Abstract
This article explores the symbolic construction of the house, linked to the creative process of writing and telling stories, in the novel The house on Mango Street (1983), by Chicana writer Sandra Cisneros. The main challenge for the protagonist, Esperanza Cordero, is to overcome her feelings of isolation and experience a sense of belonging, which is another way of saying that she needs to feel “at home”. For Esperanza, it is important to have a home that she can be identified identify with, as a way of embracing a past that makes her feel proud and at the same time having a vision of a home in her future. It is through writing and storytelling that Esperanza manages to create a house of her own. The recreation of the house is closely linked to a process of empowerment and liberation by the protagonist, which is also manifested in the construction of a new identity. In a way, she is also the new house. Together with this process of emancipation, Esperanza finds in education a way to leave the marginal neighborhood of her childhood. Part of the conceptual framework used includes the theoretical notions of Chicano critics Tey Diana Rebolledo and Gloria Anzaldúa who study the ways in which Chicana writers explore subjectivity and identity in their writing.
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