The Symbolic Meaning of House in The House on Mango StreetAbstractAs a classic in contemporary American ethnic literature，the novel The House On the Mango Street has brought Sandra Cisneros international fameThe House on Mango Street records the struggling history of Mexican immigrants in AmericaApproaching the life of immigrants, the novel discloses the dilemma of minority communities in American society from the perspective of a little female protagonist EsperansaThe novel also portrays the growth of Esperansa，reflecting Esperansas and other Mexican womens marginal status in American society and their subordinate reality from their fathers or oppression by their husbands after marriage，through which the work lays bare those Mexican womens physical and spiritual pursuit of social equality，racial and gender identity This thesis will analyze Esperansas narrating of her ordinary life to explore the symbolic meaning of “house” in The House on Mango Street. It consists of five parts. Chapter One introduces the genre and themes of the House on Mango Street. Chapter Two defines the meaning of the house. Chapter Three discusses about how people on Mango Street pursue class equality. It also talks about the birth of the novel. In Chapter Four, the lower-class Latinos fight for equal racial identity. Chapter Five introduces the male chauvinism and how the women try to win an equal gender status.Keywords：House；Pursue ;Class Identity; Racial Identity； Gender Identity内容摘要作为美国当代族裔文学经典之作，小说 芒果街上的小屋为美国女作家桑德拉 希斯内罗丝赢得国际声誉。芒果街上的小屋描述了墨西哥移民在美国辛酸的奋斗史。小说从主人公-一个小女孩埃斯佩朗莎 科德罗的视角书写芒果街的移民生活，尤其是社区中少数族裔女性在夹缝中的生存状态，呈现美国社会少数族裔社区的困境。小说讲述了主人公埃斯佩朗莎 科德罗的成长经历，反映埃斯佩朗莎以及其它少数族裔女性在美国社会的弱势地位以及在家庭受男性压迫的现实，折射出以埃斯佩朗莎为代表的墨西哥裔女性对象征阶级、种族和性别平等的一所完全属于自己的房子不懈追寻的心声。本论文通过分析主人公埃斯佩朗莎 科德罗讲述她的日常生活来探讨房子在芒果街上的小屋一书中的象征意义。本文包括五个部分：第一章介绍该小说的流派和主题。第二章讨论了房子的定义。第三章介绍了在芒果街上的人是如何追求阶级的平等，包括介绍这部小说是如何诞生的。第四章写了社会下层的墨西哥裔的人们为了平等的少数民族地位是如何奋斗的。第五章介绍了在芒果街上的大男子主义现象和那些女人是如何争取性别平等的地位。关键词：房子；追寻；阶级身份；种族身份；性别身份OutlineThesis Statement: This thesis is talking about the symbolic meaning of house in The House on Mango Street.1 Introduction1.1 Genre 1.2 Themes2 The Definition of House 3 House: Pursuing of Equal Class Identity3.1 Pursuing of Equal Class Identity3.2 Background Information4 House: Pursuing Equal Racial Identity5 House: Pursuing Equal Gender Identity5.1 Male Chauvinism5.2 Pursuing Equal Gender Identity6 Conclusion Table of Contents1 Introduction.11.1 Genre.21.2 Themes .22 The Definition of House .43 House: Pursuing of Equal Class Identity.63.1 Pursuing of Equal Class Identity63.2 Background Information94 House: Pursuing Equal Racial Identity115 House: Pursuing Equal Gender Identity.135.1 Male Chauvinism.135.2 Pursuing Equal Gender Identity.156 Conclusion .16Notes .17Bibliography .191. IntroductionVirginia Woolf, regarded as one of the forerunners of British feminist writers of the 20th century, once said a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction1. Woolf noted that women have been kept from writing because of their relative poverty, and financial freedom will bring women the freedom to write.2 It is obvious that woman has to become independent not only in space but also in economy in order to have the scope for her particular talents of literary and artistic creation and achieve the independent and equal status in a world dominated by men. The subsequent feminists, however, found out that the obstacles they met with were far more than they had thought on the way to pursue independence and equality. One of the outstanding American Jewish writers Tillie Olsen who struggled for a living dissects deeply that women will be confronted with big barriers in social status and gender equality when they are writing or doing other things in literary and artistic creation. Likewise, an outstanding Afro-American woman writer Alice Walker called the defender of the black race and black women sharply scolds that sex and racial discrimination are obstruction in the emergence of the sense of the black females. Like Alice Walker, Sandra Cisneros a female Chicana writer in contemporary America has gathered criticism, social status and gender discrimination in her master piece The House on Mango Street. It probes a Mexican-American female Esperansa in the marginal status of the lowest caste, minority and subordinate reality makes a sustained effort for her own house which is a symbol of class, race and sex of Mexican-American. So some authors say Three books by Alice Walker, Sa