《芒果街上的小屋》中的女性形象.docx

《芒果街上的小屋》中的女性形象.docx

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《芒果街上的小屋》中的女性形象

《芒果街上的小屋》中的女性形象

乐山师范学院

学士学位论文

OntheFemaleImagesinTheHouseonMangoStreet

浅析《芒果街上的小屋》中的女性形象

作者胡丽完成日期2013年4月27日

指导教师车欢欢职称讲师

院别外国语学院专业英语

班级2009级1班学号09280115

二○一三年四月二十七日

Abstract

TheHouseonMangoStreetisanovelbyMexican-AmericanfemalewriterSandraCisneros.FromtheperspectiveoftheheroineEsperanza,thebookrecordsthegrowthofherintheformofmonologue.Italsoreflexesthesufferingoftheheroineandthefemalesonmangostreetfromsexism,racialismandpatriarchy.Byanalyzingthetypicalfemaleimages,thispaperaimstoexpressthefeminismtheauthorintendstoconvey,tointrospectthetraditionalvalueofMexicanfemalesandtoadvocatefemales’realindependence.Thispapercomprisesthreeparts.Thefirstconsistsoftwopoints.Thefirstoneisabriefintroductiontofeminismtheory,andthesecondoneonresearchbackground,briefanalysisofcurrentresearchachievementsconcerningthisbook.Thesecondpartisintroduction,comparison,andanalysisofthetypicalfemalecharactersinthisbook,forexample,heroine’smotherandaunt,whoaretheLaVirgendeGuadulupetyperepresentingtraditionalfemaleimageinMexicanculture,andLaMalinchetypelikeMarlynandSally.ThethirdpartmainlyanalyzeslifeexperienceofEsperanza,thenhighlightsnewwomenimagesandduevalue,outlookonlifefornewwomenthroughherseveralawakenings.

Keywords:

TheHouseonMangoStreet;Ethnicwomen;femaleimage;value

摘要

《芒果街上的小屋》是美国墨西哥裔女性作家桑德拉•希斯内罗丝的成名作，书中通过主人公小女孩埃斯佩朗莎•科尔德罗的视角，用日记样的独白记录下了她自身的成长。

反映了女人公及整个芒果街的族裔女性饱受性别、种族、父权等迫害的生活状态。

本文将重点从女性主义的角度，通过分析文中出现的典型女性形象，尤其是女主人公埃斯佩朗莎的成长经历，由此指出女主人公是区别于传统墨西哥瓜达卢佩圣母型和马琳齐型的新女性，揭示作者想表达的女性主义思想，反思传统墨西哥女性的价值观，提倡女性真正的独立自主，文章首先是对女性主义理论进行简要介绍，阐述其含义和意义。

接着对书中的典型女性形象进行介绍、比较和分析，分别是代表传统墨西哥文化中瓜达卢佩圣母型的文中主人公的母亲和姨母，马琳齐型的马琳和莎莉，最后将重点解析女主人公埃斯佩朗莎的成长经历，通过她的几个觉醒来凸显新女性形象，和新女性应有的价值观人生观。

关键词：

《芒果街上的小屋》；族裔女性；女性形象；价值观

Contents

Introduction

SandraCisnerosisoneofthemostsignificantMexican-Americanfemalewriter.Shehasalotofworksandshewasfirstlywell-knownforTheHouseonMangoStreet,which,oncepublished,becameasensationthatarousingfiercedebateandechointhe20thcentury’sAmericanintellectualcirclethatattachedgreatimportancetoethnicalproblems.Asachicanawriter,Herwritingwasgreatlyinfluencedbyheruniquebackground.ShewasborninMexicobutgrewupinAmerica.Andnotonlythat,shewastheonlydaughterofafamilywhichhassixbrothers.Livinginsuchafamilyoftenmadeherfeelisolatedandlonely.Inaddition,justliketheheroineinTheHouseonMangoStreet,Cisneros’familyalwayskeepingmovingtheirhouse.AndtheconstantmigrationofherfamilybetweenMexicoandtheUSAinstilledinherthesenseof“alwaysstraddlingtwocountries...butnotbelongingtoeitherculture.”（Doyle,1996:

