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Home › The House on Mango Street: Novel Summary: Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut & Papaya Juice on Tuesdays

The House on Mango Street: Novel Summary: Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut & Papaya Juice on Tuesdays

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The House on Mango Street
Hairs
Boys & Girls
My Name
Cathy Queen of Cats
Our Good Day
Laughter
Gil's Furniture Bought & Sold
Meme Ortiz
Louie, His Cousin & His Other Cousin
Marin
Those Who Don't
There Was an Old Woman She Had So Many Children She Didn't Know What to Do
Alicia Who Sees Mice
Darius & the Clouds
And Some More
The Family of Little Feet
A Rice Sandwich
Chanclas
Hips
The First Job
Papa Who Wakes Up Tired in the Dark
 		 Born Bad
Elenita, Cards, Palm, Water
Geraldo No Last Name
Edna's Ruthie
The Earl of Tennessee
Sire
Four Skinny Trees
No Speak English
Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut & Papaya Juice on Tuesdays
Sally
Minerva Writes Poems
Bums in the Attic
Beautiful & Cruel
A Smart Cookie
What Sally Said
The Monkey Garden
Red Clowns
Linoleum Roses
The Three Sisters
Alicia & I Talking on Edna's Steps
A House of My Own
Mango Says Goodbye Sometimes

Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut & Papaya Juice on Tuesdays

Summary
Rafaela is a neighbor who spends her days leaning out the window, waiting for her husband to come home. She sends the neighborhood children to buy drinks for her, drinks she wishes she could leave the house to taste for herself.
 
Analysis
Like Esperanza's great-grandmother and like Mamacita, Rafaela is another model of grown womanhood that Esperanza intends to avoid. In yet another instance of intertextuality, note how Cisneros turns the fairy-tale princess image of Rapunzel on its head. Rafaela is no princess, because no prince will come to rescue her. Her "prince" is too busy staying out late to play dominoes. Her "prince" does not liberate her, but locks her away because of her beauty. The idealized, Disney-esque image of the beautiful princess proves to be an inadequate model of mature woman for Esperanza. Rafaela is young, but is growing older with each passing day she allows herself to be locked away, and the "window of opportunity" (note how she leans out a literal window) is rapidly closing.

 The House on Mango Street Study Guide

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