House on Mango Street: Gender Differences

I think that girls and boys should be raised the same, because there should equality for all. Sandra Cisneros, author of “The House on Mango Street”, a Coming-of-age story, would has a similar idea on that issue. She shows her view point on the issue with this quote. “There is always the one with red lips who is beautiful and cruel.” With this quote, she is saying that girls should embrace their feminine side and should not let men control them and let them keep their independence. I think that this quote is saying that their is always an extra independent woman that controls people and does the opposite that the stereotypical women in Esperanza’s life. I think that it is interesting that Sandra Cisneros conveys how she thinks people should be raised in her book.

    The next quote that exemplifies Cisneros’ ideas about gender differences in her book. “All the books and magazines, every thing they told you is wrong” (100). I think that this quote is saying that Esperanza's expectations for what is males and females is different than the media, and that confused her. Sandra Cisneros, is trying to say that the expectations by the media and the actual expectations can be very confusing to people that are Esperanza’s adolescent age. This quote gives a very good idea about how Cisneros views the modern media and how it can drastically affect the expectations of teenagers.

    The next quote is showing how important it is to a character to be noticed by the opposite sex. “What matters, Marin says, is for the boys to see us and for us to see them.”(27). This quote is by, Marin, an older female figure that Esperanza looks up to. This quote seems to be saying that girls and boys are raised differently in this society and that Cisneros is agreeing with this. She is also saying that physical attractiveness and appearance are important. Boys and girls are not raised to look deeper into personality. I think that this is a problem, because personality is important too.