...Rafaela is another woman who is under control by a man. She is a beautiful woman who is confined and locked indoors by her husband. “And then Rafaela, who is still young but getting old from leaning out the window so much, gets locked indoors because her husband is afraid Rafaela will run away since she is too beautiful to look at” (Cisneros 79). Rafaela can’t even go to the store because of her husband’s strict rules. Rafaela loves papaya juice, but she has to give Esperanza and her friends money so they can buy it for her. Rafaela’s situation is also similar to Sally’s, a girl Esperanza’s age who is abused by her father at home. Sally got married in order to escape her father’s abuse. Marriage seems like the only way out for her. The only way to escape. She was not even in eighth grade when she got married. Like her sisters, she was young and not ready. “Sally says she likes being married because now she gets to buy her own things when her husband gives her money. She is happy, except sometimes her husband gets angry and once he broke the door where his foot went through, though most days he is okay. Except he won't let her talk on the telephone. And he doesn't let her look out the window” (Cisneros 101). Sally is just another example of how women must rely on men in order to survive. Sally cannot do anything unless her husband approves it. Rafaela and Sally share very similar lives. Both are restricted, beautiful...
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...The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros, centers on Esperanza struggling to define herself in a way that will differentiate others she observes on Mango Street. Esperanza’s observations of the women of Mango Street, as they are all trapped in some way or another, is what drives Esperanza to want to be independent. Throughout the book Esperanza struggles with the idea of self-identification and differentiating herself from those in her family and neighborhood. Esperanza's first defining moment is when she decides to rename herself. She claims the name ZeZe the X and wishes she could shed her name which belonged to her great-grandmother. She believes her name carries too much baggage due to her great-grandmother being forced to marry...
Words: 1256 - Pages: 6