54）Therefore,sheurgentlyhopedthattheycouldbeabletoputanendtopovertyandhaveapermanentandstablehouseoftheirown.Then,Herfamilymadeadown-paymentontheirownhomeinHumboldtPark,apredominantlyPuertoRicanneighbourhoodofChicagowhenshewaselevenyearsold.（Ganz,1994:

22）Theexperiencethereprovidedmuchinspirationtohercreation,especiallyTheHouseonMangoStreet.Withthehelpofgovernmentfund,shewenttothecollege.Andthenbecauseofhergiftonwriting,shewasrecommendedintothegraduatewritingclassinthefamousinternationaluniversityofIowa.Afterhergraduation,shedidmanyjobs,suchas:

highschoolteacher,collegecounselor.Duringthisperiod,shemetmanyethnicstudentsandallthoseexperience,notonlyhers,butalsothestoriesaroundher,hasbeenthematerialsofhercreation.

TheHouseonMangoStreetisacoming-of-ageworkbyMexican-AmericanfemalewriterSandraCisneros.Thewholenoveliscomposedofforty-fourvignettesthatarenotquitepoemsandnotquitefullstories.Itwasfirstlypublishedin1984,Afteritspublishing,itarousedgravedisputes,andwasvaluedbyintellectualcirclesoftheUSintheatmosphereofcaringaboutEthnicproblems.Asforthecontentofthebook.It’sthroughthenarrationoftheheroineEsperanzatotell.Esperanza,theheroine,anadolescentlatinagirl,thewholebookrecordsthegrowthofherintheformofmonologue.Andduringthisprocess,reflexesthesufferingoftheheroineandthefemalesonmangostreetfromsexism,racialismandpatriarchy.Thispaperaimstodoasimplestudyofthefemaleimagesinthisbook.Andthentrytoexpressthefeminismtheauthorintendstoconvey,tointrospectthetraditionalvalueofMexicanfemalesandtoadvocatefemales’realindependence.

1.TheoreticalFramework

1.1ABriefIntroductiontoFeminism

Feminism, thebeliefinthesocial,economic,andpolitical equality ofthesexes.Thatistosay,womenandmenareequal.Theyhavethesamerightsinworking,educationandsomeotherthings.AlthoughlargelyoriginatingintheWest,feminismismanifestedworldwideandisrepresentedbyvariousinstitutionscommittedtoactivityonbehalfof women’srights andinterests.（Britannica,2013）

1.2RelevantResearch

TheHouseonMangoStreetisacoming-of-ageworkbyMexican-AmericanfemalewriterSandraCisneros.Itwasfirstlypublishedin1984.Afteritspublishing,itarousedgravedisputes,andwasvaluedbyintellectualcirclesoftheUSintheatmosphereofcaringaboutEthnicproblems.Manyscholarshavedonelotsofresearchonit.Ingeneral,SunAiping（2008）hasconcludedthecriticalstudyonthebookcanbelistfromthefollowingperspective:

studyingthebookasacoming-of-agework;exploringthefemaleidentityandconstructinganewself;locatingtheMangoStreetinitscross-culturalcontext;approachingMangostreetinabroadethinicwomen’sthematic;touchinguponthepostmodernwritingofMangoStreetespeciallyitsgenreissue.Wecanfindthatthesefiveperspectivesareontheformonlyorthebook’sformalisticstudy.

