Cathy Queen Of Cats Racism Essay - 913 Words

Racism is directly discussed in Esperanza’s neighborhood by describing how the outsiders see the Hispanic residents. The outsiders that have moved in or just happen to drive down the streets â€Å"Those who dont know any better come into our neighborhood scared. They think were dangerous. They think we will attack them with shiny knives.† (28). Before even meeting the people, the outsiders assume the residents are bad people ready to hurt others just from others discriminatory remarks. This, too, is one of the reasons Cathy and her parents consider members of their neighborhood to be â€Å"bad.† In â€Å"Cathy Queen of Cats,† Esperanza is introduced to Cathy, her first friend on Mango Street. However, Cathy can only be Esperanza’s friend until next†¦show more content†¦Even the girls’ dress-up game becomes dangerous as they walk down the streets in the high heels, past a wide variety of men. Some men, like Mr. Benny, try to warn the girls of the potential dangers of wearing those shoes around this neighborhood, saying â€Å"them shoes are dangerous† (41). However, the girls are too excited about being a grown-up, they ignore his warnings and continue walking down the streets. Other men, like the bum man, try and take advantage of the vulnerable girls young age by persuading them to do things that are inappropriate. No one should be sexualizeing you girls due to their pretty shoes and young boys wearing fancy shoes would have never been in that position because most people believe women to be passive, but men to be aggressive.. Even Esperanzas has a heard a thing or two about women being placed in submissive roles â€Å"She was a horse woman too, born like me in the Chinese year of the horse – which is supposed to be bad luck if youre born female – but I think this is a Chinese lie because the Chinese, like the Mexicans, dont like their women strong.† (10) The fact that she is most li kely right due to the submissive position both cultures put women into only added to the pressure Esperanza must be feeling about being different and more