The House On Mango Street

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Rafaela is like everyone else; she sits and waits by the window, getting older by the minute. In the short story “Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut & Papaya Juice on Tuesdays” from The House on Mango St. written by Sandra Cisneros, Esperanza describes how women are treated by men and how they will soon taste the bitterness of lost freedom. Cisneros shows how women see constantly home and hidden away, that they must be quiet and not go outside in the dangerous world. This topic is clear in the story, Rafaela is always wishing to be free, using her youth rather than let it rot away as she leans out the window every day and every night. To satisfy the bitterness and sadness she drinks papaya or coconut juice.
It begins with Rafaela being chained at home …show more content…
Rafaela watch’s the children play and the older women with no rings on their fingers, dance with grace. She says “[k]ids, if I give you a dollar will you go to the store and get me something” (80) Rafaela sips on the juice that is sweeter than the raw and cold house she mourns in. Nevertheless, she still getting old, as she distracts herself from the bitter veracity with sweet juices and daydreams that “she could go there [bar] and dance before she gets old” (79), all while she leans out the window. She doesn’t want to be stuck in her tower like a damsel in distress, she wants to leave and experience her youth but her prince is “home late because that’s the night he plays dominoes” (79). Furthermore, the older women at the bar have their own house and play by their rules. As they “throw green eyes easily like dice and open homes with keys.” Though, Cisneros makes a point that even though the women at the bar are independent and have no one holding them down, there is someone who will offer them love and happiness, "someone offering sweeter drinks, someone promising to keep them on a silver string” (80). They might be happy now, but someone will whisk them away and chain them just like they did to
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