. Here in USA, domestic violence is taken more seriously than in Mexico, which is a reason some people leave Mexico to come here, although some people never escape it. Gender roles are becoming …show more content…
Sally is a beautiful young girl who is physically abused by her father. In the story, Esperanza describes sally as, "the girl with eyes like Egypt and nylons the color of smoke. The boys at school think she's beautiful because her hair is shiny black like raven feathers and when she laughs, she flicks her hair back like a satin shawl over her shoulders and laughs." This quote shows that Esperanza admires Sally and wants to be just like her. Sally likes to be around boys which is likely the cause of her abusive father. Sally tries to find comfort in boys since she gets none from her father. In the quote, "He never hits me hard. She said her mama rubs lard on all the places where it hurts. Then at school she'd say she fell. That's where all the blue places come from. That's why her skin is always scarred." This shows that Sally blames her bruises on falling, although no one believes her, which is likely because she does not want to say what really happened because she is scarred of her father and what he will do to her. Sally's father says that to be as beautiful as she is is trouble. This shows a gender role where the women is blamed and is expected to act a certain way and punished when the man does not like he way the women is. Sally tries to stay with Esperanza for a few days to try to get away from her father cries and goes to get her because he does not want her to leave like his sisters had left. …show more content…
Cisneros writes very realistic situations and reactions to male dominate gender roles and abuse. I can relate to these stories in various ways. My mother was physically and emotionally abused just like Minerva, Sally, Rafaela, and Mamacita. I understand what Sally went through with my own relationship with my father who expects me to fit into the gender role of a woman who only lives to serve a husband. Cisneros made it clear that Esperanza does not want to grow up end up like these women in unfortunate situations. Esperanza is a strong little girl who understand the gender roles happening in her neighborhood and clearly knows they are not right. Every man and woman can understand and relate to the gender roles described in The House on Mango