In The House on Mango Street, do you think the parents, nuns, and buisness owners are doing enough for the kids on Mango Street?

In many ways this excellent novel presents us with a world
that is cast adrift from many of the normal sources of support, advice and assistance
that are available to the majority of the population in the United States. The barrio
community in which Esperanza grows is shown to be completely ridden by crime, abuse and
neglect. Clearly the stereotyping and attitudes of others who should, in theory, help
and assist, does not help matters much. Note how in the very first vignette of this
novel the innocent question of the nun that inquires if Esperanza lives in the house
that she points to makes Esperanza "feel like nothing." Likewise parents on the whole
are shown as being ineffectual to prevent their children becoming involved in crime, sex
and abuse. We are presented with a world where, on the whole, women marry young and have
children young and who, in the words of Esperanza, "lay their necks on the threshold
waiting for the ball and chain." It is a sad testament to the grim realities of life in
such barrios that there is little attempt to prevent such horrendous situations
repeating themselves.