The Constructed Chicana Identity and Myth in the House on Mango Street

This article deals with Sandra Cisneros’s (1954 – ) novel The House on Mango Street (1984) in terms of Chicana feminism, which emerged as a reaction against the male-dominated structure of Chicano Movement. In this sense, Cisneros’s novel can be regarded as a narration of how the Chicano society is built upon mythical constructions of gender roles, the paralyzed consciousness of women. The protagonist of the novel, Esperanza becomes aware of these myths in her society by observing the wrongful behaviors of both women and men and realizes these fossilized values, which suppress the women both spatially and intellectually. She sees that the women are treated like commodities and sexual objects and decides to react and find a new way to reconstruct the community. Cisneros reflects the constructed women images in the microcosmic Mango Street and her stand against this corrupted consideration. As a way of breaking the constructed roles, she implies awareness, remedy, change, and action for the women.