论文总字数：32594字

摘 要

《芒果街上的小屋》是当代美国墨西哥裔女作家桑德拉·希斯内罗丝的经典作品。本书以自传体方式，描述了受传统束缚的女性自我觉醒，自我拯救的过程。书中的主人公埃斯佩朗莎是一个墨西哥裔美国小女孩，在芒果街经历了青春期的成长，也目睹了身边女孩的不幸。埃斯佩朗莎的形象相当于当时墨裔女性寻求平等与自由一个缩影，同时小说也通过小女孩清澈的双眼反映出男权社会下女性的生存现状。本文旨在从女性主义视角分析埃斯佩朗莎所受到的压迫，经历的成长历程，以及她自我觉醒的意义，并揭示她对唤醒女性自我觉醒的充分自觉与重建女性主体的历史责任。

关键词：芒果街上的小屋；女性主义视角；自我觉醒；埃斯佩朗莎

Contents

1. Introduction 1

1.1 Definition of Feminism and Chicano Movements 1

1.2 Introduction to the Novel and Its Author 2

2. Literature Review 3

2.1 Overseas Research 3

2.2 Domestic Research 4

3.Esperanza’s Upbringing 4

3.1 The Plight of Esperanza 5

3.2 The Desire for Friendship 7

3.3 The Loss of Belonging 8

4. Esperanza’s self-awakening 8

4.1Different Choices of Two Esperanza 8

4.2 The Guardians around Esperanza 10

4.3 significance of Esperanza"s self-awakening 12

5. Conclusion 12

Works Cited 13

1. Introduction

The House on Mango Street, which describes the process of self-awakening and self-salvation of women who are bound by traditions, is the classic work of Mexican American woman writer Sandra Cisneros. From the perspective of feminism, this thesis will analyze the image and growth process of Esperanza, the heroine of the novel, in combination with the historical background of the United States at that time and the living environment of ethnic women, to show how women find and realize their self-worth and the universal significance contained in Esperanza"s self-awakening.

1.1 Definition of Feminism and Chicano Movements

Feminism refers to the social theory and political movements created and launched to end sexism, sexual exploitation, sexual discrimination and oppression, and to promote sexual equality. A society shaped by men sees women as inferior, oppressed only because they are female. Women can only challenge and change the high status of men to change their lower status.

Feminist literary theory first arose in European and American countries. There are reasons for this: first, because of the rise of the Western industrial revolution, Britain and many other countries have entered the Industrial Society. During the industrial revolution, when education took off, many women had more opportunities to get an education, and these educated women became the forerunners of the feminist movement. The other reason is the 19^th century French Revolution and the American Revolution, which made people aware of the importance of freedom and rights, so many women began to take to the streets, fighting for rights.

In the United States in the 1960s, there were several social movements, such as the civil rights movements, the feminist movements and the anti-war movements. The Hispanic and Latino Americans resonated with the African Americans, which strongly condemned racism. The Hispanic and Latino Americans, one of the most marginalized groups, suffered from similar racism and social prejudice. They want to win the same right to equality and freedom with people of other ethnicities.

Influenced by the unequal treatment and civil rights movement after World War II, the Hispanic and Latino Americans launched another minority social movement in the late 1960s, the Chicano Movement for equal rights and racial freedom. But their remarkable achievements have given the Hispanic and Latino Americans the confidence and determination to fight for equal rights. Because of the Hispanic and Latino American’s sense of national identity, the Hispanic and Latino Americans movement spread across the country.

1.2 Introduction to the Novel and Its Author

After the war between the United States and Mexico in 1848, with a large number of Mexicans moving to the United States to begin to live, Mexican-style thinking and the United States after the constant collision of the local tradition has gradually produced a new literary form: Chicano Literature. The House on Mango Street is one of the works of Chicano. It was published in 1984 and won the 1985 American Book Award, bringing Sandra Cisneros to the Boogie Nights.

