Transformation of Tradition and Culture ????????: Vol. 1

By Miho Tsukamoto

The book Transformation of Tradition and Culture is a work of comparative literary research and culture investigation. The book studies world literatures from the USA, the DR, Mexico, Spain, Portuguese, and Japan; US cultures such as the Barbie doll; Mexican mural studies; Japanese subcultures, manga, anime, movies, and food culture; media study; and women in society. It is a book of an authors experiences, culture, and historical footsteps with people from all over the world. Sharing ones own culture with people from different cultural backgrounds is vital for everyone to learn about their own culture, languages, society, economy, politics, and customs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 7, 2018
• ISBN: 9781543479577

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Copyright © 2018 by Miho Tsukamoto.

Library of Congress Control Number:             2018900851

ISBN:                         Hardcover                             978-1-5434-7955-3

                                  Softcover                               978-1-5434-7956-0

                                  eBook                                     978-1-5434-7957-7

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Illustration: Cover and Inside by Takei Koyo

表紙・挿絵   武井向陽

Inside by Oda Rei

挿絵       小田怜

Tamagawa Sara

玉川沙良

Rev. date: 02/28/2018

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

767451

CONTENTS

Foreword

Prefaceまえがき

I. Social Hierarchy In U.s. Literature And Minority In Society

米文学における社会的階級と社会におけるマイノリティ

1. Formulation of the American Hierarchical Society and Nationalism—Fitzgerald’s Tender Is the Night

アメリカの階級社会の形成とナショナリズム―フィッツジェラルド作『夜はやさし』より

2. Ethnocentrism in Tender Is the Night after British Colonization

『夜はやさし』における植民地主義以後のエスノセントリズム

3. Dick’s Downfall and Women’s Rebellion in Tender Is the Night

『夜はやさし』におけるディックの失墜と女たちの反乱」

4．Resistance of Status Hierarchy in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible: Voodoo and Haunted Salem

アーサー・ミラーの『るつぼ』における身分階層への抵抗―ブードゥー教とセイラムにかかった呪い―

5. Corruption of Family Relationships in Benjamin Button’s Growing Younger: Challenge to Aged Society

ベンジャミン・バトンの若年化における家族関係の崩壊－高齢化社会へのメッセージ

6. Transformation of a Minority Indian in Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

シャーマン・アレクシー作The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian におけるマイノリティの変容

7. Cultural Difference and Assimilation in Native American Society and White Society in the USA in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Part-Time Indianにおける文化的差異と同化―The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indianにおける友情

8. Loss of Fatherhood and Resistance of Daughter in Washington Square

『ワシントン・スクエア』における父権の喪失と娘の抵抗

II. Social Assimilation in U.S. Society and Borderland

米国社会における社会的適応とボーダーランド

1. Undocumented Mexican Workers in the USA

米国におけるメキシコ不法移民者の社会問題－貧困、投票権、国籍の行方

2. Illegal Immigrants and Coyotes: the Border Between the USA and Mexico

米国とメキシコ間の国境における不法移民問題とコヨーテの存在

3. Unassimilated Mexicans in the USA

メキシコ人のアメリカでの文化的・社会的同化

4. Absence of God and Anticatholicism in The Guardians

The Guardiansにおける神の不在と反カトリック主義

5. Bilingualism in Hispanic Literature: Comparisons of Sandra Cisneros, Ana Castillo, Junot Díaz, and Julia Alvarez

言語の多様性－米文学におけるヒスパニックのインターリンガリズム

6. Tyler’s Change in Return to Sender

Return to Senderにおけるタイラーの変化

7. Overcoming Displacement in Woman Hollering Creek: Cleófilas’s Dilemma

Woman Hollering CreekにおけるCleófilasの自己喪失からの脱却

8. Esperanza’s Independence and Search for the Self in Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street

9. Under the Patriarchy in the U.S.-Mexican Women’s Psychological Confinement in Sandra Cisneros’s Woman Hollering Creek

10. Myth and Fantasy in Sandra Cisneros’s Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories

11. Sylvia Plath’s poetry Images of Heteronomy

12. Separation from Edna in Awakening from Adèle Ratignolle to Monsieur Pontellier

III. Latin American Literature and Establishment of Identity

ラテンアメリカ文学とアイデンティティの確立

1. Magical Realism and Antihero

in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

カリブにおける魔術的リアリズムとアンチヒーロー

2．Ambivalence and Hybridity in In the Name of Salomé

In the Name of Saloméにおける白さと黒さのハイブリディティと同性愛と異性愛のアンビバレント

3．Patria and Displacement: Poems and Writer’s Techniques in In the Name of Salomé

愛国心とディスプレイスメント－『サロメの名において』における詩と作品技法からの考察

4. Dislocation of Language and Change of Identity

米国での言語の転位とアイデンティティの変化

5. Loss of Self Caused by the Garcías’ Linguistic Displacement and Cultural Maladjustment in the USA

言語の相違と文化的不適応から生じる自己存在の欠如

6. The Struggle of a Latino Immigrant to the United States in How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

7. The In-between Status of Diasporatic Immigrants in How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

IV. Voices and Testimonio Literature

声と証言文学

1．Julia Alvarez’s Immigration to the United States and Its Influence on her Writing from Displacement to Hybridity

アルバレスの米国への移住と執筆－ディスプレイスメントからハイブリッド性への考察

2. Polyphony and Marginalization of Voices in ¡Yo!

『ヨ（私）』における声の多重性と声の周縁化

3. Testimonial Literature and Fictitious Literature: Comparison of Rigoberta Menchú’s I, Rigoberta Menchú and Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies

