Appreciation of Mango Street Cabin Works

One of the main themes of The House on Mango Street is to gain women's autonomy.

Espe Langsha, the hero, alienated her family and community in order to gain women's independent rights, and then embarked on the road of writing. The low social status of Latin American immigrants is the main external reason. The awakening of Espe Lanza, the heroine, is the internal reason for her transformation.

Wandering in the sky of racial discrimination, the hero has no roots, that is, he can't go back to his hometown in Mexico or rush into the sky of white Americans, which makes the "little girl" feel helpless and confused, all of which stimulates the "little girl" to choose a different road to change this situation.

The protagonist of the novel The Cabin on Mango Street is a "little girl"-Espe Langsha, who lives in Mango Street, a Latin American immigrant community in Chicago. She mumbled about the life of immigrants living in Mango Street. Through her own observation, watching the life of her family, watching the life of her neighbors, and watching all the people in Mango Street, she came to her own conclusion that only by not living like her mother, and not living like other girls, can she embark on the right path through self-help, self-control and writing.

The reason why the heroine can complete this series of changes and finally embark on a different path stems from the oppression of the family, that is, the cruel reality that parents' families, other people's families and girls form their own families through marriage, which has become a vivid negative teaching material for the heroine to achieve transformation and laid the foundation for the little girl to make the right decision.

The book "Cabin" in Mango Street can reflect the social status of Latin American immigrants at that time. When Cathy, a white girl, told Lanza, Espe, who just moved in, that "the people in this community are becoming more and more complicated" and the whole family was leaving Mango Street, the protagonist was suddenly touched, and the difference that a little girl could feel in other countries suddenly stimulated him. Different races and different skin colors suddenly awakened her racial consciousness. Espe Lanza finally understood that the so-called white society has a serious concept of racial discrimination, which is why they avoid Mexicans in Mango Street. Even if they try many times, it is difficult to get rid of the identity of colored people, and it is also difficult to get rid of poverty so as to be equal with the surrounding whites and integrate into it.

Espe Lanza feels discriminated against and rejected. She is like a wireless kite in the social background, drifting in the sky of racial discrimination. Without her own roots, she can't go back to her hometown in Mexico and rush into the sky of white Americans, which makes her feel helpless and confused.

In the eyes of the heroine, there are two kinds of families, one is the family of parents, and the other is the family formed by marriage. In these two families, apart from the social background, that is, the low social status of Latin American immigrants, men are also one of the reasons why women are unhappy. The shackles of oppressing women passed from the father to the husband. The author vividly shows the different fates of the girls in Mango Street with many examples, and at the same time sounds the alarm for the little hero with vivid examples: men, beautiful women and marriage still cannot change the fate of women. Alicia's father naturally despises his daughter and only wants her to be a housewife. Marlene is eager to attract men through her beauty and pure love. She "waits for a car to stop, a star to fall, and someone to change her life".

Unmarried women hope to change their destiny through marriage, but they actually jump from one kind of pain to another. At the expense of self-delivery, it is a greater self-sacrifice. Rafina, who was locked in the house by her husband because of her beauty, also had the same tragic fate. Because Rafina is beautiful, her husband keeps her in the house, and she lives in the cage of her husband's power. Minerva, who likes to write poetry, is only one or two years older than the heroine, but she was abandoned by her husband. With a two-year-old child, she lives like her mother in Lacrimosa all day. Beautiful Sally, her father shocks her with authority every day, and even beats her like a dog. To get rid of torture, she married a salesman. But Sally's husband took her father's whip and continued to torture her and wouldn't let her go out. Even Espe's mother herself is like this. Although beautiful, she married because she had no money to study, and worked hard to serve men every day.

The little hero-Espe Langsha's family is also male superior to female inferior, and even dare not talk to his brother outside. All these bloody facts happened in every family, and the little hero observed, wrote, experienced and thought through his own eyes, which became a vivid negative teaching material for her vigilance. Whether these women are beautiful or not, their fate is equally tragic-they are either abandoned by men, beaten or imprisoned. The idea that a new family will save fate is shattered. Espe Langsha no longer hopes to wear beautiful clothes to attract men, nor does she hope that marriage will change her fate. She learned a lot from her sisters, and with her natural keen observation, she gradually gained insight into the truth.

The protagonist's own awakening can gain women's independent rights.

