Symbols of Shoes and Women in Windows in House on Mango Street Essay Sample

In the novel “House on Mango Street” author Sandra Cisneros uses the symbols of shoes and women in windows to convey the struggles women go through in their lives such as a lack of independence and being perceived as objects due to the expectations that society puts on them.

Throughout various points in the novel various women in the story have a situation where they are confined or not able to be independent of the man of the household. The women are trapped and have no freedom or say in the decisions that are made by the men.In the vignette “My Name” Esperanza talks about her great grandmother’s life by explaining how her great grandfather simply married her without her say at all and took her away as if she was a fancy chandelier . After this change is made Esperanza explains how her grandmother’s life was by saying,”She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow.”(Cisneros pg.11). Esperanza at the end goes on to say how she does not want to inherit her grandmother’s place by the window.The symbol women in windows are illustrated twice in this vignette first with the grandmother’s life and how Esperanza does not want to inherit her grandmother’s place in the window.The importance of the idea of women sitting by windows is there to illustrate how no one says anything when a man simply changes a woman's life without her consent and how a woman can just simply sulk in sadness. The part she looked out the window her whole life the way so many women sit there in sadness is particularly interesting. The way many women do is showing that this could be the fate of every woman this happens to, not just the grandmother. The phrase as if she was a fancy chandelier is interesting as chandeliers are just there to be looked at for their beauty which means that the grandmother’s only duty is to sit there and be pretty. The societal expectation could be that women should be used to this and be used to being looked at a beautiful object. Esperanza adds on to this by saying she does not want to be in this position showing that this sort of ideology has not changed after 4 generations and that it can still happen to her showing that this is still a struggle women go through in her time.With this symbol of women in windows, Sandra Cisneros conveys how due to society not moving on and respecting a woman’s wish women continue to struggle this way with no independence from men. If we do not move on from the past history will simply repeat itself and nothing will change.

In the vignette “Family of Little Feet” Cisneros uses the symbol of shoes to convey how women are just meant to be looked at as objects and be used to the attention of men.In this vignette Esperanza and her friends Lucy and Rachel wear pairs of high heel shoes and proudly walk downtown with them. She illustrates their excitement by saying they feel like Cinderella due to the shoes fitting on them.  They are surprised and taken aback when they start getting catcalled by men on the street. They are ultimately screamed at by a man after rejecting his advances for a kiss.When they get home Esperanza in a sad tone says that, “We are tired of being beautiful. Lucy hides the lemon shoes and the red shoes and the shoes that

used to be white but are now pale blue under a powerful bushel basket on the back porch, until

one Tuesday her mother, who is very clean, throws them away. But no one complains.”The symbol of shoes is illustrated multiple times in this vignette with the girls putting them on at first to then hide them by not wanting to see them ever again.The emphasis on the shoes in this vignette is very important.The girls think that they are adults and are very proud to wear the shoes due to Esperanza saying that the girls feel like Cinderella wearing them implying that they are very happy. The shock they experience while getting catcalled is illustrating that they are not aware that this is the reality or expectations that are put on women. Cisneros uses Esperanza as the audience’s gateway character into realizing that wearing the shoes caused them to experience catcalling as they are trying to stand out with beauty. The man also screaming at them for refusing a kiss shows that men expect women to listen to them and give them what they want. Esperanza also realizes this by not wanting to be beautiful. The part “no one complains'' is also important as at the beginning the girls are excited to wear the shoes but after all that happened they never want to wear them again. They clearly are not okay with the expectations and the shoes help them realize why this happened.Throughout the vignette the symbol of shoes is used by Cisneros as the gateway for the reader to understand the expectations of women being objectified and to be submissive to a man’s demand of them despite women  not wanting it.

Taken together, “My Name” and “Family of Little Feet” both showcase society's expectations of women such as them no having independence and being perceived as objects through Esperanza’s own experience and her family history. Esperanza’s grandmother was a victim to this due to being carried off by her husband as if she was an object to be showcased and was simply left to sulk the rest of her life. Esperanza herself experiences this when she thought she was grown up wearing shoes to then be catcalled on the street by men even though this is 3 generations later. The symbols of women in windows and shoes are used in “My Name” and “FOLF” respectively by Cisneros to convey this idea. Ultimately Cisneros conveys that unless society refuses to move on from previous expectations women will continue to be subjugated to these ideologies. Until then the cycle of this abuse will continue to live on.