証言文学とフィクション文学－I, Rigoberta MenchúとIn the Time of the Butterfliesの比較

4. Paradigm of Power Structure in Julia Alvarez’s Works: Housemaids’ Mimicry and Counterattack

Julia Alvarez作品における権力構造のパラダイム

5．Mirabal Sisters and Alvarez in In the Time of the Butterflies

In the Time of the Butterfliesにおけるミラバル姉妹とアルバレスの関係

6．From Family Revolution to National Symbol of the Mirabal Sisters in In the Time of the Butterflies and Julia Alvarez’s Traumatization

7. Historical Context in

The Age of Empire and Culture and Imperialism

V. Media Industry-Penetration of Telenovela and Music Industry

メディア産業－テレノベラの浸透と音楽産業

1. Penetration of Telenovela and Decline of Soap Opera in the USA

米国におけるテレノベラの普及とソープ・オペラの衰退

2. Yo soy Betty, la fea and Remade Versions: Comparison of Original Colombian Version and the Remade Mexican and U.S. Versions

Yo soy Betty, la feaとリメイク版の描写－哥版・墨版・米版の比較

3. Ideology and Myth in Michael Jackson

イデオロギーと虚像－マイケル・ジャクソンの場合

4. Comparison of Black with White Voice and White with Black Voice

白い黒人と黒人の声を持つ白人－ジャクソンとプレスリーの比較

5. Information Disclosure by WikiLeaks and Media Revolution1

ウィキリークスにおける情報開示とメディア革命

6. Internet Culture against Politics: Ideology and Resistance

政治に対するインターネット文化－イデオロギーと抵抗

7. Moral Panic on the Internet

インターネットにおけるモラル・パニック

8. Changing Role of Media: Broadcasting War and Media’s Political Intention

メディアの伝達媒体としての役割における変化―戦争報道と政治的意図―

VI. U.S. Cultural Industry

米国における文化産業

1. Penetration of the Quinceañera in the USA: Hybridity of Mexican Culture in Globalization

米国におけるキンセアニェラの浸透－グロバリゼーションにおけるメキシコ文化との混淆性

2. Commercial Influence of Quinceañera in the USA: In Comparison with Sweet Sixteen

米国におけるキンセアネェラの商業的影響―米国のスィート・シックスティーンとの比較―

3. Representation and Mythologizing of Real Barbie

リアル・バービーの表象と神秘化

4. Change of Barbie’s Character in Toy Story 3: Comparison with Toy Story 2 and Hawaiian Vacation

トーイ・ストーリー3におけるバービーのキャラクター性の変化

5 Multiculturalism and Racial Issues in the Barbie Doll

バービー人形史におけるマルチカルチャリズムと人種問題

6. Doll Sale in the USA: Transition and Diversification of Barbie

米国における人形販売－バービー人形の変遷と多様化－

7. American Girl’s Popularity and Sales Strategy

アメリカン・ガールの人気と販売戦略

8. Idealization of Licca-chan and Barbie: Comparison of Two Dolls across the Pacific

9. Barbie in U.S. Society

10. Comparison of Barbie, Quinceañera, and Telenovela in the USA

米国におけるバービー、キンセアネェラ、テレノベラの比較

VII. Japanese Society and Subculture

日本文化とサブカルチャー

1. Sport Guts in Japanese Girl Animation

2. Educational and Technological Perspectives in Doraemon: Hope and Dreams in Doraemon’s Gadgets

3. Hello Kitty’s Popularity and Its Change of Representation

4. Model of KidZania’s Economic Society and Its Yearning for Career Experience

キッザニアにおける経済社会のモデルと職業体験への憧れ

5. Effective Usage and Support in School Library—Cooperation in Community

学校図書館における有効な利用法と支援－学校図書館の活用の将来と地域の連携

6. Initiative of Gender-Equal Society in Oita Prefecture

男女共同参画社会への取り組み－大分県次世代育成支援行動計画

7. Academic Loss in Society

社会における学術的損失

8. Wars in Japan and Propaganda

日本の戦史とプロパガンダ

9. Analyses of Tokyo Drifter (1966) and United Red Army (2008)

1960年代を舞台とする『東京流れ者』と『実録・連合赤軍あさま山荘への道程』の比較

10. Imaginative Haiku Writing

俳句の世界（エッセイ）

11. Action Painting and Shodo Performance

アクション・ペインティングと書道パフォーマンス

VIII. Modern Society and Changes

現代社会と変化

1. Bitcoin and Efficiency of Virtual Money Transaction

ビッドコインと仮想通貨取引の効率性

2. Decline of Adult Age

成人年齢の引き下げ

3. Leave of Religion and Monks’ Trials

宗教離れと僧侶の試み

4. Nonlabel Commodities

ノーブランド商品

5. Healing of Character Brand

癒しのキャラブランド

6. Safeness of Pokémon GO

ポケモンGOの安全性

7. Evolution of Hatsune Miku

初音ミクの進化

8. Origami and Its Variation

折紙と多様性

9. Daylight Saving Time

サマータイムの導入

10. Influence of Smartphone and Its Usage

スマホの影響と賢い使い方

11. Difficulty of the Hepburn System

ヘボン式の功績と混乱

12. Keyword Effect on English Visual Study

英語視覚学習におけるキーワード効果

13. Multilingualism in Social Communication

14. German Innovation in 1930s

1930年代におけるドイツの革新性

15. Leakage of Information and Credibility

情報の流出と信頼性

16. Outspread of Twitter

ツイッターの拡大

17. Qualification and Society

資格と社会

18. The New Cash Self-Registration System

セミ・セルフレジの導入システム

19. Change of Merchandise’s Images

商品のイメージチェンジ

20. Invalidity of Analogy in Survival of the Fittest

21. Loss of Trust

IX. Anime, Manga, and Motion Pictures

アニメ、マンガ、映画

1. History of Japanese Animation and Its Popularity

日本アニメの変遷

2. Animation and Propaganda

アニメとプロパガンダ

3. Works of Tezuka and Disney

手塚作品とディズニー作品

4. Themes and Drawing Techniques in Tezuka’s Works