The whole book is made up of short stories, which compose of a coming of age novel, starring and narrated by a Mexican American girl named Esperanza. In Spanish, Esperanza means to hope, grieve, or wait. She lives on Mango Street in Hispanic and Latino Americans. At the beginning of the novel, she describes the poverty of her family and the discrimination of her teachers, which arouses her desire for her own house. At the same time, she was shocked that most Mexican-American women either lived at home or were abused by their husbands. After seeing and hearing about the hard life of Mexican American women, she decided to become a writer and break the shackles of female class and gender. In the final chapter of this story, Esperanza walked out Mango Street. With the faith to give a new life to the girls in Mango Street, Esperanza will one day return there.

The autobiographical writing of the house on Mango Street shows that the heroine Esperanza has a deep relationship with the author Sandra Cisneros. Throughout her life, Ms. Cisneros"s Mexican-American mother, Mexican father, six brothers and her family moved between several cities, never settling in one place. The loneliness of her lack of sisters and friends left her with nothing but books. Her writing comes from her life experience. In the House on Mango Street, she writes not just about characters, but about real people she met. Her work explores topics she cares about: "feminism, love, oppression, and faith."

2. Literature Review

2.1 Overseas Research

The publication of The House on Mango Street brought honor and awards to Cisneros. Critics and researchers showed great interest in the novel and began to study it from different angles. According to their different concerns, they are grouped into the following categories:

First, the book is widely regarded as an autobiographical novel. In 1992, Maria Elena De Valdes wrote an article “In Search of Identity in Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street”, in which Maria discussed the close relationship between the protagonist Esperanza and the author Cisneros. Maria argued that Esperanza must be Cisneros’ herself who was looking into the immigrant life within and without, considered the question of the identity ideology of a marginalized Mexican to be the most pressing.

Second, some of the research on mango street houses is feminist. Some scholars study novels from the perspective of feminism through the projection of female characters. Michelle Scalise Sugiyama (1999) compared Cinderella to The girls around Esperanza in her book Women: The sexual Feet in The House on Mango Street, and studied from this point to provide a specific explanation for what happened. Both Cinderella and Mexican-American women lived limited lives, symbolically bound by their shoes and feet. They both think that their husband will take them away from their present environment and that they will go to a place where they can live happily together. But this is just a lie. Most of the girls in the book who rely on their husbands and marriage are not happy. They are abused by their husbands and locked in their homes. After witnessing these events, Esperanza decided to flee the situation and change her fate.

2.2 Domestic Research

Before its Chinese translation was officially released in June 2006, domestic researcher Shi Pingping reviewed Cendras and the House on Mango Street From the living space of Women"s growth, this paper expounds the heroine"s pursuit of the new female images, which are different from the traditional Guadalupe Madonna and Marlene, and reveals the reflection and subversion of the traditional Hispanic female values in the novel. Since then, a series of cultural interpretations and studies have been made from the perspectives of the repression of Patriarchy and the immigrant community. For example, Wang Haiyan analyzes the dream of "house" as a symbol of centralized class, ethnicity and gender identity, and explores the novel"s demand and desire for equality and freedom.

In addition to the essays, there are also doctoral and master"s theses that focus on the novel. For example, in her doctoral dissertation, "a study of the representative works of contemporary Mexican writers," Lu Na noted two contrasting female characters in the novel. Li Baojie"s doctoral thesis frontier narration of contemporary Chicano literature also takes the House on Mango Street as an example to study the hybridity and marginality of Chicano narration. In recent years, there have been about ten master"s theses on the House on Mango Street from the aspects of colonialism, coming-of-age novels, narratology, psychological analysis and female identity.

In the above-mentioned research process, I was deeply attracted by the image of Esperanza, her growing environment, the awakening process is not without a landmark, is a microcosm of many women in the social background at that time. And the emergence of Esperanza, also deeply affected the later generations of women, making great contributions to promote women"s self-construction and self-awakening.

3.Esperanza’s Upbringing

The House on Mango Street, tells the story of her own artistic development and the women around Esperanza. The protagonist, Esperanza, is considered a keen observer whose eyes can easily see the panorama of the lives of Mexican American women on Mango Street. In an American society marked by racial differences and contradictions and sensitive to color and ethnicity, being the offspring of Latin American immigrants often means poverty, discrimination and cultural alienation. Therefore, Esperanza’s growing process contains very rich sociological content.

