The House On Mango Street Women Analysis

Although it is not always clear, women are constantly being treated as lesser than men. Women and men are approaching equality, but many women are still being treated unfairly. White communities usually pretend that everything is perfect and cover up this problem. Hispanics, on the other hand, often make the mistreatment of women perspicuous. This is portrayed in the novella The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros. Cisneros displays the mistreatment of women in the hispanic culture through the women in Esperanza’s life.
Esperanza finds her first example of the poor treatment of women within her own family. Esperanza’s great-grandmother was forced into marriage with Esperanza’s great-grandfather. Esperanza describes her great-grandmother as “a wild horse of a woman, so wild she wouldn’t

Cisneros uses Esperanza’s friend, Sally, to show that young women are also mistreated. Esperanza explains that “Sally doesn’t tell about that time he hit her with his hands just like a dog, she said, like if I was an animal”(92). This quote references Sally, who is only 13, being beaten by her dad. Esperanza explains that even though Sally is beaten, she still lies to protect her father. This shows how many cases of abuse are unknown even in the hispanic community because the women want to protect their abusers. Women do this out of fear of losing the little they have. Also, Sally is compared to a dog, which is another example of dehumanizing women.
Cisneros uses the women in Esperanza’s life to display the mistreatment of women in the hispanic culture. Esperanza sees this mistreatment in all aspects of her life; her family, her neighborhood, and her friends. From these experiences, Esperanza becomes a stronger person and does everything she can to not end up as just another woman in the window. Cisneros uses Esperanza as a model for all women in hopes of propelling them to fight for full gender