手塚作品のテーマと技法

5. Race and Artificial Skin

人種と人工皮膚

6. War and Patriotism for Two Adolfs and Toge Sohei

2人のアドルフと峠草兵にとっての戦争と愛国心

7. Madness and Struggle for Powers in MW

『MW』における狂気と権力への闘争

8. Betrayal and Agony in Kirihito Sanka

『きりひと讃歌』における裏切りと苦難

9. Development of Japanese Boy Magazine and Distribution Industry

日本の少年雑誌の進展と流通産業

10. Cultural Hybridization in Big Hero 6 and Robot Anime

『ベイマックス』における文化の混淆性とロボット・アニメ

11. Dreamy Stories between Easter Bunny and Fred

イースター・ラビットのウサギと人間の夢物語

12. Themes in Spielberg’s Works of Humanism

スピルバーグ作品におけるヒューマニズム

13. War Perspectives in Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun and Negulesco’s Three Came Home Jean Negulesco スピルバーグの『太陽の帝国』とネグレスコの『サンダカン捕虜 収容所』における戦争的観点

14. Film Techniques in Fritz Lang’s Metropolis

X. Traditional Japanese Culture

日本文化の継承

1. Japanese Tomb Cultures and Collapse of Its Family System

日本の墓文化と家族制度の崩壊

2. Prosperity and Declination Based on Synchronization of Shintoism with Buddhism in Usa Shrine

神仏習合における宇佐神宮の繁栄と衰退

3. Oral Literature in Usa Shrine—Imperial Envoy and Public Life

宇佐神宮における伝承－勅使と民衆の生活

4. Attraction of Tōji and Local Touristic Strategy in Beppu’s Case

5. Relaciones Culturales Entre la Península Iberia y Japón

6. Ideological Sport Figure of Two Athletes—Futabayama and Furuhashi Hironoshin

双葉山と古橋廣之進におけるイデオロギー的スポーツ像

7. Nationalities of Sawamura Eiji and Victor Starffin

沢村栄治と須田博の国籍の行方

8. Immigrant History in San Francisco and Hagiwara Makoto

サンフランシスコにおける移民史と萩原真

9. Change of Japantown in San Francisco

ジャパン・タウンの現在

10. Influence of Japanese Art and Vincent van Gogh

XI. Literature, Art, and Society

文学とアートの世界

1. Social Class Hierarchy and Double Standard in Yellow Face in Sherlock Holmes

2. Identity Crisis in No-No Boy

No-No Boyにおけるアイデンティティの危機

3. Comparison of No-No Boy and 99 Years’ Love

No-No Boyと『99年の愛』の比較

4. Human Rights in Jacob Lawrence’s Works of Art

ローレンスが語りかける人権擁護

5. Gomez-Peña’s Performance Art in Mexican American Culture

米墨文化におけるゴメス-ペニャのパーフォマンス・アート

6. Mural Art and Japanese Kotee

壁画アートと日本の鏝絵

7. Art World of Mexican American Art—Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo

ディエゴ・リベラとフリーダ・カーロのアートの世界

XII. Food and Culture

食と文化

1. Castella’s Influence on Japanese Gastronomic Culture—Its Transition and Evolution from Luxury Food to Daily Diet

2. Diversity of Japanese Bento—Dekoben and Charaben

日本の弁当文化における多様性とデコ弁とキャラ弁

3. Disorder of Taste

4. History of Furikake and Its Popularity

5. Rice Cake and Ozoni

6. Expansion of Tomato and Its Business

トマトの拡大とトマト・ビジネス

7. Uniqueness of Japanese Sweets

8. Green Tea and Matcha

9. Food Loss

食品ロス

10. Anorexia Nervosa and Women’s Ways of Life

摂食障害と女性の生き方

XIII. Women in Society

社会の中の女性

1. Women in Japanese Society

日本社会における女性

2. Lee Hsiang Lan and Kawashima Yoshiko during the War

戦争に翻弄された李香蘭と川島芳子

3. Crone and Yamamba: Yamamba in Oba’s Ojyo no namida

4. Influence of First Ladies in the USA

米国における大統領夫人の影響

5. Consumerism in Miss Representation

6. Womenis important i.S. Society

Works Cited 参考文献

Afterword あとがき

Waterdrops from a faucet

    prick my fingers …

        autumn chill

          ―Tsukamoto Miho

                Dubuque, Iowa, in 1991

FOREWORD

Preface by Takei Koyo, an illustrator of the book

I have drawn illustrations over two hundred pictures in the books of Ms. Tsukamoto. When I was asked to draw for the first time, I thought it rather difficult because there were various topics: scenery, people, and motifs of drawings.

It took rather a lot of time to draw each illustration, but there was a happy time to image ideas. I indulged myself and burned midnight oil many times.

The picture which I spend most was the front cover of the book two. The concavity and convexity (凹凸) of sands, flows of clouds, density of colors, and combination of among these objects were hard to express.

This book, Transformation of Tradition and Culture vol. 1, contains various Japanese cultures such as tombs, bento, Hatsune Miku, Japanese animation and etc. The author writes history and tradition of different cultures, which illustrates us vivid description of her stories. Literature contains a large part of the book, and the author uses different methods of viewpoints. I was interested in working with different themes, and I tried to express them with my illustrations. It is exciting to work as I haven’t worked such different themes in the past. I expect Ms. Tsukamoto working on her research in the future.