3.1 The Plight of Esperanza

Conflicts between alien cultures are acute across the United States, and girls are undoubtedly the victims. Moreover, established cultural traditions have led to gender inequality. Therefore, they are always easy to feel inferior when communicating with the outside world. In the House on Mango Street, Esperanza"s story is the most typical.

For young Esperanza, she lives in a poor and crowded neighborhood in Chicago. At this age, as a teenager, she"s as sensitive as any other girl. In the process of growing up, she gradually formed a sense of race and gender, from the simple to mature. Other Mexican American girls on Mango Street had similar experiences. Most of them have low self esteem in both foreign and male dominated cultures. In the House on Mango Street, the inferiority complex of the girls stems from racial discrimination, gender inequality and low economic status.

3.1.1 Racial Discrimination

The Hispanic and Latino Americans have always been racially discriminated against by White Americans. In order to survive better, some of their children have to give up the opportunity of education, trying to optimize economic conditions. So the first chapter tells ue the situation that the family moved every year, eventually to the house on Mango Street. Their house on Mango Street gave Esperanza the impression that her family was better off than before, but in fact the house in the mixed community was still so humble that Esperanza was afraid to point out their house to the sister.

Racial discrimination can be seen clearly from her teacher"s contempt for the house. In the chapter Rice Sandwich, Esperanza"s mother writes a letter to sister, longing for the "special children" who can have lunch at school and eating in the canteen. But the sister"s reaction was too embarrassing for the girl. She said deliberately: "You don"t live far. You live across the boulevard. That’s only four blocks. Not even. Three maybe. Three long blocks away from here. I bet I can see your house from my window. Which one? Come here. Which one is your house? ” She pointed to a row of ugly three-flats, the ones even the ragged men are ashamed to go into. It was the second time the teacher had pointed to Esperanza"s house. Esperanza broke down in tears, and was so disappointed, so mortified, by the cold, greasy rice sandwich he had eaten in the "nothing special" cafeteria after she reluctantly stayed behind. What a sad and humbling situation it is to turn such a paltry right to a meal into something beautiful and glorious.

3.1.2 Gender Inequality

Gender inequality is pervasive in male-dominated societies. Boys and girls live in different worlds and girls are vulnerable. The chapter Red Clown tells the story of Esperanza"s sexual harassment. She accompanied her friend Sally to the Carnival and waited for Sally, accompanied by the red clown, for a long time, during which Esperanza was sexually harassed by a group of boys. Helpless and scared, she could only scream for help. In general, the Carnival should attract a large number of people. Especially the entertainment facilities nearby, there must be a lot of people around. But no one saved the little girl. She blames Sally, "Sally, you lied. It’s not what you said at all. What he did. Where he touched me. I didn"t want it, Sally. The way they said it, the way it’s supposed to be, all the storybooks and movies, why did you lie to me? ”

After this, Esperanza learned that love is not a good thing and that boys will force her to do things she doesn"t want to do. It was the Patriarchal Society that, time and again, brought about the unfortunate suffering of Esperanza and the other girls and deepened her sense of inferiority.

3.1.3 Low Economic Status

Low Economic Status is also a key factor plaguing Esperanza. Every day, her father worked away for a long time. He started making money before the kids even woke up. But the low income makes the family live a frugal life. In the chapter Chnclas, Esperanza was ashamed to get up and dance because she didn"t have a pair of good shoes. She was so embarrassed, she just sat there. Besides, at Esperanza"s house, there was no lunch meat. She had a rice sandwich at school. From the Shabby House where the Esperanza lived, it was inferred that their life was hard. All this reveals the fact that poverty among ethnic minorities was still widespread at that time.

