Research Paper on:
A Feminist Reading of The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
keep the home fires burning in their absence. Their domain is exclusively confined within the four walls of the family house, and any woman who steps beyond those historically  accepted limits brings shame and disgrace to her kin. This is the world Sandra Cisneros explored in her autobiographical novel, The House on Mango Street, first published in 1988.  It is not one story, but rather a series of vignettes with an essential thematic thread running through each one - women and young girls who are forced to  cope with the preconception of feminine stereotypes and surviving with a semblance of dignity amid the male oppression their patriarchal society refuses to relinquish. In the Hispanic universe, children are  confronted with stereotypes at a very early age. They are created by and limited by gender, and constructs an impenetrable wall between the sexes. Early in the text,  Cisneros narrator and protagonist Esperanza Cordero observes, "The boys and girls live in separate worlds. The boys in their universe and we in ours. My brothers for example.  Theyve got plenty to say to me and Nenny inside the house. But outside they cant be seen talking to girls. Carlos and Kiki are each others  best friend... not ours" (8). The boundaries generated by gender stereotypes is symbolized by references to the interiors and exteriors of the houses. The girls are relegated to  staying inside the house to perform domestic chores or baby sit, while the boys are free to socialize outside the home, with few familial demands on their time. In  her criticism of The House on Mango Street, Leslie Petty argues that the female characters are interpretations of the two stereotypes which have long defined Mexican women, la Virgen de