PREFACEまえがき

T his is a collection of literary research and culture investigation. Readers of this book can also identify English and Japanese titles, a Spanish title, and English titles: the ones with English and Japanese are originally written in Japanese; the Spanish one escrito en español ; and the ones with English written only in English.

Chapter I studies Henry James in the 1880s, Fitzgerald in the 1920s, Arthur Miller, and a confessional poet, Sylvia Plath, in the 1950s. Moreover, in the world literature, a Chicana writer, Sandra Cisneros, in the 1980s, a Native American writer, and Sherman Alexie, in the 2000s, are discussed. Fitzgerald’s novel The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is to consider the youth and old in society, the work of a Native American writer, Sherman Alexie, is to see the gap between white Americans and Native Americans; and Henry James’s Washington Square is to study the relationship of a father and a daughter.

Drastic changes can be seen in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. U.S. literature after the movement has diversified to black, Hispanic, and other ethnic studies. Especially, this book studies the Dominican Republic (hereinafter, DR), which is not so familiar to people in Japan. The reason why I take up those novels in the country was that I had a chance to meet DR people. They were national players who came to play in Universiade. Working with them as an interpreter, they were very generous and kind, while other team members from different countries complained, argued, and fought in the teams. The appearances of the three Dominicans were different: the manager of the team, Jorge, was light-skinned; a judo player, Pedro, was yellow; and the swimmer, José, was white. José lost in the first tournament, while Pedro lost in the second tournament. I just wonder why they were so generous and caring to others.

I had to leave a day earlier because of other works. One of the translators told me that they looked for me even when I left. She said that when a mother called her daughter, Miho, in the stadium, three Dominicans started to look for me and walked around, although they knew I was not there. The Dominicans asked a translator where I was, and she told that Miho was not there anymore, but they still looked for me because they said that there might be a possibility of seeing me somewhere. I believe that there are a few times in life that other people need you. I feel how important it is to help others when they need a help. It has been many decades, but I still feel sorry for them that I could not be with them when they needed me. Another time when I felt that I was requested was my other translation project. Workers in the project told me that I should wait for them and not to go anywhere until somebody came to call me for the meeting, as the meeting would not start without me. The other time when I was requested was when an African airplane came to my island for the first time in history, because there was not any airplane that flew directly between the African continent and Japan. When the airplane landed, I was told to welcome and guide FIFA players and instruct them what to do after landing. I was told never to make mistakes, because I would be the first person to meet African players, and many media came to interview them.

Anyway, after meeting with them, I wondered why they were so calm and generous, and what was the country like that had these nice people. It is a main motivation of studying their country. When I read some information about the country, partially, history tells that the DR is the first colonized country that Cristóbal Colón colonized in 1493. I remember I learned about the sad history regarding the genocide of indigenous people and slaves from the African continent in the fifteenth century at university, which can also be told in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diáz. He writes the history of the entire country, which is cursed by Fukú, caused by the colonization of Cristóbal Colón up to the era of the dictatorship until 1960, and he suggests that history cannot escape from the trauma of the past by representing the family of de León spelled out by Fukú.

Chapter II deals with Mexican Americans in U.S. society and with works of a Chicana writer, Ana Castillo, and Sandra Cisneros. Chapter III investigates works of Dominican American writers, both Diáz and Julia Alvarez. Alvarez’s works are included in chapter IV. Julia Alvarez writes that the era of dictatorship is part of the reasons why she has been in the USA—because of the political circumstances in her home country. Thus, both Diáz and Alvarez write about agony and suffering from the past. Many immigrant writers from Latin American countries, and even Chicano/as, write history in their literature. So I bring history in literature, but I was criticized by Japanese academic researchers several times that literature does not need history, and they have studied literary literature, and I was said not to be a normal person. So I just wonder what literature is. Can all be literature? Am I subliterate? They were so harsh and told me that I had no talent to criticize others’ works. I had worked for over ten years, and I used to belong to more than ten associations in the country, but when I made presentations, not many people were interested, and there had been many times when I received no comments or questions from the audience. Then I submitted papers of Latin American writers to different associations, only to receive no response. Many of them were disregarded after my submission of papers for more than two years. If these unexpected incidents happened once in lifetime, it could be an accident, but it occurred repeatedly. Then I realized their neglect and negation. Now I know the world of academism, and I understand that people are conservative in many ways. Therefore, it is one of the reasons I do not study Chicana and Hispanic literature anymore. However, an association in the USA welcomed my presentation of historical backgrounds of literature, so I feel grateful for them.

Chapter V examines the media industry and studies Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley. Another topic, Barbie, belongs to U.S. culture, and I learned a lot about it while I was there. Unfortunately, people in Japan are not interested in the doll, although the doll was first made in Japan. Chapter VI investigates U.S. culture such as Barbie, American Girl, Sweet Sixteen, As the examples of transition of U.S. culture, quinceañera and telenovela are included. In this way, readers of the book will know why the title and contents of topics are all mingled in a book. Hope readers will enjoy the book.

From chapter VI, the book deals with cultural and historical investigation, and my motivation to write this is my experience when I introduced Japanese culture to U.S. people in the 1980s. Topics of this book are diversified and the length of each topic has been varied. Chapter VII contains Hello Kitty, Japanese animation, KidZania, experience of professional works in the purpose of teaching to children, comparison of movies, haiku, etc. Chapter VIII also writes about Japanese subculture including Bitcoin, a vertical money transaction, Hatsune Miku, a popular virtual singer and dancer, Japanese animation, and the Hepburn system, an alphabetical writing of Japanese words. Chapter IX writes about tomb culture, Shinto, an indigenous religion, sport players in prewar and postwar, history of immigrants in San Francisco, and Ukiyoe art. Chapter X has the first Japanese American literature in the USA, and Mexican American culture, Black art, and Mexican American art. Chapter XI deals with Japanese food such as Castella, Dekoben, bento created faces of animals and birds, and Charaben, character bento, rick cakes, sweets and Matcha, a powered green tea, food loss, and anorexia nervosa. Chapter XII tells Japanese women in society, a female writer, and women’s change in U.S. society. Because some topics are unfamiliar to people in overseas, I will take up these topics.