1, the awakening of female consciousness. At first, the hero thought that boys and girls originally lived in different worlds, and boys had different powers. As long as women wear high heels and become beautiful, they can help them change their destiny. It wasn't until Bam tried to kiss Michelle that Espe Langsha realized that men would take advantage of their position and easily take away what girls didn't want to give. She began to struggle internally and changed her mind. She realized that even if a woman is beautiful, she is just a trophy of a man and a tool that a man can use at will. Therefore, Espe Langsha observes the surrounding environment and the world through her innate observation, and devotes herself to writing. She no longer pinned her hopes on gender. Beauty will bring any change to her fate, and she began to oppose sex and use her family as a means to escape from real life.

2. The awakening of social responsibility. If the little girl Espe Lanza just got rid of her past life by herself, perhaps the significance of this novel would not be so great. The key is that the little girl has changed from a strong sense of self at first to a sense of responsibility for the whole community and the whole Latin American immigrants. At first, the little girl just wanted to leave Mango Street. But then she gradually got in touch with her neighbors, and she felt love and responsibility for them. Especially for the girls in Mango Street, although these different women have different fates, their endings are all tragic without exception, so the protagonist feels a strong sense of responsibility to help them, and it will be her lifelong responsibility to help these girls get rid of their innate destiny. As the protagonist said at the end of the book, "They won't know that I left to come back. For those who stay behind me. For those who can't go out. " This reflects the hero's strong sense of social responsibility. As a writer, she did it, and let the whole world pay attention to the living conditions of Latin American immigrants and a group of immigrants on Mango Street. Because her best-selling works have aroused more people's deep thinking and discussion.

3. The awakening of writing consciousness is also the most important awakening of the little hero. Espe Langsha, the heroine, realized that writing would give her the strength to escape from Mango Street. In the whole work, Espe Langsha's observation as a writer is constantly maturing. In the early days, she was a participant in the story she told, but gradually she could only write about the people around her, which was different from those around her. At the end of the book, Espe Lanza already knows that she has gained strength different from her family and others through writing. She's not like them. Although she hasn't found her home yet, she already has her own independent and private spiritual world.

The second theme of the house on Mango Street: building a unique national identity.

Cabin is an excellent Mexican novel that broke out in the post-colonial predicament, and this background naturally determines the inevitability of the construction of national identity. The Cabin is a journey in which the whole nation, represented by the protagonist Espe Langsha, grows up and seeks to rebuild its national cultural identity. The fate of the protagonist is intertwined with the fate of Mango Street, which is the epitome of the whole nation. The fate of Mango Street is the fate of the whole nation, and the process of seeking self-identity is also the process of seeking national identity. She went out "for those who didn't". Although he was on the edge and regarded as the "other" by the colonists, he did not give up himself or his pursuit of self-identity. This pursuit process includes two aspects: resisting and subverting colonial culture and pursuing ideal "homeland".

Cisneros insists on his own Mexican culture, emphasizes the differences between national cultures, pays attention to the part of Mexican culture and white culture, emphasizes the separation and differences between national culture and colonial culture, and pays more attention to the national crisis brought by colonial system. Most post-colonial writers are out of the predicament of national culture and colonial culture. Heather Ross emphasizes ethnic differences and highlights the "root" cultural tradition in her creation. The most important and unique thing is that this novel is the story of Mexican immigrants themselves, and their experiences are written as "the other" in their own voices. From this perspective, this novel is also an anti-writing of colonial texts. Multiple narratives

First, children's narrative perspective and' Children's Paradise'

In "The Cabin on Mango Street", Sandra cisne Ross tells the whole story of Mango Street from the perspective of children, which is totally opposite to that of adults. Children are the early stages of life, and their perception of the world is emotional and illogical. Due to the characteristics of children's thinking and emotion, the text from children's perspective presents scattered plots and unremarkable structures in space. This fragmented text expression is only a breakthrough in the structure of traditional novels with causal logic or time sequence as clues.

44 memory fragments, including 44 long and short poems, in The House on Mango Street show a dynamic, staggered and impactful cultural vitality. The seemingly unrelated chapters describe the life experiences of women living in Mango Street, symbolizing the fragmentation of their lives. Any fragment in the book can become an independent article, just like the photos in Sandra cisneros's Personal Memory Film Festival. For example, Kathy, a distant cousin of the French queen, met for the first time. Riding a bicycle bought by three people, wandering in Mango Street; Send papaya juice to Rafina who is locked in the house by her husband; Listening to my mother complain that she didn't realize her wishes; At the christening party, because I didn't have any new shoes, I didn't dare to agree to others' invitation. I was kissed by a man while waiting for Sally, and I was at a loss. Sandra cisne Ross explains why and how to get out of Mango Street and realize her dream of self-reconstruction.

