Gender Roles in House on Mango Street

The House on Mango Street

Gender Roles in The House on Mango Street

In The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, the men and boys are the dominant forces. The women and girls are displayed as submissive. The men and boys tend to intrude on the lives of the women with respect to everything. Given this aspect of the overall short stories, it allows the men to control the opposite sex's need to communicate. The women are not allowed to speak their minds given the dominant male presence in the book. Cisneros appears to be making a statement about the dominance of men in society, and not just Hispanic culture.

As far as the boys, their reputations are at stake as well in terms of talking to the girls. Esperanza Cordero, the book's major character makes it clear from the beginning that "the boys and the girls live in separate worlds" (8). Cisneros in making this point clear early on is showing a clear distinction between men and women; boys and girls. Cisneros is also stating that society is led by men and boys and this has created a separation of the genders. Throughout the short stories, Cisneros reinforces the point that men are the supreme force in society while simultaneously weaving in the fact that women and girls for that matter want to be seen as distinct and not only submissive. In addition to the separation of the men and women, Cisneros also uses the dynamic of dependency to show the differences in gender roles in The House on Mango Street. Specifically, this happens when Esperanza's mother says "that Madame Butterfly was a fool....Izaura whose husband left and Yolanda whose husband is dead" (91). By bringing this up, Cisneros is driving the point home that the women are dependent upon the men so much so that they cannot survive or rather are not seen as being capable of surviving without them. The strengths of the men then are seen in their capacity to take care of the family and their wives. The weaknesses are that they themselves are equally as dependent on the women. This same fact can be said about the boys and girls, although Cisneros focuses most of the discussion on the distinctions between the men and the women.

Two Characters in The House on Mango Street

Esperanza Cordero

        Esperanza Cordero is the central character in the story. Cisneros uses this young woman, who grows up, to showcase her theme of femininity and male dominance in society. Esperanza at the beginning of the story is shown as poor and incapable of dealing with the loneliness that she feels and observes in the relationships that she has. She is the narrator of the book as well as the protagonist. Cisneros tries to display the ethnicity of Esperanza as much as she can - as it plays a heavy part in her connection to family and her overall identity that the reader comes to understand in reading the book.