Chapter IX has the oldest topic Relaciones Culturales Entre la Península Iberia y Japón, which is about a cultural relationship between Japan and Portuguese and Spain Iberia Peninsula, written in 1988. I had a chance to visit some statues of historical figures such as Francisco Xavier, the first missionary to Japan, Otomo Sorin, a Japanese feudal lord in Oita, I could learn about Iberia Peninsula and Namban ship, a trade ship between Japan and Portuguese and Spain from sixteenth to seventeenth century, Ito Mansho, the first official Japanese emissary to Vatican to see the Pope when he was eighteen. I was naturally interested in these historical figures. Other opportunity was a play of Namban ship and Otomo Sorin by a theatrical group, Warabiza. At that time, I was six years old, and was taken to see the play. Warabiza needed a child actress, so my parent told me to play on the stage. There have been many decades since then, but I can still remember a model of a decorative Namban, clothes of Otomo Sorin, and la cruz. There have been some periods of time in history, which Usa Shrine where the original shrine was created in the eighth century, and the time when Otomo reigned in the sixteenth century.

Unlike the time when I was a high school and a college student in the USA, U.S. society has been changed with mixture of different cultures and diversified languages with an influence of other cultures. In 2014, population of whites has been decreased, and population of the blacks has been crab-like movement, while population of Hispanics has drastically increased. I could especially see changes of Hispanic’s way of lives and their social status and working positions in the USA. I met many friends from Brazil, Mexico, France, Germany, China, Taiwan, and India in the west coast of the USA. It was precious because I could meet people from different countries in the world, and discussed many themes such as their way of life in the USA, and U.S. society. There were friends who talked about their lives all night long, and told their difficult times in life, although they told me as if nothing difficult incidents happened to them. I met many people when I missed an airplane, and had to stay overnight at the airport. I met people at the parties, in the bus, on the street, and made friends. Some of them made a song and sang for me. Other U.S. friends told me their suffering in life: relationships between family, friends, coworkers, their spouses, and war life. Some regularly see their doctors, and visit their counselors. I respect them because all of them are not restricted by social status and pursuit of money, which leads quite different ways of living in my country. Thus, I appreciate them for giving me different broadened perspectives not only to look at U.S. culture but also Japanese culture.

As you see, this book introduces cultural and historical investigation based on my traditional cultural background at home. At the age of three, I learned tea ceremony, flower arrangement, Utai which is a traditional Japanese dance and song, etc. However, I have to excuse myself that I forgot to make tea, make flower arrangement, and play and sing Utai after many decades. During my stay in the USA, I learned the importance of sharing my culture with people from other cultural backgrounds, and preservation of traditional culture at home. While I was a university student, I also had a chance to introduce kite, cat’s cradle, creation of Japanese paper by milk carton, and origami to people as an international exchange program by Japanese government in overseas. It was a grass-rooted activity, but people in different countries such as Fiji, Tonga, the USA, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Perú, Argentina, Brazil, and Australia said that they enjoyed knowing different cultural experiences. Then I had an opportunity to teach Japanese, Japanese food, Japanese wood printing, animation, crafts, handicrafts, etc., in the USA. During my stay in the USA, I had a lot of opportunities to introduce tea ceremony, calligraphy, flower arrangement, cards, sugoroku: a board game, hand-made paper, and Japanese food. There was no Japanese in the area of Illinois and Missouri where I stayed in 1980s, and I introduced Japanese language and culture frequently. I couldn’t realize whether I went to learn English or teach Japanese and its culture when I had been there, but I like to share my own culture with people from different cultural backgrounds.

Then I have to think about my own culture, language, and custom. Teaching my own culture make me realize affection to my own culture. Good parts of introducing my culture and language were that some of my students were interested in Japan, and they moved and worked in Japan. However, to be understood Japanese tradition is a grass-rooted intercourse and it actually takes time, and teaching Japanese culture is a good way to be understood my cultural background to people in overseas as well as to understand their cultures. For that reason, we need to have a good knowledge about tradition, customs, and history in our cultural background. Hope the readers of this book will see different aspects of cultures.

Tsukamoto Miho

May 2016

I. SOCIAL HIERARCHY IN U.S. LITERATURE AND MINORITY IN SOCIETY

米文学における社会的階級と社会におけるマイノリティ

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1. Formulation of the American Hierarchical Society and Nationalism—Fitzgerald’s Tender Is the Night

アメリカの階級社会の形成とナショナリズム―フィッツジェラルド作『夜はやさし』より

Abstract

T ender is the Night (1934) is Scott Fitzgerald’s fourth novel written about Dick and Nicole Divers’ European lives and friendships with members of their group. The novel starts with a scene where an American actress, Rosemary, meets two groups, McKisco’s group and Diver’s group, in Rivera, France. Although both groups are mostly consisted of Americans, they speak ill of opposing group members. Among them, Violet McKisco places importance on European tradition and social rules, and copies European systems and practices, although Dick disrespects British culture. Historically, the USA was a British colony. However, after becoming independent from England, economic affluence became a barometer for wealthy class citizens. Because of the influence on European economy, the protagonist, Dick, tends to consider his ethnic group to be the pinnacle of society, and he has nationalistic ideals. In this paper, I will analyze Dick’s perspectives concerning material abundance in the USA, his contempt for British people, and his focus on the U.S. social class. (April 25, 2010)

2. Ethnocentrism in Tender Is the Night after British Colonization

『夜はやさし』における植民地主義以後のエスノセントリズム

Abstract

Tender is the Night is Scott Fitzgerald’s last completed work. It is about Dick Diver’s European life, his social downfall, and loss of self. In previous research essays, analyses have been made about the psychological relationship between Dick Diver and Nicole Diver, Dick’s alcoholism, and father-son relationships present in the work. Shinichiro Mori, a literary researcher, has also analyzed racism against black people in Racism and Sexuality in Tender is the Night.

