REFLECTIONS ON POPULAR CULTURE IN SANDRA CISNEROS’S THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET
Keywords:
popular culture, media, representation, ethnic minority, Chicanas, gender, patriarchy, CisnerosAbstract
This paper explores elements of popular culture in Sandra Cisneros’ novel The House on Mango Street. The theoretical approach in the first section of the paper introduces the most relevant aspects of early U.S. popular culture, while the second section discusses U.S. popular culture with respect to ethnic minorities, predominantly Chicanas portrayed in Cisneros’s novel. The paper highlights certain ambiguities of popular culture in relation to minorities in the U.S., as well as the fact that, though having embraced egalitarian ideals and having general progressive views, popular culture nevertheless has failed to integrate specific cultural and gender perspectives of Latinas, as demonstrated by the lack of representation and stereotyping of female characters in the novel.
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