Wednesday, September 30, 2015

what are some textual examples of women being ofjectified in mango street?

The following quotations are examples from the text of the objectification of women.
From the chapter titled "Marin":

And since Marin’s skirts are shorter and since her eyes are pretty, and since Marin is already older than us in many ways, the boys who do pass by say stupid things like I am in love with those two green apples you call eyes [...] And Marin just looks at them without blinking and is not afraid.

The boys are treating Marin like an object because she chooses to wear short skirts. Esperanza notes that she is also pretty and older than them in "many ways," insinuating that Marin may be more experienced with boys than the younger girls. The fact that the boys say things like, "I am in love with those two green apples you call eyes," shows that they are only interested in her for her looks.
From the chapter titled "The First Job":

Then he asked if I knew what day it was, and when I said I didn’t, he said it was his birthday and would I please give him a birthday kiss. I thought I would because he was so old and just as I was about to put my lips on his cheek, he grabs my face with both hands and kisses me hard on the mouth and doesn’t let go.

Esperanza works with an older Asian man who notices she is lonely and afraid to eat with her coworkers. He says that they can "be friends." She sees him as unthreatening because he is old and agrees to give him a chaste kiss on the cheek, but, instead, he forcefully puts his lips on hers for a prolonged amount of time. The older man takes advantage of her.
From the chapter titled "Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut and Papaya Juice on Tuesdays":

On Tuesdays Rafaela’s husband comes home late because that’s the night he plays dominoes. And then Rafaela, who is still young but getting old from leaning out the window so much, gets locked indoors because her husband is afraid Rafaela will run away since she is too beautiful to look at.

Rafaela's husband is controlling and locks her away like a princess in a tower. He thinks that because she is so beautiful she will run off with another man. He keeps her locked up in the house and so she spends her time leaning out the window like a caged bird. She is treated like a possession, something he owns, that he must guard.
From the chapter titled "The Family of Little Feet":


They are dangerous, he says. You girls too young to be wearing shoes like that. Take them shoes off before I call the cops, but we just run.


Mr. Benny warns the girls that it is dangerous to wear high heeled shoes. Women being targets of unwanted attention is a constant risk in the girls' life. They cannot even wear what they like at the risk of being objectified.

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