The women in both Romeo and Juliet and The House on Mango Street face many obstacles. Some of the obstacles they face parallel each other, while others differ. In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet is forbidden from the one she loves, Romeo, by her own family. She goes to drastic measures just to see him. She continually sneaks out at night behind their backs. Alicia from the House on Mango Street is controlled in a similar way by her father. After her mother passed away her father expects her to take her mothers place; cook, clean, and take care of him. She is scared her father will make her stop attending university which she has a great deal of passion for. Both Juliet and Alicia love something so much that they are willing to disobey their family's in order to continue to peruse what they love. They are both terrified of the thought that their families may take away what they love from them. What differs is that Juliet is perusing romance while Alicia is perusing education.
Another women from the House on Mango Street whose aspects of life parallel Juliet's is Marian. Marian came to America with a Fiancée back in Puerto Rico. She dreams of an American man taking her away to the suburbs and escaping from her current life on mango street. Juliet constantly day dreams about her life with Romeo. They make a plan to run away where no one find them and get married. Both Marian and Juliet wish to escape their current lives and start new ones with new lovers. Although, Marian is able to leave the life she led on Mango Street and move back to Puerto Rico which her fiancée, while Juliet is trapped by her family and culture making it almost impossible for her to escape.
