Narrating Cultural Identity, Gendered Space, and Voice in Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street: A Psychoanalytic and Chicana Feminist Reading

Abstract

This article examines Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street through the lens of cultural identity shaped by gendered spaces, poverty, and shared language. Reading Freud’s id, ego, superego, and sublimation within a Chicana feminist context, this article sees the story of Esperanza developing her identity while caught in the script of Mango Street. The script for girls includes being feminine, staying home, avoiding conflict, repressing their desires, and speaking and thinking in limited ways. However, this paper argues that Esperanza practices sublimation by channeling her desire and anger into creative expression that serves as a means of self-definition and cultural positioning. Moreover, the paper contends that Esperanza’s story does not efface the trauma of her experiences; instead, it transforms those experiences into a voiced narrative seeking to understand and integrate them into community memory. Furthermore, the paper deals with gendered confinement and holds out hope of return.