Throughout history, women have been seen as inferior to men. In the novel, The House On Mango Street, the main character, Esperanza sees many examples of women who are treated lower by their husbands. These women are imprisoned in their own homes on Mango Street. The author, Sandra Cisneros uses the motif of Imprisoned Females to show that women have been seen as inferior to men. There were many chapters in the novel in which women were seen as inferior to men.
On page 79 in the novel, Rafael gets locked indoors because her husband is afraid Rafaela will run away since she is too beautiful to look at. Rafael is just one of the many victims of Imprisoned Females on Mango Street. She is scared to leave because she thinks her husband will do something, he doesn’t want other man to take her away from him. Esperazana could also been considered a “Imprisoned Female. All she wants to do is live in a house she can call her own and be free but she is stuck on Mango Street where she meets all these other women who are stuck like her and she thinks she will never get out. Men treat women like they are nothing. Why? Because they are scared. Scared that women will leave them for someone better. Scared that women will tell someone of all the awful things they have done to them. Scared that women will finally tell the truth.
