Theme Of Women In The House On Mango Street

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Sandra Cisneros in her bildungsroman The House on Mango Street, explores the identity of Hispanic women within their society. A society in which women are denoted as inferior and trivial to the dominant role of males. Thus the theme of Machismo is explored in a series of vignettes told through the eyes of an adolescent named Esperanza. The women of Mango street are portrayed as reliant individuals who were beguiled into their destiny. Esperanza sees these women as woeful and vows to avoid the path each one has chosen to take. Despite feeling sympathy for her them, Esperanza views the women in her community as a counter example of what she wants for herself because she strives to break the traditional female role she has grown up on. Traditionally, …show more content…
As long as women continue to allow men to woo them , they are surrendering their independence and freedom. She acknowledges that the male yet again serves as an impediment to women by limiting her to a life of repetitious lies, broken promises and inferiority. They face a constant struggle between companionship and self autonomy. She refuses to allow herself to be subjected into such a strenuous and devastating position . Another possible future for Esperanza is exemplified here, but her brassy descriptions only prove that this isn 't her preferred …show more content…
Esperanza is inclined towards a life of marriage and self definition, but through the women she encounters she realizes it may be unattainable. Ruthie for example, owns a “pretty house outside the city” (69) and is married. It is mentioned however, that “there were many thing’s Ruthie could have been if she wanted to” (68), but she gave up her future for wedding vow. Her childlike characteristics are a by product of her failed marriage and a representation of a nonexisting happiness and naiveness Esperanza wishes to have. She essentially serves as an example of hindered potential for success. Ruthie had the contingency to be more than a woman on Mango Street but ends up being a depiction of a fictitious illusion for a better

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