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Sire is a young man who loiters in the neighborhood with his friends. He and his group leer at the young women of the neighborhood while they walk down the street. Although she’s afraid of them, Esperanza attempts to subvert their assertion of male power by staring back at Sire. Her reaction has an impact – Sire bumps into a parked car on his bike, suggesting that he’s not used to women who challenge his behavior or return his gaze.
Sire has a girlfriend named Lois who is the picture of stereotypical femininity. She’s not only small and good-looking, but she also acts – perhaps performatively – like a little girl, not a young woman. She is so childlike that she can’t even tie her own shoes, and Sire must do it for her. Sire and Lois’ relationship is yet another example of how the men of Mango Street live out male fantasies of power and authority over women via their wives, girlfriends, and daughters. Women therefore are expected to live as powerless dependents to fulfill their role in the fantasy. While some men physically abuse their wives or keep them trapped in the house so they can’t form community bonds, Sire’s control of Lois is reminiscent of that of a father figure over a daughter. Their behavior creates an off-putting dichotomy – while their relationship is certainly sexual and romantic by nature, it functions in public more similarly to that of a parent and child.
Despite Sire’s slightly threatening macho aura, it’s clear that Esperanza is sexually attracted to him. While she’s baffled by his and Lois’ strange dynamic, she’s still interested in being touched, held, and kissed by Sire. She fantasizes about how he might do these things with Lois and wishes she could experience them as well. As a late bloomer who receives less male attention than other women on Mango Street, Esperanza finds herself longing to experience romance and physical intimacy. However, she’s also deeply aware of the violence that men often exert on their partners and the lifelong control they wield in domestic relationships, so she avoids involving herself with men despite her yearning for love and sex.