In a previous paper, I concentrated on Dick’s loathing for English people; in this paper, I will study the discrimination and prejudice exercised by white people, based on Dick’s perspectives. I will be treating Dick’s ethnocentric values create a pyramid, placing his own culture as supreme over Asian and black people.

I will especially focus on Dick’s apathetic attitude toward black people, his loathing toward white people other than himself, and his misunderstanding of other cultures and indifference of employment issues. (May 19, 2010)

3. Dick’s Downfall and Women’s Rebellion in Tender Is the Night

『夜はやさし』におけるディックの失墜と女たちの反乱」

Abstract

Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night (1934) is written about a psychiatrist Dick Diver’s downfall from his bright life after marrying his rich patient, Nicole. It is well known that the work has two kinds of editions: the original Scribner’s edition and Cowley’s revision in 1951. The difference between them is the written order of the Book I and Book II. I use the original Scribner because it begins with the perspective of an American actress, Rosemary, who sees Dick as a perfect person. Accordingly, we can observe Dick’s downfall specifically in the book III.

In this paper, I will analyze women’s changing attitudes toward and influences on Dick, including the young and attractive Rosemary; the envious and neurotic wife, Nicole; and her sister, Baby, who controls Dick with money. I conclude that Dick’s crisis ends with theirs divorce after he commits adultery, and Nicole’s subsequent remarriage to Tommy, the Diver’s common friend. There is a change in who has power in their relationships as a doctor and a patient, and a man and a woman when Nicole leaves him. (July 3, 2010)

4．Resistance of Status Hierarchy in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible: Voodoo and Haunted Salem

アーサー・ミラーの『るつぼ』における身分階層への抵抗―ブードゥー教とセイラムにかかった呪い―

Abstract

Arthur Miller’s The Crucible (1953) is a play set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. It is said that Miller used his play to criticize McCarthyism, the practice of accusing people of disloyalty, subversion, and treason without proper evidence. After he wrote the play, he was accused of being a communist, and was told to reveal his communist friends. Miller refused and was convicted for trying to obstruct Congress’s attempts to find communists.

Previously, there have been many researches that examine the relationship between McCarthyism and the Salem witch trial, Puritanism, and John Proctor’s conscience of confession during the witch trial in The Crucible. Other research has been done concerning the slave, Tituba, such as Alyssa Bavillari’s study of Tituba as a real woman, and Veta Tucker’s work concerning Tituba’s ethnic origins and the loss of Tituba’s identity. However, in this paper, I will focus on how voodoo is used in the trial, why Salem people prejudice a woman slave, and how the slave and maids in the bottom of society control and resist Salem people. (January 11, 2011)

5. Corruption of Family Relationships in Benjamin Button’s Growing Younger: Challenge to Aged Society

ベンジャミン・バトンの若年化における家族関係の崩壊－高齢化社会へのメッセージ

Abstract

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (1922）is a well-known film played by Hollywood superstars, Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, in 2008, although a film producer, Ray Stark, held the film rights until his death in 2004.

Based on the original writing, when Benjamin Button was born, his appearance was seventy years old. When he reaches the age of twenty, Benjamin looks fifty years old. He grows up backward. By the time he reaches the age of seventy, he ends his life as a baby. Accordingly, he becomes younger through the years and breaks his family relationships. In this paper, I will focus on Benjamin’s aging to growing younger, family corruption, and people’s view toward aged people using the concept of Mirror Stage and Other defined by the French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. (August 3, 2002)

6. Transformation of a Minority Indian in Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

シャーマン・アレクシー作The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian におけるマイノリティの変容

Abstract

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007) by a Native American writer, Sherman Alexie, is his semibiographical novel written about a protagonist, Junior (his real name is Arnold), born in Spokane reservation, who experiences a school life in Reardan where white people live in. In the part of the title, Part-Time can be referred to his struggles of living the half of his life in the world of whites during daytime, and the other half in the world of his Indian community during the nighttime.

In this paper, I will discuss differences in the way of life between the white American and the Native American, focusing on Junior’s poverty, his sister, Mary Runs Away, who lives in the traditional way of living in Indian communities, and Junior’s physical problems and bullying. While assimilating in the U.S. white society, Junior absorbs himself in drawing comics. His drawings are meaningful and clearly convey a disparity between two communities of different worlds. Thus, I can conclude that Junior maintains himself as a Native American by placing himself in the creative world of comics. (May 10, 2011)

7. Cultural Difference and Assimilation in Native American Society and White Society in the USA in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Part-Time Indianにおける文化的差異と同化―The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indianにおける友情

Abstract

Sherman Alexie, a Native American novelist, writes about a Native American boy’s change of life between a Native American’s reservation, Spokane, and a white society in the USA. In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007), Alexie expresses cultural differences between two worlds. However, the protagonist, Junior, realizes not all of white people are happy in society. Junior’s perspectives develop different views of the U.S. history, Indian food culture, and economic problems in Native American society.

