The House on Mango Street: boys vs. girls

In the House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, the series of events are told through the perspective of Esperanza and I've noticed that a majority of them are about the many women she meets and has encounters with throughout her time on Mango street. I would say Cisneros is definitely in favor of women rights because of the way Esperanzas perspective is, but in these vignettes many of the women mentioned appear to be very weak and the main cause for this seems to be by a male in their life, weather it is their husband or father, or some other male figure.On the topic of raising children, I think Cisneros would agree that boys and girls should be raised a little differently, but mostly the same. However, by reading her book it is obvious that she understands that people in society raise their sons differently to their daughters.

Assuming Cisneros is a strong believer if women rights, I conclude that she believes boys and girls should be raised roughly equally in society. However, she definitely addresses the reality that this is not the case for most families.

"Her father says to be this beautiful is trouble...He remembers his sisters and is sad. Then she can't go out. Sally I mean."(p.81) "But who believes her... A girl who comes in with her pretty face all beaten and black can't be falling off the stairs. He never hits me hard." (p.92)

In the first vignette that Sally is introduced , Esperanza explains how she is a beautiful girl, who seems to have no freedom. She mentions that she is always running home after school and doesn't really stay to play with the other children after school. When I first read this vignette, it wasn't really clear to me what her home life was like. However, the second time Sally is mentioned in the vignette, "What Sally Said" it becomes pretty clear that Sally's father abuses her at home. When Cisneros mentions that Sally's father's sisters left and that he's afraid that Sally may do the same, it seems to me that Cisneros is saying that since Sally is a girl she is treated a certain way by her father. This makes me think that it may be a cycle. Maybe Sally's father saw what his sisters did and assumed Sally would do the same since she is a girl. This shows that Cisneros realized this is un fair, but it is a reality in the world that girls are sometimes raised differently than boys.

In The House on Mango Street, there are also a few places where Cisneros mentions the stereotypical views of what women should do with their lives that are common in this neighborhood. It seems as though most of these women are expected to wait until they find a man to marry and they will be the care taker of the home and take care of the children. This view is addressed in the vignette "Alicia Who Sees Mice".

"Alicia, whose mama died, is sorry there is no one older to rise and make the lunchbox tortillas. Alicia who inherited her mama's rolling pin and sleepiness, is young and smart and studies for the first time at the university [...] because she doesn't want to spend her whole life in a factory or behind a rolling pin."

Since Alicia was the oldest girl left after her mother died, she was the one that had to take on all her duties and responsibilities.  This vignette shows how Alicia is sort of forced to take on the roll of a caretaker since she is a girl. However, it also shows how she continues to work hard and go to the university because she doesn't want to be one of the stereotypical women who just stay home and take care of children. To me this vignette shows that Sandra Cisneros thinks that girls should be raised to achieve greatness- getting an education, getting a job to provide for themselves etc; It seems she is giving the message that girls shouldn't be brought up and just be expected to be stay home moms, but they should have an equal chance to achieve things in their lives just like boys.