Oppression and Abuse in Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street

According to the World Health Organization, nearly “1 in 3, or 30%, of women have been subjected to physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner or non-partner.” This statistic takes into consideration only the incidents that women reported and also does not include emotional abuse. Sadly, women are often threatened if they speak up or if they attempt to fight back. This leaves women feeling powerless and afraid. This idea is clearly shown in The House on Mango Street. One of the novella’s essential theme topics is oppression and abuse. In the novella, the main protagonist, Esperanza, shares the stories of multiple women in her life, along with her own, that have had experiences of abuse and harassment. Many of the women in these stories remain in abusive circumstances in fear of fighting back. In The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros presents the abuse and harassment towards women in various ways to convey how important it is for women to listen to their intuition, and display resistance to get out of abusive situations.

Cisneros portrays multiple female characters that ignore their intuition in abusive situations. When experiencing abusive situations, women feel uncomfortable and often do not know what to say or do to prevent the situation from getting worse. In “The First Job,” Esperanza is harassed by an old man who asks her for a birthday kiss. Esperanza narrates, “I thought I would because he was so old and just as I was about to put my lips on his cheek, he grabs my face with both hands and kisses me hard on the mouth and doesn’t let go” (Cisneros 55). Esperanza is put into a situation where she is unaware of the potential outcome. This emphasizes how often females will ignore their gut feeling of something being wrong, to not inconvenience the man. Esperanza does not want to kiss the old man but does so because she does not want to make him uncomfortable and tells herself it is okay because he is old. Furthermore, Cisneros presents another female character later in the novella, who is harassed, named Sally.  In “The Monkey Garden,” a group of boys surrounds and targets Sally and tells her that the only way to get her stolen keys back is if she kisses each one of them. Sally plays along with the joke, but Esperanza tells us she doesn’t “know why, but something inside me wanted to throw a stick. Something wanted to say no when I watched Sally going into the garden with Tito’s buddies grinning. It was just a kiss, that’s all” (Cisneros 96). Esperanza is trying to ignore her fear of what might happen to Sally by rationalizing the situation in her head, but she knows that something is wrong when she says, “only how come I felt angry inside. Like something wasn’t right” (Cisneros 97). Cisneros is highlighting the importance of putting safety first and listening to what your gut tells you because it is usually right. 

Cisneros suggests how abuse is isolating, which prevents women from resisting their abuser. Being abused and isolated makes a woman feel powerless, making it difficult for them to fight back.  Esperanza’s great-grandmother was isolated when she was forced into a marriage and then “looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow” (Cisneros 11). Esperanza’s great-grandmother never forgave her husband for forcing her into a marriage away from all the things she wanted in life, but her anger was not enough to enable her to leave. Cisneros presents this situation to show that many women stay in an unhappy and unsafe relationship because they feel they have no other option. In “Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut and Papaya Juice,” Cisneros introduces another female character named Rafaela who is isolated by her husband. Esperanza explains how Rafaela “gets locked indoors because her husband is afraid Rafaela will run away since she is too beautiful to look at” (Cisneros 79). Rafaela spends her time wishing she could go outside, which reinforces the idea that she sees herself as powerless and the only thing she can do is wish instead of taking action. The isolation these two female characters face stresses how difficult it is for women to resist and overcome their abusive situations. 

Cisneros also displays women who do show resistance to the oppression they face from a male in their life. A woman resisting oppression can lead her to fulfill her desired dreams. In “Alicia Who Sees Mice,” Cisneros introduces a female character, Alicia, and the relationship with her father. Her father tells her that “a woman’s place is sleeping so she can wake up early with the tortilla star” (Cisneros 31). Alicia “doesn’t want to spend her whole life in a factory or behind a rolling pin,” which is the stereotype her father has placed on her (Cisneros 31-32). Alicia resists her father’s words and behaviors by taking two trains and a bus to a university where she spends all her time studying. She is smart and knows she deserves a better life than the one her father thinks is destined for her. Later in the novella, it is clear that some women do not succeed in resisting oppression the first time they try. In “Minerva Writes Poems,” Cisneros portrays a female character, Minerva, who gets physically abused by her husband. Over time, she decides that she has had enough and finally gains the confidence to kick her husband out of the house. This is an act of strong resistance. However, on the same night, Rafaela’s husband “comes back and sends a big rock through the window. Then he is sorry and she opens the door again. Same story” (Cisneros 85). The next week, she has black and blue marks on her. Cisneros is showing the unfortunate truth of what often happens after the initial time a woman will stand up to their abusive counterpart- they will forgive and then the cycle continues. Cisneros is reinforcing the importance of women standing up for themselves to exit the cycle of abusive relationships.

Sandra Cisneros exhibits how abuse and harassment affect female characters to emphasize the importance of intuition and exercising resistance in leaving abusive situations. Being trapped in an abusive relationship is isolating and frightening. Many women are caught in a cycle of abuse that they learned as a child. Cisneros implies that while it is not easy, there is always hope and the cycle must be broken. 

Works Cited

Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. Random House Inc., 1984.