The depiction of women in Sandra Cisneros novel "The House On Mango Street"

Structure

1. Introduction

2. The role of women in Mexican – American society

3. Women in „The House On Mango Street

4. Conclusion

5. Literature

1. Introduction

Sandra Cisneros is one of the most popular feminist Chicana writers. She was born in Chicago in 1954 as the only daughter among six brothers of a Mexican – American mother and a Mexican father. In her early childhood the family moved a lot between Chicago and Mexico City, where her grandparents lived, so Cisneros never felt at home anywhere. Hence, she spent most of her time reading for the family’s mobility prevented the development of friendships. When she attended college in 1974 she started writing poetry and prose in a creative writing class. There she created a style of writing that was intentionally opposite to those of her classmates. After receiving her M.A. at the University of Iowa she worked in a Chicano barrio in Chicago teaching high school dropouts and later on as an administrative assistant at Loyola University Chicago.

Today she lives in San Antonio and is working on a new novel.

In the following the depiction of women in her novel “The House on Mango Street” will be examined. This novel consists of a series of vignettes describing the growing up of the young girl Esperanza in a barrio in Chicago as she herself reflects it with her youthful naivety. She characterises different people, particularly women respectively girls surrounding her in various situations and depicts the living conditions of the barrio in general.

The different female characters appearing in the novel will be analysed in reference to their deprived situation concerning race, gender and class. To that end the author will initially give an insight into the image and role of women in the Mexican – American culture. Accordingly the analysis of the different characters acting in various situations against the background of this will follow.

The literature used for this work is English as well as German whereas indirect quotations from the German literature will be translated with the knowledge of the author.

Due to its limited extend the following work is not exhaustive.

2. The role of women in Mexican – American society

In Mexican – American culture women are still considered as inferior beings in a male – dominated society. Firstly, that can be seen in the traditional hierarchical distribution of family roles. The father is the head of the family, all other members have to obey to his word, especially wife and daughters. When there is no father in the household that role is fulfilled by the eldest male member of the family, be it the eldest son, an uncle or the grandfather. On the other hand the mother respectively wife is responsible for bringing up the children and take care for the household. In addition to that she has to be respectful, devoted and faithful to her husband.^[1] That demand on the woman is justified by Chicano males by promoting the protector image. The man protects the weak woman from the hostile white society surrounding her. He and the family are the shelter from the proclaimed sexist and racist Anglo-American society.^[2]

However, the woman has some power within the household, due to the fact that the husband, who is traditionally seen as the supplier of the family, is not at home most of the time. She is the parent that is there and can exercise authority and influence on the children’s socialization, even in a way that does not please her husband. Moreover a lot of Mexican – American males admit that in the domestic sphere the wife has the control. In contrast to the amount of power the wife might have in the private space, she is not supposed to represent the family in public. So male dominance or machismo, as it is often called, is an essential part in Mexican – American households but it varies in its effect. One reason for that is the economic situation that has changed in the last decades not only in the Mexican – American society, but in general. The income of the man often does no longer suffice to feed the family, a fact that is true for the whole industrial society. Nowadays women are not able to stay at home and care for the children, but have to earn money. In the labor force Chicana women have to face a double oppression. On the one hand they are women, who still today do not earn the same money as their male colleagues, at least not in all jobs, on the other hand their cultural background is a reason for disadvantages and discrimination. To that end Chicanas work to an enormous degree in low – paid jobs and suffer high poverty rates.^[3]

These living circumstances of the majority of Chicanas are the themes feminist Chicana writers deal with.

[...]

^[1] Garcìa, Alma M. Chicana Feminist Thought. The basic historical writings. New York: Routledge, 1997

^[2] Ikas, Karin. Die zeitgenössische Chicana – Literatur. Eine interkulturelle Untersuchung. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag C. Winter, 2000

^[3] Amott, Teresa; Matthaei, Julie. Race, Gender and Work. A multi – cultural economic history of women in the United States. Québec: Black Rose Books. 1991