Body, Culture And Home — Chicanas’ Space Construction In Ana Castillo’s Novels

Ana Castillo is a renowned contemporary Mexican-American novelist, essayist, poet, and a representative Chicana feminist. Her first three novels, The Mixquiahuala Letters, Sapogonia and So Far from God have won widespread prize and many comments. The thesis tries to probe into the spatial construction in the three novels so as to appreciate Chicana novels from a new theoretical viewpoint and know more about Chicanas’ unique historical experience.By applying spatial theory, this thesis aims to explore Chicanas’ body space, culture space and home space presented in The Mixquiahuala Letters, Sapogonia and So Far from God. Through the research, it reveals Castillo’s strong spatial consciousness that space is an important means for Chicanas to construct their spatial experience and pursue dream. With the intertwining of political power and social background, discipline and deviation of body space, absence and trace of the indigenous culture as well as searching and reconstruction of new living space all indicate Castillo’s exploration and pondering over Chicanas’ predicament of existence. Besides, by virtue of exploring the new living space established for Chicanas, which reveals the author’s crux of “Xicanisma” that in the background of nation and history, Castillo also endeavors to invent new female values about Chicanas, which encourages Chicanas to pursue autonomy and dream by connecting with Chicanas’ own bodies, original culture and women of other ethnic minorities.