"Boys and girls live in separate worlds" is a statement made by Esperanza, a girl in The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, who is learning that women and men have different expectations placed on them by society (Cisneros 8). Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody and The House on Mango Street are both novels that relate to Anne and Esperanza, two young women realizing the gender prescriptions that society has established for them and the struggle against those roles. Both Esperanza and Anne attempt to go against the normal socialization of females within our society each in her own experiences and time period. Three of the main areas of gender that can be compared as well as contrasted between the two women are power, division of labor, and gender roles.

Esperanza faces many experiences that lead her to believe that to be a woman in...