Rosettes, candy rings, cats like bagels, thick lips like ice cream, tortilla stars, clouds like pillows, soft feet like rabbit ears, Mrs. Butterfly and squint stars. The author used these vivid images to build a fairy tale kingdom on Mango Street in memory. Sandra cisneros adopts a special narrative perspective, taking children's feelings and thoughts as the narrator, and shows the real world in children's eyes.

Children's clear eyes can see the "real" world that is difficult to see in the eyes of adults who have been baptized by years. Contradictions, disadvantages and prejudices from adult society can always be reflected in the words of Espe Langsha and her friends. "There are brown people everywhere, and we are safe. But when we drive into another color block, our knees will tremble and we will roll up the window tightly. " "She sits at the window all day, listening to Spanish radio programs and singing all kinds of homesick songs about her country. Don't speak English, don't speak English, and then tears will flow down. " Readers can "hear" children's inner voices and "see" children's desire to freely shuttle through the streets of the city. Children are not afraid to hide in a closed car because of different skin colors, and they are eager to fly freely like birds.

When children observe the world with clear eyes and pure childlike innocence, they will omit complexity, ugliness, hatred, malice, intrigue, rivalry and intrigue. As a result, there are many vivid female characters with similar fate in fairy tales, which is a comfort to the little hero-Espe Lanza.

Second, the female narrative perspective and The Warm Country of Daughters

On Mango Street, there are groups of women of all colors: "Mom", with hair like "small rosettes", smelling like "bread to be baked" and "warm fragrance"; Cathy, the distant cousin of the Queen of France; Marlene, who is always waiting for someone to change her life; Rosa Vargas has many children; Alicia, Who Saw the Mouse; "Fortune teller" Eirene Tower; "Skinny beauty" egret; Rafina, because she is too beautiful, is locked in her room by her husband all day; Sally who "draws Egyptian eyes"; Mamaxita, who refuses to speak English, is like a "girl country" full of exotic Mexican customs.

There are many female characters living under "patriarchy" in Mango Street. Rafina was locked in her room by her husband because she was beautiful. Rafina hopes that she can have long hair like Princess La Panso, leave the cabin and go dancing in the bar, hoping that one day the clothesline will turn into a silver rope and let her escape. Rafina just jumped from a wooden cage to another beautiful iron cage. Every Tuesday, papaya juice is her longing and waiting for a better life. "So Rafina, who grew old at a young age because she leaned against the window for too long," there will always be an indelible patriarchal chain.

In the "Little Foot House" section, Espe Langsha and her friends turned into "Cinderella" after they put on high heels. Ignoring the warning of Mr. Binny, the grocery store owner, they took to the streets and walked "like picking fancy ropes" under the gaze of men. In the praise of poor boys and jealousy of women in front of the laundry, their self-confidence instantly "swelled" and they decided never to wear other shoes again. Espe Lanza proposed to walk in the street with his head held high so that men's eyes could not leave us. They try to attract men with their bodies and gain a temporary "dominant" position in this way, but when a drunken hooligan wants to exchange a dollar for Lachi's kiss, they feel danger approaching and start to fear. "Our high heels took us all the way across the street, around the block, to Mango Street and back again, just in case." Obviously, they think Mango Street is the safest, just like walking in the street without high heels.

In order to seek liberation from this repressed unequal relationship, women living under patriarchy began to struggle and resist, and their road of resistance was also deeply influenced by two women in Mexican traditional culture-Rama Lynch and Notre Dame de Guadalupe. In "The Cabin on Mango Street", Cisneros fragmented the characteristics of two archetypal characters, and recombined and mixed these characteristics, thus creating a female group and a female kingdom that highlighted female individuals and heterogeneity. No matter "Mom", Rosa Vargas, Marlene, Rafina or Egret, they are all extensions and regenerations of these two prototypes in real life.

Espe Lanza, the hero, constantly adjusts her value orientation and makes choices in contact with these women with different temperament and life experiences. She didn't follow the virtue of "Notre Dame Guadalupe" advocated by the traditional patriarchal society like her mother, grandmother, Rosa Vargas, Egret and Minerva. Even if she complained, she didn't use her body as a weapon of resistance like Marlene, Rafina and Sally, which was their only weapon, and then repeated the mistakes of Rama Lynch.