In this paper, I will discuss differences ways of life between the white American and the Native American, Junior’s change of view toward white people, difficulty in living in the white community as a Native American. Though Alexie writes about understanding another cross-cultural community, he tries to overlap difficulties by exposing Junior’s friendship in both communities. (November 3, 2008)

8. Loss of Fatherhood and Resistance of Daughter in Washington Square

『ワシントン・スクエア』における父権の喪失と娘の抵抗

Abstract

Henry James’s Washington Square (1880) is an unsuccessful marriage story about a protagonist, Catherine, who has a good nature but is unattractive. When a sly good-looking man, Morris Townsend, comes to Catherine for her family’s money, her father, a successful physician, Dr. Sloper, disputes her marriage. After Catherine leaves for Europe with her father, Morris jilts her.

There has not been a lot of research made in this work. However, an English literary critic, Hiromi Kawashima, negatively criticizes Dr. Sloper’s coldness toward his daughter. Moreover, a Danish literary critic, Mark Le Fanu, criticizes Dr. Sloper as a cruel and selfish person. A literary critic, Adrian Poole also suggests that Dr. Sloper as a cold-hearted father. Another English literary critic, Michelle Bell suggests Dr. Sloper is a type-casting director-father.

In this paper, I will analyze the father’s lack of love, disappointment of breaking off an engagement, and her emotional change of lost love. Then I point out that Sloper cares for Catherine, which is different from other critics’ points of view. In addition, I conclude that Catherine discredits Dr. Sloper, and I suggest obedient Catherine’s revenge on her father by not marrying anyone. (November 8, 2010)

II. SOCIAL ASSIMILATION IN U.S. SOCIETY AND BORDERLAND

米国社会における社会的適応とボーダーランド

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1. Undocumented Mexican Workers in the USA

米国におけるメキシコ不法移民者の社会問題－貧困、投票権、国籍の行方

Abstract

A ccording to the U.S. census, the number of Hispanic illegal and legal immigrants estimated to be one out of three people in the United States in 2050. The U.S. government strengthens border security to prevent illegal immigration because undocumented Mexican workers cause problems of poverty and suffer from economic disparity in the USA.

This paper will analyze the problems that drugs, economic gaps between the USA and Mexico, different nationalities in the family (undocumented Mexicans and the U.S.-born children on the border), and the working conditions pose to undocumented immigrants in the USA. As references, Return to Sender (2009) by the Dominican American writer, Julia Alvarez, and The Guardians (2007) by the Mexican American writer, Ana Castillo are used. (December 20, 2010)

2. Illegal Immigrants and Coyotes: the Border Between the USA and Mexico

米国とメキシコ間の国境における不法移民問題とコヨーテの存在

Abstract

In 2007, the Hispanic population in the USA reached 45.27 million among the United States’ population of 310.009 million. Social issues raised by the presence of undocumented Hispanic immigrants and coyotes, or the smugglers who carry out illegal border trafficking businesses, include activities such as kidnapping, murders, organ trafficking, and drug dealing. Accordingly, it is dangerous for undocumented immigrants crossing the border into the USA. Each year, several hundred people die attempting to cross the border. So why do Mexicans risk their lives to violate the frontier? It is clear that even if they move to the USA, there are language barriers, a different social system, and they will have a low social status. Why do they abandon their land, and sometimes, even their families? To find the answers to the previous questions, I will investigate the conditions of undocumented laborers and the U.S. communities they live in, by using Ana Castillo’s The Guardians (2007) and Julia Alvarez’s Return to Sender (2009). In this paper, I focus on undocumented Mexican laborers and coyotes.

(October 28 2010)

3. Unassimilated Mexicans in the USA

メキシコ人のアメリカでの文化的・社会的同化

Abstract

Large numbers of unassimilated Mexicans have become problematic in U.S. society. To identify the present status of this problem, first, I discuss the historical background of the borderland between Mexico and the USA. Then I explore Mexicans’ lack of a sense of belonging, and avoidance of the immigration problem by the USA.

The conclusion reached is that it is important to bridge the social and cultural gaps between the two nations. Moreover, the United States should consider concepts of coexistence, and Mexicans and the U.S. people should construct a better relationship through which both sides deepen their understanding of their problems instead of confronting each other. (July 22, 2010)

4. Absence of God and Anticatholicism in The Guardians

The Guardiansにおける神の不在と反カトリック主義

Abstract

The Guardians (2007), written by the Chicago-born Mexican American writer, Ana Castillo (1953–), is a story about the search for a Mexican man, Rafa, who disappears somewhere along the U.S.-Mexico border. As the title says, Rafa’s son, Gobo, and Rafa’s sister, Ragina, find their guardians who protect and help them during their search for Rafa.

The story also tells crimes, such as murder, kidnapping, and drug problems, and immigration/border issues. Castillo shows innocent people, both adults and children, as victims of the crimes.

In this paper, I will focus on Gabo, a devoted Catholic, and Miguel, a hard-core Marxist. I will take into account Castillo’s perspective on anticatholicism and liberation theology related to Marxism, which dominated in Latin American countries. (January 20, 2011)

5. Bilingualism in Hispanic Literature: Comparisons of Sandra Cisneros, Ana Castillo, Junot Díaz, and Julia Alvarez

言語の多様性－米文学におけるヒスパニックのインターリンガリズム

Abstract

After the Chicano Movement in the 1960s, Hispanic literature has proliferated in the USA. Accordingly, we can learn about their cultures, societies, politics, and customs through their writings.