MystudyisonthefemaleimagesofTheHouseonMangoStreet,buttheperspectiveisfeminism.ThepaperexplorestheFemaleImagesinTheHouseonMangoStreetaccordingtodoresearchandcontrasttothetypicalcharactersinthebook.Chaptertwofocusesonthethestudyofthefourfigures,Mum,AuntLupe,MarinandSally.MumandAuntLupeinbookjustcanrepresentthetraditionalwomenimage“LaVirgendeGuadulupe”inMexicanculture.Throughtheintroductionofthesetwocharacters,andtofindoutthesimilaritiesbetweenthem.Andthemostimportantistoconcludethetwofigures’characteristic.Andtheothertwocharactersinbook,theyareMarinandSally.Theyrepresenttheotheronetypicalfemaleimageinmexicanculture,“LaMalinche”,whichistotallyoppositetothe“LaVirgendeGuadulupe”.Similarly,firstlyintroducethetwocharacters,thentosumupthesimilaritiesandtheremarkablecharacteristicsofthosetwofigures.Chapterthreeanalyzestheheroineofthenovel.Esperanza,whoisthenarratorofthebook,representsafemaleimagewhichisneither“LaVirgendeGuadulupe”nor“LaMalinche”.Shemanagetostruggleforherownhouseandsearchforheridentity.Throughtheanalysisofher,tosummarizethedifferentcharacteristicofher.Conclusionisasummaryofallaspectswhichwerementionedabove.AndconclusioncallsforpeopletointrospectthetraditionalvalueofMexicanfemalesandtoadvocatefemales’realindependence.

2.TheTypicalTraditionalFemaleImagesinthebook

Inthispart,thefourcharacters,Mum,AuntLupe,MarinandSallytheyallwillbeanalyzedindetail.InTheHouseonMangoStreet,thesetwokindsofpeoplejustcanrepresentthetraditionalwomenimage“LaVirgendeGuadulupe”inMexicancultureandtherevoltedwomenimage“LaMalinche”respectively.“LaVirgendeGuadulupe”and“LaMalinche”aretwotypicalfemaleimageinmexicancultureandhistory,“LaMalinche”,whichistotallyoppositetothe“LaVirgendeGuadulupe”.Theytwohavetotallydifferentpersonalityandquality.Inthissection,wewilldosomedetailedanalysisoftheirpersonality,andgivesomeexamplestofindoutwhattheyhaveincommonandhowtheirpersonalityaffectstheirlife.

2.1ABriefIntroductiontoMumandAuntLupe

Inthebook,TheHouseonMangoStreet,Esperanza’sMum,isakeyfigurewhoappearsalmostthewholebook,atthebook’sverybeginning,itsmiddleparagraphsetc.Wecanevencometotheconclusionthattheheroineherselfregardhermumastheexampletofollowduringhergrowthperiodtosomedegree.Inhereyes,hermumisasholyandwarmasthevirginMary.Wecanfindtheevidencefromthedescriptionofmum’shairinthebook.Itsays,

“Butmymother’shair,mymother’shair,likelittlerossetes,likelittlecandycirclesallcurlyandprettybecauseshepinneditinpincurlsallday,sweettoputyournoseintowhensheisholdingyou,holdingyouandyoufeelsafe,isthewarmsmellofbreadbeforeyoubakeit,isthesmellwhenshemakesroomforyouonhersideofthebedstillwarmwithherskin,andyousleepnearher,therainoutsidefallingandPapasnoring.Thesnoring,therain,andMama’shairthatsmellslikebread.”（Cisneros,2006:

155-156）

Fromthewordsquotedfromthebook,wecanfeelEsperanza’sstrongemotionsandmightyloveforhermother.Andthat’sbecausehermumisanunderstandingwifeandlovingmother,sheisdedicatedtothewholefamily,takingcareofallthefamilymembers.Sheplayagoodroleofwifeandmuminherhusbandandchildren’smind.However,inMum’sowndeeplyheart,sheisnotwillingtolivelikethis,shecouldnotlivelikethis,“Icould’vebeensomebody,youknow?

”;Shecanspeaktwolanguages.Shecansinganopera.Sheknowshowtofixa