Espe Lanza refused to be the Virgin of Guadalupe or Rama Lynch. In the poems read to Aunt Guadalupe, the seeds of seeking independence and freedom are faintly visible: "I want to be a wave in the sea and a cloud in the wind, but I am still just a little me. One day I will jump out of my body and shake the sky like a hundred violins. " My aunt said to her, "Remember to write, Espe Lanza. You must write. It will set you free. " Menstruation, with the same name as Notre Dame Guadalupe, seems to be warning the little hero not to follow her path with her own personal experience. She seems to see a road to an independent and free kingdom, but she is dying. Aunt's words pointed out the direction for Espe Lanza, so in "Mango Sometimes Say Goodbye", the little hero put bags of books and paper into his bag and secretly made up his mind to leave Mango Street when he was strong enough. Only in this way can Espe Lanza have the house she wants, not her father's or any man's, but her own.

Espe Lanza is exploring a feasible way. She relies on knowledge to change her destiny. Little Espe Langsha didn't walk out of Mango Street for personal development. She knows very well that she left for her future return. Espe Lanza, caught between the principle of binary opposition and the Mexican traditional cultural thinking which is black and white and mixed with good and bad, has embarked on a growth path that can accommodate her true female self-worth and self-awareness. While realizing self-transformation, she did not forget to encourage thousands of Mexican-American women in Qian Qian to go out bravely, let the white mainstream society listen to their voices, and beat drums and cry for changing the living conditions of the whole ethnic group.

Third, cultural narrative perspective and cultural "miscellaneous courtyard"

Thinking about "self-identity" is one of the focuses of Sandra cisneros. The restrictions on freedom imposed are a reality of Mexican women's life. Due to the unique cultural background of Mexican-American women, their styles are mixed and random, that is, they often use "code-switching" between English and Spanish to express a cross-cultural identity.

A touching feature of "The Cabin on Mango Street" is that in the seemingly immature words and in the narrow personal experience space, many cultures are "intertwined". A good example is the completely different meanings of the protagonist Espe Lanza's "name" in English and Spanish: "In English, my name means hope. In Spanish, it means there are too many letters in the school. They say my name is funny, and the syllables seem to be made of iron, which will hurt the roof of my mouth. But in Spanish, my name is made of something softer, such as silver. " Hope and Waiting and Iron and Silver make two cultures appear vividly in the name of Espe Lanza, and the cultural differences bring her a lack of identity. She doesn't know what to do with her name.

Under the exclusion of mainstream culture, Espe Langsha once wanted to change its name to meet the needs of mainstream culture. She wants her name to be Cassandra or Alexis-as long as it's not Espe Langsha, any name will do-which reflects mexican american's wandering between mainstream culture and local culture, and he doesn't know where to go.

Poetic novel

The House on Mango Street has three poetic features: perspective, musicality and lyricism. These three poetic features interpret the poetic world in the author's mind in a unique way and guide readers to appreciate the charm of her poetic language. Poetic novels reflect the diversity of novel genres, which have both the general characteristics of novels and the artistic beauty of poetry. "The so-called poetic novels are not written with the metrical and external forms of poetry (such as flat cables), but with the perspective, skills and language of poetry." This poetic inner way integrates the beauty of poetry into the novel. Cisneros himself, the author of "The Cabin on Mango Street", has always been good at writing poems.

Cisneros's unique sensitivity and fluency in language are immersed in her novels. In addition, the author also embellished the traditional Mexican culture in his own blood between the lines of the text, making the work more poetic and Mexican.

distant view

"The perspective of poetic novels is impersonal. Most of the author cisneros's works are concerned with the fate of mankind, not the fate of someone. " The hut on Mango Street reflects the living conditions of American immigrant families through this Mexican-American immigrant family, although it is not just the Espe Lanza family. Espe Jr., who was born in the United States, had to move to Mango Street, where ethnic minorities live, because of poverty. In the fantasy, the little girl who talks to herself has a big house of her own, a house that "will have a basement and at least three bathrooms". However, the reality is cruel. When a wet nurse passed by their house and asked about the little girl's real home, Espe Lanza Jr.' s disappointed tone, full of dreams of a decent big house, reflected the helplessness of the living conditions of ethnic minorities in the United States. "I have to look at the place she pointed to-on the third floor, where the walls are mottled and there are some pieces of wood opposite the window, which my father nailed up so that we won't fall out. Where do you live? The way she talks makes me feel useless. "

Just as "poetry is a highly concentrated art, and it is an art that sees the big from the small." Cisneros wrote down her childhood feelings about housing in her works. Although there is no external form of poetry, she runs through the essence of poetry. A few stripes can witness the embarrassment of life. The author does not look at the housing situation from the perspective of adults, but writes his own inner feelings with the sensitivity and timidity of children. Even children feel that their lives are unsatisfactory, which shows how well adults know their situation. All this is closely related to the immigration background of the United States at that time.

