《芒果街上的小屋》中的女性形象(2)

Contents

Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................................ ii Abstract .............................................................................................................................................. iii 摘 要 ................................................................................................................................................. iv Contents ............................................................................................................................................... v Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 1 1. Theoretical Framework .................................................................................................................... 3

1.1 A Brief Introduction to Feminism ........................................................................................... 3 1.2 Relevant Research ................................................................................................................... 3 2. The Typical Traditional Female Images in the book ........................................................................ 5

2.1 A Brief Introduction to Mum and Aunt Lupe .......................................................................... 5 2.2 The Similarities between Mum and Aunt Lupe ...................................................................... 6 2.3 A Brief Introduction to Marin and Sally ................................................................................. 7 2.4 The Similarities between Marin and Sally .............................................................................. 8 3. The Study of Esperanza from the Perspective of Feminism ............................................................ 9

3.1 A Brief Introduction to Esperanza ........................................................................................... 9 3.2 Three Awakenings of Esperanza ............................................................................................. 9

3.2.1 The Sexual Awakening .................................................................................................. 9 3.2.2 The Development of Moral Sense ............................................................................... 10 3.2.3 The Realization of Writing Ability .............................................................................. 10

Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 12 References .......................................................................................................................................... 13 论文独创性声明 ................................................................................................................................ 14 论文使用授权声明 ............................................................................................................................ 14

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Introduction

Sandra Cisneros is one of the most significant Mexican-American female writer. She has a lot of works and she was firstly well-known for The House on Mango Street, which, once published, became a sensation that arousing fierce debate and echo in the 20th century’s American intellectual circle that attached great importance to ethnical problems. As a chicana writer, Her writing was greatly influenced by her unique background. She was born in Mexico but grew up in America. And not only that, she was the only daughter of a family which has six brothers. Living in such a family often made her feel isolated and lonely. In addition, just like the heroine in The House on Mango Street, Cisneros’ family always keeping moving their house. And the constant migration of her family between Mexico and the USA instilled in her the sense of “always straddling two countries ... but not belonging to either culture.” (Doyle, 1996: 54) Therefore, she urgently hoped that they could be able to put an end to poverty and have a permanent and stable house of their own. Then, Her family made a down-payment on their own home in Humboldt Park, a predominantly Puerto Rican neighbourhood of Chicago when she was eleven years old. (Ganz, 1994: 22) The experience there provided much inspiration to her creation, especially The House on Mango Street. With the help of government fund, she went to the college. And then because of her gift on writing, she was recommended into the graduate writing class in the famous international university of Iowa. After her graduation, she did many jobs,such as:high school teacher, college counselor. During this period, she met many ethnic students and all those experience,not only hers, but also the stories around her, has been the materials of her creation.

The House on Mango Street is a coming-of-age work by Mexican-American female writer Sandra Cisneros. The whole novel is composed of forty-four vignettes that are not quite poems and not quite full stories. It was firstly published in 1984, After its publishing, it aroused grave disputes, and was valued by intellectual circles of the US in the atmosphere of caring about Ethnic problems. As for the content of the book. It’s through the narration of the heroine Esperanza to tell. Esperanza, the heroine, an adolescent latina girl, the whole book records the growth of her in the form of monologue. And during this process, reflexes the suffering of the heroine and the females on mango street from sexism, racialism and patriarchy. This paper aims to do a simple study of the female images in this book. And then try to express the feminism the author intends to convey, to introspect

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the traditional value of Mexican females and to advocate females’ real independence.

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1. Theoretical Framework

1.1 A Brief Introduction to Feminism

Feminism, the belief in the social, economic, and political equality of the sexes. That is to say,

women and men are equal. They have the same rights in working, education and some other things. Although largely originating in the West, feminism is manifested worldwide and is represented by various institutions committed to activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests. ( Britannica, 2013)

1.2 Relevant Research

The House on Mango Street is a coming-of-age work by Mexican-American female writer Sandra Cisneros. It was firstly published in 1984. After its publishing, it aroused grave disputes, and was valued by intellectual circles of the US in the atmosphere of caring about Ethnic problems. Many scholars have done lots of research on it. In general, Sun Aiping (2008) has concluded the critical study on the book can be list from the following perspective: studying the book as a coming-of-age work; exploring the female identity and constructing a new self; locating the Mango Street in its cross-cultural context; approaching Mango street in a broad ethinic women’s thematic; touching upon the postmodern writing of Mango Street especially its genre issue. We can find that these five perspectives are on the form only or the book’s formalistic study.

My study is on the female images of The House on Mango Street, but the perspective is feminism. The paper explores the Female Images in The House on Mango Street according to do research and contrast to the typical characters in the book. Chapter two focuses on the the study of the four figures, Mum, Aunt Lupe, Marin and Sally. Mum and Aunt Lupe in book just can represent the traditional women image “La Virgen de Guadulupe” in Mexican culture. Through the introduction of these two characters, and to find out the similarities between them. And the most important is to conclude the two figures’ characteristic. And the other two characters in book, they are Marin and Sally. They represent the other one typical female image in mexican culture, “La Malinche”, which is totally opposite to the “La Virgen de Guadulupe”. Similarly, firstly introduce

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the two characters, then to sum up the similarities and the remarkable characteristics of those two figures. Chapter three analyzes the heroine of the novel. Esperanza, who is the narrator of the book, represents a female image which is neither “La Virgen de Guadulupe” nor “La Malinche”. She manage to struggle for her own house and search for her identity. Through the analysis of her, to summarize the different characteristic of her. Conclusion is a summary of all aspects which were mentioned above. And conclusion calls for people to introspect the traditional value of Mexican females and to advocate females’ real independence.

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