The Features Of The Initiation Story In Caramelo

Sandra Cisneros is one of the most influential Hispanic American female writers in contemporary literary field.Based on her special Mexican American background and cross-cultural growing experience,her works mainly focus on Mexican traditional culture and pay more attention to gender,race and class,which are completely indicated in her most ambitious and challenging novel Caramelo.Caramelo is a masterpiece of Hispanic literature which is shortlisted for the Dublin International IMPAC Award and is nominated for the Orange Prize in England.In recent years,researches at home and abroad have studied Caramelo from these different perspectives,including language strategy,traditional culture,symbolic meaning,themes,and comparative study.However,as for current research results,few researchers investigate the initiation story features in Caramelo.Therefore,this thesis will analyze and investigate it in details.Caramelo describes the heroine Lala's development from the adolescent innocence to both physical and spiritual maturity.Based on the text,this thesis interprets the three typical features of the initiation story in Caramelo.Firstly,there are many initiation guides exerting a crucial influence on the protagonist's development,including the positive guides,such as Lala's aunt and father,and the negative guides,such as Lala's mother and her boyfriend.Secondly,when it comes to the uniform pattern,it is embodied in Caramelo as an initiation story.The thesis analyzes the heroine Lala's initiation path.She gains new recognition towards life,society and herself after experiencing loss of innocence,disillusionment and ordeals.Thirdly,the significant initiation theme is explored in Caramelo.This study also analyzes the great contribution of inheriting the traditional culture and crossing the border to Lala's maturity.Through a detailed interpretation of Caramelo,this study further examines the commonalities in Caramelo and the initiation story in terms of characters,narrative structure and the initiation theme.