The House on Mango Street, 1.

I was immediately caught up in Sandra Cisneros’, The House on Mango Street.  Although we have already encountered female protagonists in this course, the character of Esperanza, as well as all of the other female characters depicted in this book, were so much more powerful and real than any of the others.  The way in which Cisneros weaves the theme of womanhood and the unseen, abusive relations that afflict nearly every female in Esperanza’s Latino neighborhood is incredible.  All of the snapshots we receive of the characters are so simple and unembellished, yet they manage to tug at my soul the whole way through.  One of the characters that stood out to me the most was Sally, a beautiful young girl who Esperanza looks up to at different points in her life.  For me, Sally’s character is the embodiment of male dominance in this Latino culture, where nothing is her own and there is no way to escape.  Even her beauty is not her own and betrays her in the end, as her good looks and sex appeal only lead to her abuse and confinement, first by her father and then by her husband.