Chicanas' Search For Identity In The House On Mango Street

Sandra Cisneros is most famous for her acclaimed first novel The House on Mango Street which displays the existence state of the Mexican immigrant group in the United States and which is a comprehensive representation of Chicanas'search for identity. Chicanas who are "not white and not black, but brown" feel confused about their identity. Facing two cultures, they can't integrate into either. Without a sense of belonging, they don't know how to define themselves. Neither pure Mexican nor full American, they degenerate into people with double marginalized position, who are powerless in fighting against the oppression from the patriarchy society and can't escape from the hurt by ethnic discrimination and cultural exclusion.Drawing upon the theories of cultural criticism, the thesis analyzes the dilemma of Chicanas in the process of pursuing identity, and discusses the separation and permeation of ethnic culture and mainstream culture, the rejection and assimilation between the ethnic minorities and the dominant whites, and the double marginalized position of Chicanas as well as the upgrading of social status of some Chicanas. Focusing on the analysis of the protagonist Esperanza, the thesis tries to explore how Esperanza succeeds in leaving Mango Street, identifying herself with the mainstream society and realizing self-value. With a discussion of the conflicts and contradictions between the mainstream society and the ethnic minorities, the thesis intends to analyze the problems of self-identity construction and cultural identity and aims at finding ways to approach for cultural identity for ethnic minorities who are facing the shock of dominant culture and searching for identity in the multi-ethnic society of the United States.The thesis has analyzed the reasons why Chicanas suffering from the identity crisis should not only integrate into the mainstream society and make progress together with the white people, but also remember the Mexican traditions and possess individuality as well as their own ethnic characteristics; and the thesis has pointed out the ways for them to achieve that. On the one hand, the ethnic minorities should search for a new "self" through appropriate cultural identifying, integrate into the mainstream society and win spiritual freedom by making compromises between self and community and improving their social position through education. On the other hand, in order to promote national integration, American society should encourage communication between different races, eliminate racial discrimination and ethnic segregation, and develop a new ethnic culture to promote the inter-subjectivity between the mainstream culture and the ethnic culture.