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ETD Abstract Container

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Woman Hollering/la Gritona: The Reinterpretation of Myth in Sandra Cisneros’ The House On Mango Street and Woman Hollering Creek

Sánchez, Sierra
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wuhonors1617712283824549

Abstract Details

2019, Bachelor of Arts, Wittenberg University, English.
This thesis explores how Sandra Cisneros's writing uses the reinterpretation of myths to more fully realize mestiza identity. It uses Gloria Anzaldua's model of "the Coatlicue State" to explain how Cisneros addresses women's ownership of their sexuality in her novel The House on Mango Street and in three short stories. The Coatlicue State reflects the subterranean aspects of one's identity that are repressed by the societal and cultural milieu and encourages movement towards a reconciliation the the repressed parts of the self and an embrace of all parts of a mestiza's mix of identities. Anzaldua sees this integration of the self in mythic terms, regarding the tropes of la Llorona, la Malinche, and the Virgin of Guadalupe as dismembered versions of Coatlicue. Cisneros's characters exist is cultural circumstances where these tropes influence their ways of being. In The House on Mango Street, Esperanza begins to escape the traps of cultural mythologies by writing her own story, defining herself as a way of leaving behind mythic scripts enforced on women in her community. In "Never Marry a Mexican," Clemencia demonstrates the danger of what happens when Anzaldua's Coatlicue State is perverted; in it, she claims sexual agency by asserting dominance, reversing but still recreating oppressive dynamics. In "One Holy Night," Cisneros highlights the shame that a woman is expected to feel about expressing her sexuality. Rather than feeling ashamed, as authority figures in her life expect, the narrator's sexual awakening prompts an intellectual awakening in which she is able to better understand the world around her. In "Woman Hollering Creek," Felice shows that not only must destructive mythologies be reinterpreted, the reinterpretations must be shared for the empowerment of others.
Kate Polak (Advisor)
Scot Hinson (Committee Member)
Sheree Henlon (Committee Member)
83 p.
American Literature; Ethnic Studies; Gender Studies; Latin American Literature; Latin American Studies; Literature
Cisneros, Sandra; Chicana literature; mestiza identity; short stories; Latino; Latina; Coatlicue State; Aztec mythology; cultural myths; virgin-whore dichotomy; womens sexuality; femininity; patriarchy; la Llorona; la Malinche; Virgin of Guadalupe

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Sánchez, S. (2019). Woman Hollering/la Gritona: The Reinterpretation of Myth in Sandra Cisneros’ The House On Mango Street and Woman Hollering Creek [Undergraduate thesis, Wittenberg University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wuhonors1617712283824549

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Sánchez, Sierra. Woman Hollering/la Gritona: The Reinterpretation of Myth in Sandra Cisneros’ The House On Mango Street and Woman Hollering Creek. 2019. Wittenberg University, Undergraduate thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wuhonors1617712283824549.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Sánchez, Sierra. "Woman Hollering/la Gritona: The Reinterpretation of Myth in Sandra Cisneros’ The House On Mango Street and Woman Hollering Creek." Undergraduate thesis, Wittenberg University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wuhonors1617712283824549

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

wuhonors1617712283824549
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This open access ETD is published by Wittenberg University Honors Theses and OhioLINK.