Breaking The Cycle

For me, the challenges that Esperanza faces are a lot like Janie’s. Both characters are female minorities trapped in a culture that they were born into. For Esperanza, she is surrounded by poverty and low expectations. Visions of her fate are revealed to her through the female neighbors living on her street. Some are abused by their husbands, while others are left to raise their children alone. Wanting more for herself, Esperanza is determined to break the cycle. In Janie’s situation, her fate was determined for her by her grandmother. She marries her first husband because her grandmother wanted her to have a secure life. However, in this marriage, she was treated like a mule on her husband’s farm. Ironically, Janie’s second husband placed her on a pedestal to be shown off like one of his belongings. The suffocation that Janie felt in both of these male dominated relationships forces her to hide pieces of herself away. In the end, even though she was a rich widow, and Tea Cake was a poor and younger man, Janie chooses to reject all that was expected of her to be with him. In a sense, both Esperanza and Janie are fighting to escape the life that was given to them. Both are determined to break the mold.