3.2 The Desire for Friendship

3.2.1 Friend till Tuesday

In their teens, girls seem to be carefree, happy and naïve about living their lives. But for girls from immigrant families, who are subjected to different forms of repression, the desire for friendship is stronger. The main character, Esperanza, represents immigrant girls from ethnic minorities. The House on Mango Street is basically a reflection of her desire for friendship. On her first visit to Mango Street, Esperanza"s first friend was Cathy, the Cat Queen. The Cathy family, with its cats gathered together and cats strolling freely around the dinner table, was clearly a poor family, not exactly elegant. Little Cathy was friendly to Esperanza, offering to introduce her to local neighborhoods and shops, but she also bragged about her French relatives and "family homes" there, and spoke fondly of the downgrading of the community caused by the arrival of non-whites So her family will be moving north, and Esperanza will be warned not to play with the "Ratty" Lucy sisters. The children"s seemingly unintelligible speech fully and cruelly refracts the abuse and prejudice of the adult society. Later, out of a desire for friendship, Esperanza ignored Cathy"s warnings and befriended the Lucy sisters. They pooled their money to buy a bike, and the three of them piled on top of each other and zoomed across the block.

3.2.2 Loneliness No One Understands

Esperanza craved all kinds of friends and playmates. However, Boys and girls actually live in different worlds. Esperanza"s brothers Carlos and Kiki were each other"s best friends. Although Carlos, Kiki, Esperanza and Esperanza"s sister Nenny are all children of the same family, and Carlos and Chichi have much to say at home to Esperanza and Nenny, outside, they can"t talk to girls because of cultural traditions. This meant that Esperanza had little opportunity to interact with her peers of the opposite sex, which was detrimental to her physical and mental health. In her family, her little sister Nenny was too young to be her friend. So she hopes one day she will have a best friend she can tell her secrets to. The friend understood her joke without explanation. Esperanza"s account shows her strong desire for friendship, but it is also depressing because she is not free to choose her friends. She was a red balloon tied to an anchor until she found her best friend. The balloons here represent the escape to the outside world. She felt lonely and wanted to talk to someone eles, and the reality made her trapped and helpless.

3.3 The Loss of Belonging

Through the careful observation of people and things around, naive Esperanza began to become mature and thoughtful. She has friends, but sometimes she feels lonely, when she has lots of new ideas, because she has no one to share them with. Then she looked at four thin trees on Mango Street. These four trees are ungraded trees that the city government just started planting. Later, they put their roots in the city underground and outside, shrewdly survived. Esperanza connected herself to the tree. "They"re the only ones who understand me. I"m the only one who understands them. Four skinny trees with skinny necks and pointy elbows, just like mine. Four people don"t belong here, but they"re here. Esperanza felt that they were the same, because they shared a common misfortune and an unclear identity. She discovered the power of the four trees: "their power is secret. They take root in the ground. They grew and grew, holding the earth between their hairy toes, biting the sky with their fierce teeth, never stopping their anger. Esperanza lives a hard life on Mango Street, but she knows that if she wants her dream to come true, she must move forward bravely, like the four bony trees. No matter how bad the environment, she should be optimistic attitude to summon up the courage to encourage their national identity.

4. Esperanza’s self-awakening

4.1Different Choices of Two Esperanza

Esperanza, the name means hope in English, and sadness and waiting in Spanish. That was the name of Esperanza"s great-grandmother, the old Esperanza, who was like a horse: strong, obstinate, wild, unwilling to marry, but "carried away by his great-grandfather over her head in a sack". Throughout her life, "Esperanza" was a perfect example of what it means in Spanish. "She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow."But Esperanza the younger, the protagonist of the novel, doesn"t want to be a housewife who sacrifices herself to get married like her great-grandmother. She wants to fight for her rights, her freedom, and her own life. Even though they were dragged away by a sack, they did not shrink back As Esperanza says of her great-grandmother: "I wonder if she made the best with what she got or was she sorry because she couldn’t be all the things she wanted to be. Esperanza. I have inherited her name, but I didn"t want to take her place by the window.”

Great Grandmother was enslaved by the Patriarchal Society, the window became those women who feminist ideology awakened but unable to resist, and the young Esperanza"s unwillingness to inherit reflected her new ideas, reflected her resistance to the patriarchal first one step.

4.1.1 Understanding of Gender

As she grew older, Esperanza became interested in men, playing make-up Games with many of her friends, wearing her mother"s clothes and high heels, and walking down Mango Street. In the traditional sense, high heels are the representation of women, the symbol of the transition from girl to woman. Esperanza and her companions wear high heels to represent the maturity of their gender consciousness. Like her best friends Marlene and Sally, Esperanza had hoped to catch the boys" eye so that she could manipulate them, but after what the boys had done to Marlene and Sally, and A boy"s rude declaration of love, Esperanza learned that relying on men is unstable, men will only become enslaved women "master". With not friends, a woman want to achieve their own, only to get rid of men, rely on themselves.

