Sunday, February 16, 2014

In The House on Mango Street, why are groups that help in such situations absent from the novel?

It is interesting that the very absence of such groups as
social services that should be helping the residents of Mango Street in their various
and manifold problems highlight the way that barrios like the one Esperanza grew up in
did not have the same resources and support available to them. The general picture that
is presented to us is one of crime, robbery, abuse and violence with neglectful parents.
No mention at all is made of any organisation that could help with such issues. Thus
Cisneros makes clear the profound isolation of life for immigrants in the States and the
grim realities that many of them have to face. You could pick any number of female
characters who marry and have children early and suffer such issues as abuse. Consider
"Minerva Writes Poems" and the narrator's assessment of Minerva's
position:



Next
week she comes over black and blue and asks what can she do? Minerva. I don't know which
way she'll go. There is nothing I can
do.



These situations are
presented as being hopeless and without answers. The absence of any form of social
services or other organisations is used to underline the harshness of life of Latino
immigrants who are not able or entitled to access the same support as American
citizens.

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