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Compare the portrayals of Sally and Marin in The House on Mango Street.
Quick answer:
Sally and Marin in The House on Mango Street represent traditional femininity and the desire for escape. Marin is planning her future, hoping to return to Puerto Rico to marry her boyfriend or find a job, while Sally seeks freedom from her abusive father without a clear plan. Both are admired for their beauty and face restrictive environments. Sally seeks love and immediate relief, whereas Marin focuses on long-term escape.
In The House on Mango Street, Sally and Marin represent an older form of femininity to Esperanza Cordero and the younger girls in the neighborhood. Esperanza is captivated by both young women.
Sally and Marin wear makeup and have boyfriends. Marin spends her time selling Avon to save toward the goal of going back to Puerto Rico but is bogged down with work around the house as she cares for her younger cousins. Sally, on the other hand, spends her time outside the house, hoping to gain the attention of the boys in the neighborhood and relieve her boredom.
Marin feels a connection to her family as a caretaker but wants to leave the country to reunite with her boyfriend. Similarly, Sally wants to get away from her abusive father, but once she is free of him, she finds herself in the arms of an abusive husband. Both Sally...
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and Marin are traditionally feminine, growing into their womanhood, but each has a different struggle she’s running away from and a different means of escaping.
Marin and Sally both hope for a better life. However, Marin has an exit strategy, in the form of her boyfriend or a job; Sally doesn't have an idea of how to get out of her bad situation at home yet.
Marin is already planning for the future. She wants to marry her boyfriend and is actively saving toward that. She also has a backup plan, in case her boyfriend doesn't go through with her hopes: she's going to get a job downtown. On the other hand, Sally is just living in the moment. She is able to act as her real self at school but has to change her appearance and demeanor on the way home to fit in. Sally is more focused on love than Marin; Marin is more focused on escape.
Both Sally and Marin are in restrictive situations. Marin can't go out until her aunt is home; once she's home, she can only be in the front yard. She has to babysit for her aunt. Both Sally and Marin are beautiful and admired by the local guys. In Sally's case, this is what her father uses to justify his attitude toward her.
Marin sells Avon products and babysits to save up money while she waits to return to Puerto Rico to marry her boyfriend. Esperanza notes that Marin will be sent back to her mother. Esperanza doesn't want Marin to leave because Marin is like an older sister and usually has gossip to tell. Marin makes it a point to sit outside so boys notice her and Esperanza supposes that Marin is not just trying to get attention; she's hoping for something dramatic to happen:
Marin, under the streetlight, dancing by herself, is singing the same song somewhere. I know. Is waiting for a car to stop, a star to fall, someone to change her life.
Like Marin, Sally is noticed by the boys. Sally is very beautiful which her father thinks is trouble. In a later chapter, we learn that Sally's father is domineering and beats her. Like Marin, Sally teaches the girls - how to use makeup (like an older sister). Some kids at school, mostly boys (and Sally's ex-friend Cheryl) say nasty things about Sally which Esperanza does not want to believe. Sally goes home right after school, presumably because her father is so strict and she is afraid of him. Esperanza supposes that Sally, again like Marin, wishes for some type of escape, some hope of a better life:
Sally, do you sometimes wish you didn't have to go home? Do you wish your feet would one day keep walking and take you far away from Mango Street, far away and maybe your feet would stop in front of a house, a nice one with flowers and big windows and steps for you to climb up two by two upstairs to where a room is waiting for you.