Gender Roles In The House On Mango Street

In the novel The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros, the author mainly portrays men in a negative light. Most people who are of the male gender are portrayed as sick people who only care about engaging sexual acts. In a few instances, the reader is even able to find physical abuse. Now, boys and men are mostly able to do what they want without consequences. Esperanza's own great-grandmother is an example of this. Esperanza tells the reader that her grandmother was "so wild, she [would not] marry" (Cisneros 11). Sadly, this did not last for long. Esperanza's great-grandmother is forced to marry Esperanza's great-grandfather. Her great-grandmother is never the same after this. A similar example is found in Esperanza's new friend, Sally.

They tell her that she can get them back if she kisses each one of them that has a key. Esperanza observes Sally's response towards this request. "Sally [pretends] to be mad at first but she [says] yes" (96). As a result, Esperanza rushes into the house of one of Tito's friends and proceeds to tell a mom what these boys are doing. Like most of the women on Mango Street, this boy's mother did not care "What do you want me to do, she said, call the cops" (97). As a result, the male gender attempts to engage in sexual acts a few times. When Esperanza and her friends find a pair of red high-heels, they try the shoes on and wear the shoes around Mango Street. While doing this, the girls encounter a drunk man. Desperate for a kiss, he asks "If I give you a dollar will you kiss me" (41-42). This scares the girls and they throw away the shoes. Later on, Esperanza's family encourages her to get a job sorting photos. On her lunch break, an old man asks Esperanza to kiss him on the cheek because it is his birthday. Esperanza, who sees no harm in doing so, attempts to give him a birthday kiss. "[He] kisses me hard on the mouth and [does not] let go"