When Esperanza"s mother reassured her that she was getting prettier, "I decided not to grow up to be as meek as everyone else and put my neck on the threshold for the sweet chains, " she retorted. Esperanza"s understanding of gender was the second step in her revolt against a Patriarchal Society.

4.1.2 Getting a Good Education

Getting a good education is an important step for women to become independent and rebel against the patriarchy. Esperanza took a job at a photocopier for Catholic High School. Although Esperanza"s work was very simple, it gave her first taste of the joy of independence, and she understood the necessary condition for women"s independence in society -- a job that supported them. Esperanza"s passion for writing and her first job were her third step in the fight against the patriarchy.

After seeing and experiencing so many life events, Esperanza realized that escaping Mango Street was just a small step toward independence and freedom, and that true independence and freedom required the efforts of many more people. As Esperanza grew up, she came to understand that for the liberation of more people and more women, her departure could only be temporary, that she was leaving to return, to return to those who could not leave Because she and the people on Mango Street is a circle, she always belong to Mango Street! Esperanza understands that a woman"s resistance to the Patriarchal Society is not enough after all. She can only leave temporarily to awaken the consciousness of more women, so that she can really shake the foundation of the Patriarchal Society. "They will not know I have gone away to come back. For the ones I left behind" is Esperanza"s last and most important step against the patriarchy.

4.2 The Guardians around Esperanza

4.2.1 Revelations from Mother

From Esperanza"s observation and record of the mother, the mother is first and foremost beautiful and capable, providing the children and families with the daily necessary labor and warm maternal love. As a daughter, she has a mother"s love and affirmation, because her mother"s hair smells like warm bread to be baked. However, the repeated domestic work of the mother slowly behind the development of society, although living in a lifetime in the city, but do not know which subway line to the city center. My mother also lamented the fact that she had been denied the opportunity to develop her talents, unconsciously expressing her social and material desires with the phrase "I could"ve been somebody. ". As a warning to his daughter, Esperanza, you go to school. Study hard... Shame is a bad thing, you know. It keeps you down. Shame is bad, you know. It can put you in a bad mood.)"This lesson from her mother"s experience and intuition became a rare asset for Esperanza. At least she has her mother"s support and encouragement as she rebuilds her self-identity. However, the mother was also slowly assimilated to patriarchal values, showing sensitivity to her father"s conformity -- and she stopped Esperanza from talking to punks like Sère and making negative comments about Sère"s girlfriend. This series of observations suggests that Esperanza was able to make a clear judgment about the confinement of traditional culture and female identity.

4.2.2 applause from Aunt Guadalupe

The House on Mango Street is full of women trapped by husbands, fathers, children, and even a sense of their own lack of confidence. Aunt Guadalupe is a typical character of them. She devotes all her energy and time to taking care of her entire family until she gets sick. As a result, the kids do more housework and the husband is more stressed. As time passed, Aunt Lupe"s family grew tired of her illness and almost gave up caring for her. All this time, without the love and encouragement of her family, she felt lonely and miserable. But Aunt Lupe liked children. Esperanza took her library books to Aunt Lupe"s house and read her stories. As her condition worsened, she became blind. Her world is full of darkness.

Still, Aunt Lupe was the first to strongly encourage Esperanza to keep writing, as the House on Mango Street notes. Aunt Loupes praised Esperanza"s poetry, and encouraged her, "You just remember to keep writing, Esperanza. You must keep writing. It will keep you free. " When she realized Esperanza was passionate about writing, she advised her to keep writing. Although aunt Lupe was a victim of a culture of oppression, she never gave up on the pursuit of knowledge. She enjoyed the pleasure it gave her.

Like Esperanza"s mother, Aunt Lupe believed that Esperanza could live a free and unfettered life. She also knew that writing was Esperanza"s way of achieving that goal. What the dying aunt Lupe said to the young Esperanza was definitely etched in her mind, reinforcing her determination to write no matter how bad things got, or how bad things would get.

