The House on Mango Street

One of the things that stood out to me in this reading was noticing "the male gaze". There are a lot of examples of this, such as in the chapter where Esperanza tells us about Sire. She doesn't avoid him like the other girls because she is determined to keep the control. She says, "They didn't scare me. They did, but I wouldn't let them know." Even though she's afraid, she doesn't want to give the boys the satisfaction of knowing they had the power. However, I think this plan backfired on her. Although she was the only one brave enough to walk directly past and figuratively stare "the male gaze" in the face, she was only subjecting herself more to "the male gaze". She put herself right in their path and made herself stand out more. The fact that she's continually watching him and dreaming about him ends up giving Sire the control over her anyway. It is likely that the other girls that avoid Sire altogether aren't thinking the way Esperanza is. It is sad that, in a moment when she believed she had power, she was really giving more of it away.

I also think that on some level, Esperanza wants to be looked at by those boys, whether she admits it or not. She's very aware that they're looking at her, and she says "..I knew that he was looking. Every time." If the fact that they were always watching her made her that uncomfortable, she probably would choose another route. In her mind she's telling herself that she's doing it to prove something, but she might just enjoy the attention.