In The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros captures the lives and hardships of poor Hispanic women through the eyes of a young character named Esperanza. Although Esperanza's age is not specified anywhere in the story, it is very clear that she is going through growth spurts. In this story Cisneros shows the many problems these women face, such as conflicts with themselves, their husbands (and men in general), and their culture. It also presents the limiting choices they make. The women in this story often make life-changing decisions at an early age in hopes of escaping their families and backgrounds. However, instead of giving them freedom, these decisions only lead to further imprisonment. A very common choice is to marry too early to be able to break free. Many of the women on Mango Street did this and, obviously, regretted it. An example of this is Sally, who is a young girl on Mango Street who was abused by her father and to escape this tragedy she went ahead and got married, and she hadn't even reached eighth grade yet. “She says she's in love, but I think she did it to escape” (Linoleum Roses ¶1), was what Esperanza thought of Sally's sudden venture into the world of adulthood at such a young age. In THOMS marriage is a golden concept, because the women are blinded by the beautiful house, the new title and the freedom, however, when they actually experience it, they realize that they are slaves with no escape. For example, Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut & Papaya Juice on Tuesdays, who "is locked in the house because her husband is afraid that Rafaela will run away because she is too beautiful to be seen" (Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut & Papaya Juice... middle of paper . .....” (Marin ¶5). These women are sitting by the window waiting for someone to come and save them, but this may never happen, because they have succumbed to this lifestyle of injury, physical and emotional pain. , and imprisonment. As Isadora Duncan said, "Any intelligent woman who reads the marriage contract, and then accepts it, deserves all the consequences. However, many of the women on Mango Street had no choice because they lacked means and had need someone to take care of them. In the Mexican community, marriage is somewhat of an obligation, but in today's world the government has provided many options to those who do not have financial support, but many of these women did not have any. aware as they always have. they were on Mango Street and had no one to direct them on the right path. Works Cited The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros