(HOME)GIRLS: THE URBAN FAMILY EXPERIENCE IN SANDRA CISNEROS'S THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET AND GLORIA NAYLOR'S THE WOMEN OF BREWSTER PLACE
Open Access
Author:
Mcelwee, Megan Elizabeth
Area of Honors:
English (Altoona)
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Roselyn Costantino, Thesis Supervisor Dr. Laura Rotunno, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
domestic space representation fictive kin domestic genre family and identity
Abstract:
This thesis will explore and analyze variations of the family and domestic space in two feminist texts, Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street and Gloria Naylor’s The Women of Brewster Place. Although both texts have been well-studied and commercially successful for decades, scholars have neglected an area of study crucial to the understanding of these works, family representation. Situated within the framework of literary criticism, family studies, spatial theory, and feminist criticism, my study establishes that Cisneros and Naylor center their texts around variations of domestic space to reveal “nontraditional” female experiences within the family home. These authors ultimately challenge normalized images of the Anglo-American middle-class nuclear family by including literary representations of “alternative families,” which are families that deviate in structure, cultural identity, and traditional “family values” (e.g. ethical behavior, morality, and discipline). As the titles indicate, home and the local community are central spaces for the characters. Thus, Cisneros and Naylor create environments that identify with the emotional and physical deprivation of the protagonists’ families, homes, and neighborhoods. These combined elements demonstrate the symbiotic relationship between home, community, and family identity, which ultimately distinguishes families on the fringe from other fictional representations of family seen on television and canonical U.S. literature.
