House on Mango Street: Racial and gender Discrimination
Zsante Washington 6
Ms. Wilson
English 9
1 November 2013 The House on Mango Street Literary Analysis
The novel, The House on Mango Street is filled with race and gender discrimination. In the novel strangers come into Esperanza’s neighborhood and discriminate Esperanza and her neighbors. Also because Esperanza is a girl, she is not treated equally as the boys and must follow the traditional gender roles for females. Race and gender come into conflict when Esperanza is unable to interact with boys and people discriminate her neighborhood . Esperanza and her neighborhood are constantly racially discriminated against by people coming into her neighborhood. In the book Esperanza states, “Those who don’t know any better come into our neighborhood scared, think we’re dangerous”(8). This quote proves how people think of Esperanza and her neighborhood as being “dangerous” and “scary” just because a majority of the residents living there are hispanic, and the area is not in good shape. People come into Esperanza’s neighborhood and judge the neighborhood before getting to know the people living there first and these people are basically judging the people in her neighborhood just because of their race. Esperanza has been a victim of having to conform to traditional female gender roles and gender discrimination numerous times in the novel. In the book Esperanza says that boys and girls are treated differently when she states, “The boys and girls live live in separate worlds” (8). This quote may not say much, but it means much more. It proves how boys and girls are treated differently, and they must follow these traditional roles and it makes it seem as if they are living in different worlds. This is not fair because they are being treated differently just because of their genders which is something that they can not choose themselves. Esperanza refuses to follow these traditional roles. When Esperanza states “...but I have decided not to grow up tame
Ms. Wilson
English 9
1 November 2013 The House on Mango Street Literary Analysis
The novel, The House on Mango Street is filled with race and gender discrimination. In the novel strangers come into Esperanza’s neighborhood and discriminate Esperanza and her neighbors. Also because Esperanza is a girl, she is not treated equally as the boys and must follow the traditional gender roles for females. Race and gender come into conflict when Esperanza is unable to interact with boys and people discriminate her neighborhood . Esperanza and her neighborhood are constantly racially discriminated against by people coming into her neighborhood. In the book Esperanza states, “Those who don’t know any better come into our neighborhood scared, think we’re dangerous”(8). This quote proves how people think of Esperanza and her neighborhood as being “dangerous” and “scary” just because a majority of the residents living there are hispanic, and the area is not in good shape. People come into Esperanza’s neighborhood and judge the neighborhood before getting to know the people living there first and these people are basically judging the people in her neighborhood just because of their race. Esperanza has been a victim of having to conform to traditional female gender roles and gender discrimination numerous times in the novel. In the book Esperanza says that boys and girls are treated differently when she states, “The boys and girls live live in separate worlds” (8). This quote may not say much, but it means much more. It proves how boys and girls are treated differently, and they must follow these traditional roles and it makes it seem as if they are living in different worlds. This is not fair because they are being treated differently just because of their genders which is something that they can not choose themselves. Esperanza refuses to follow these traditional roles. When Esperanza states “...but I have decided not to grow up tame