The house that Espe Langsha, the heroine in The House on Mango Street, is looking for is actually a search for self-identity. In minority literature, the theme of seeking identity often appears in works. Based on the growing experience of Mexican minorities, Cisneros saw through the theme of identity seeking in the whole minority literature. The whole search process also reflects the long-term search and recognition of American minorities in the face of white culture, and whether they choose to accept or flee in the face of unsatisfactory living conditions. Espe Lanza's fate is not only personal, but also a perspective of the complicated social stratum of westerners in the whole society. The hut on Mango Street is a pair of eyes that see through the world. Readers can taste the bitterness and helplessness of life, the beauty of ideal and the cruelty of reality through these eyes, and show different life classes through multi-level description. The author transforms what he longed for as a child into the inner needs of Espe Lanza Jr., and sees the world through children's eyes, showing the perspective beauty of poetic language.

musicality

The musicality of poetic novels uniquely integrates music with novels. Similar to poetry, poetic novels also have rhythm, flatness and even rhyme. In the novel, the style of poetry is not rigidly copied, but the rhythm and rhythm are properly integrated. At this time, the readers of the novel are no longer simply reading the text, but become the audience listening to the beautiful melody of the poetic novel.

The novel Espe Langsha sees a music box in a corner shop opened by a black man. When the old man promised to open it, the box immediately issued a beautiful melody. This music box opens a series of unpredictable adventures, adding a little romantic melody to the childhood life of two innocent and romantic little girls. The novel describes it like this: "It's just an old wooden box with a big brass record with some holes in it. Then he started it, and suddenly there were thousands of voices. It seems that he let a million moths fly out of dusty furniture, out of the shadow of swan's neck and out of our bones. Like a drop of water again. Or xylophone, gently pluck the strings and make a sound like fingers sliding over metal comb teeth. "

The sound made by the music box is as rhythmic as a xylophone. The phrase "making a sound like a finger sliding over a metal comb" brings the reader into the world of sound from the text in front of him, as if someone is holding a metal comb in his ear, and the notes will jump out when the fingertips are dialed from front to back. The sound of the music box similar to xylophone is quiet and natural, carrying the soul back to the depths of music and looking for the pure land of spirit. The characteristics of connecting musicality in poetic novels will help readers to enhance their understanding and perception of novels and stimulate their reading interest to some extent. The book in black and white suddenly has a tone and melody under the background of music. After reading it, it seems that there is a feeling of "lingering sound for three days".

Lyricism

Poets often express their feelings directly, and poetic novels are not stingy with their feelings. "The most subtle inner feelings of characters ... can be conveyed incisively and vividly in lyric monologues." The Cabin on Mango Street vividly depicts the heroine Espe Langsha's longing for a stable residence in her childhood, her sadness in the face of setbacks, her growing pains, and her understanding of her female identity.

The four thin trees beside Espe Langsha's house became the symbol of the writer's perseverance in the face of difficulties. The phrase "their strength is secret" is just like the heroine, whose small body carries too much weight.

Facing the reality, Espe Langsha dreams of having a big house to show to people in pain, and one day living in the promised land of her parents to realize her dreams. When all the difficulties and pains came to her, the author expressed sympathy and affirmation for the little girl. No matter how many setbacks, little Espe Lanza will hold the soil tightly with their bearded toes like four thin trees and bite the sky with their fierce teeth.

The reason why "The Cabin on Mango Street" touches people's hearts is because of its lyricism, and also because of the author's passionate and sincere dream that people have been hiding in their hearts for a long time. Without the emotional overflow between the lines, there would be no success of Mango Street Cabin. Poetic novels are characterized by lyricism, which is the soul of the whole article. Lyricism embodies the connotation of the whole novel, and through lyricism, the hut on Mango Street has a fresh life. Whether the theme is seeking identity or feminism, it is the true feelings expressed that make the article move people's hearts. Espe Lanza, the name stands for hope in English; In Spanish, it means sadness and waiting.