三维空间视域下解读《芒果街上的小屋》中的女性困境

Interpretation of Female Predicaments in The House on Mango Street from the Perspective of Three-Dimensional Spaces

摘要: 桑德拉·希斯内罗丝(Sandra Cisneros) (1954~)美国墨西哥裔女作家，是美国当代最有影响的西语裔女作家之一，奇卡纳文学代表人物。1984年发布其代表作《芒果街上的小屋》，一举成名，成为美国当代著名的成长经典。小说发生在一条叫芒果街的芝加哥拉美移民社区，讲述女主人公埃斯佩朗莎在物质贫穷、族裔身份认同困境、性别不平等的环境下，成长为一名独立、富足女性的故事。空间理论是由法国哲学家、城市社会学奠基人亨利·列斐伏尔Henri Lefebvre (1901~1991)在1974年出版的《空间的生产》一书中系统提出的开创性理论。他的空间理论的核心“空间三一论”(spatial triad)包含“空间表征”(representation of space)、“空间实践”(spatial practice)和“表征空间”(representational space)。该理论将物理空间、构想空间、体验空间相互联系起来，使空间具有鲜明的政治性、现实性。《芒果街上的小屋》中多次提及“房子”、街道等空间问题，凸显女主人公的生活困境。本文通过文本分析的方法，节选富有代表性的对话，运用三维空间理论，旨在分析《芒果街上的小屋》中因空间问题而产生的女性困境。研究发现：空间实践代表的物理空间造成了女性物质层面的困境；空间表征构想的族裔偏见和性别不平等造成了女性的精神、身体困境叠加；表征空间代表着埃斯佩朗莎对自身生活的体验、感悟，最终朝权利、资本构想的空间发出反叛与挑战，呼吁建立拉美裔女性群体所向往的独立、自由且平等的空间。

Abstract: Sandra Cisneros (b. 1954) is a Mexican-American writer and one of the most influential Hispanic female authors in the contemporary United States. She is a representative figure of Chicana literature. In 1984, she published her masterpiece The House on Mango Street, which brought her instant fame and established itself as a classic of contemporary American coming-of-age literature. The novel is set on Mango Street, a Latino immigrant community in Chicago, and tells the story of the protagonist Esperanza, who grows into an independent and empowered woman amidst material poverty, racial discrimination, and patriarchal oppression. Spatial theory is a groundbreaking theory systematically proposed by the French philosopher and founder of urban sociology, Henri Lefebvre (1901~1991), in his 1974 work The Production of Space. Central to his theory is the “spatial triad”, which consists of the “representation of space”, “spatial practice” and “representational space”. This theory connects physical space, conceived space, and lived space, endowing space with distinct political and realistic dimensions. The House on Mango Street frequently addresses issues of space, such as the “house” and the street, highlighting the predicaments in the protagonist’s life. Through textual analysis and by selecting representative dialogues, this paper aims to analyze the female predicaments arising from spatial issues in The House on Mango Street. The findings indicate that the physical space represented by spatial practice creates material predicaments for women; the racial discrimination and patriarchal oppression within the representation of space constitute both spiritual and physical predicaments; and representational space embodies Esperanza’s rebellion and challenge against the space conceived by the dominant group, representing the independent, free, and equal space aspired to by Hispanic women.