4.3 significance of Esperanza"s self-awakening

Among the Mexican-American women living in Mango Street, Esperanza began to construct a female identity for liberation. Esperanza tried to write in a lyrical and beautiful language. After seeing and experiencing so many life events, Esperanza realized that escaping Mango Street was just a small step toward independence and freedom, and that true independence and freedom required the efforts of many more people. As Esperanza grew up, she came to understand that for the liberation of more people and more women, her departure could only be temporary, that she was leaving to return, to return to those who could not leave Because she and the people of Mango Street are a circle, she always belong to Mango Street. Esperanza understands that a woman"s resistance to the Patriarchal Society is not enough after all, she can only leave temporarily to arouse the consciousness of more women, so that she can really shake the foundation of the Patriarchal Society.

In the Patriarchal Culture, the Mexican-American women suffered a great deal of oppression and abuse. Esperanza"s mother, Aunt Lupe, and Esperanza were rebellious women who saved themselves by painting, writing poetry or writing in their house on Mango Street. Esperanza devoted herself to writing to change her life and that of other women. As a good way to release from oppression, female writing aims at constructing the female writing tradition, which is the target of feminist criticism. As a result, the female image created by the Cisneros has aroused the rebellious consciousness of Mexican American women.

In the House on Mango Street, Esperanza subverts the traditional image of Mexican American women and constructs their sense of independence. At the same time, this image also became the voice of Mexican American women. Through Esperanza, Cisneros expresses the desire of Mexican American women to break away from the bondage of body and spirit, to improve the living status of Mexican American women, and to make their voices heard in the mainstream society.

5. Conclusion

The feminist perspective can be enlightened by introducing insights gained from life experience. Through Esperanza"s growth as a specific subject and the image of the House on Mango Street, Cisneros expresses the minority independence of women"s experience and reiterates the different traditions of women"s subject consciousness. In this process, she is not looking for women who completely break away from the patriarchal tradition to fight, but to make life as it is, and to open up the way for the development of more desirable and self-conscious female subjects. This exploration of independence undoubtedly enriches the content of female self-subject construction.

Esperanza"s growing up in Mango Street represents the awakening of her female consciousness. Esperanza"s hunger for a house was a hunger for freedom. Cisneros expresses herself through the mouth of Esperanza in The House on Mango Street as a woman in her constant desire for freedom and for her own identity. "To leave is to return" reflects the fundamental purpose of the feminists" resistance to the Patriarchal Society, that is, to arouse the consciousness of women all over the world, to shake up the Patriarchal Society and to realize the real equality between men and women.

Works Cited

De Valdes, M. E. (1992). In search of identity in Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street.

Canadian Review of American Studies, 23(1), 55-72.

Giles, J. R. (2010). Nature despoiled and artificial: Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street. Critical Insights: The House on Mango Street, 361-381.

Marek, J. E. (1996). Difference, identity, and Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street. Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies, 22(2), 173-187.

Lv，Na(吕娜). (2009). 当代奇卡纳代表作家研究.[ A study of Contemporary Chicano Writers]长春: 吉林大学博士论文

Sandra·Cisneros (2006).《芒果街上的小屋》. [the House on Mango Street]潘帕 _译.译林出版社.

Shi, Pingping(石平萍) . (2005). 开辟女性生存的新空间—析桑德拉.希斯内罗斯的《芒果街上的房子》.[ Opening up a new space for women"s survival-an analysis of the House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros] 《外国文学》, 3, 25-29.

Wang Haiyan(王海燕). （2010）“一所自己的房子：阶级、族裔和女性身份的追寻——评希斯内罗丝的《芒果街上的小屋》” [A House of one"s own: The pursuit of class, ethnicity and female identity -- a review of The House on Mango Street]. 西安电子科技大学学报(社会科学版), (4): 113-118.

Yao, Yanhong(姚艳红). (2015). 从《芒果街上的小屋》看桑德拉.希斯内罗丝关于女性话语的建构.[ The House on Mango Street. on the Construction of Female Discourser by Sandra Cisneros] 郑州：郑州大学硕士学位论文.

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