One of the characteristics of Hispanic writers is code-switching between Spanish and English in their works. A combination of Spanish and English, bilingualism, is used in various works. Some writers adopt Spanish more often in a conversation between Mexicans or Dominicans, while others express political opinions toward the social problems. With the consideration of bilingualism, Homi Bhabha’s hybridity can be considered an example of interlingualism, which distinguishes the linguistic structures of two languages.

However, consolidation of languages leads to difficulties understanding the separate languages. From a perspective of postcolonialism, adaptation of Spanish into English represents colonized resistance toward the colonizers. Using the colonizers’ language, the colonized people show the gaps between their languages and cultures to the colonizers. Thus, the colonized Hispanics can become an assertive power.

To explore the peculiarity of language adaptation, I will consider Spanish usages, a mixture of English and Spanish, bilingualism, and examine writers’ attitudes toward adapting Spanish, by examining the Mexican writers Sandra Cisneros and Ana Castillo, and the Dominican writers Junot Díaz, and Julia Alvarez. (June 18, 2010)

6. Tyler’s Change in Return to Sender

Return to Senderにおけるタイラーの変化

Abstract

In Julia Alvarez’s Return to Sender (2009), the story starts with the twelve-year-old protagonist, Tyler Pacquette, and his family deciding whether they will sell their farm because of his father’s tractor accident. A Mexican family, Cruz: twelve-year-old Mari, her sisters, Mari’s father, and Mari’s uncles, is hired to get over the difficulty. However, knowing that Mari, Mari’s father, and Mari’s uncles are illegal immigrants, Tyler shows antagonism toward them. Later in the story, Mari’s uncles and her father are accused as unlawful immigrants, and are arrested. Additionally, Mari’s mother —who is an illegal immigrant — does not come back from Mexico. This novel represents the difficulty of both illegal and legal Mexicans to live in the USA. Moreover, we can see Tyler’s transition from hatred of illegal immigrants to sympathy with them. I conclude that by establishing friendships, Tyler comes to understand Mari and her family, and tries to overcome cultural differences in his ways of thinking; which brings him to mutual understanding with people from different cultures. (February 22, 2009)

7. Overcoming Displacement in Woman Hollering Creek: Cleófilas’s Dilemma

Woman Hollering CreekにおけるCleófilasの自己喪失からの脱却

Abstract

Sandra Cisneros is a Mexican American writer. Her first novel, The House on Mango Street, represents a Chicana girl’s daily life and her psychological difficulties in living in the two spheres of Mexico and the United States. In Woman Hollering Creek, Cisneros represents the problems of Mexican immigrants in the United States and the influence of the Mexican patriarchy in the United States. Many Mexican women come to the United States to marry Mexican men, but they face restrictions at home and difficulties living outside of the home in the U.S. community because of lack of language competence and cultural differences. The protagonist, Cleófilas, starts life with her husband Juan Pedro in the United States, but she suffers from physical abuse. She faces problems of patriarchy at home and socialization in the U.S. community.

This paper will focus on the in-between position the Mexican woman experiences as a result of her displacement and examine how she discovers ways to get over the restriction under the domination of the Mexican patriarchy, by investigating another female character, Graciela, who hollers like Tarzan (Cisneros 1992: 56). It can be concluded that Cleófilas, who suffers from physical abuse and has no power to escape from her situation, yet hopes to transcend her confinement, needs an independent women’s help. Thus, she steps forward to be more self-reliant in the end. (March 30, 2009)

8. Esperanza’s Independence and Search for the Self in Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street

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I. Introduction

Born in 1954 in Chicago, Sandra Cisneros is known as a Mexican American writer and poet. Her first book, The House on the Mango Street (1984) is constituted of short sketches written in a poetic style. Cisneros brings in the main character Esperanza, who is in preadolescence. Through Esperanza’s innocent and pure point of view, Cisneros writes about the young protagonist Esperanza’s inner maturity from puberty to adulthood, and thus it can be also read as a coming of age novel.

Among one of those descendants, Esperanza, hates her poor house and desires to change her Spanish name into a more common name. Looking at women sitting by the window on Mango Street leads her to a strong denial of her Mexican heritage. However, Esperanza’s denial of her present situation and desire to flee away from her situation do not solve her problems. Her fragility reflects her feminine, subordinate situation in the Chicano community and the U.S. community.

The House on the Mango Street is sketched as a limited and border space. Cisneros writes about Esperanza’s life and her maturity through her daily experiences. Cisneros depicts how Esperanza matures and establishes identity in her community. In the novel, Cisneros takes up the ethnic problems in the United States and the gender problems of patriarchal society in the Mexican American community, and depicts women’s conflicts in the male dominated society. Cisneros in this novel rather superficially and mildly wraps up the ethnical and cultural problems for teenage U.S. readers, but her later book Women Hollering Creek discusses Mexicans and Mexican Americans who have lost their homeland more seriously and deeply.

The purpose of this paper is to take up Chicana’s problems in the United States and analyze them by focusing on houses, language, women sitting by the window, and other motifs. Accordingly, I can find ethnic, historical and economic problems in the United States showing how Chicanas/os are subordinated to white Americans, the gender problems of Chicano patriarchal society in the Mexican American community, and the linguistic problems they face. It can be concluded that Esperanza’s search for self is the first step in confronting the Chicana’s problems such as ethnic, historical, economic, cultural and social problems widespread in the U.S. community.

II. Esperanza’s Dislikes of Houses, Name, and Neighbors

In The House on Mango Street, Cisneros depicts the world through a Mexican American’s point of view. The main character, Esperanza, is described as a fragile and negative character who dislikes her house, her name, and her neighbors who have confined lives on Mango Street. Esperanza is described as being trapped in an unsuitable and indifferent situation. Though she lives on Mango Street, she feels a lack of space. She is a person out of place, so she wants to find her own place and own her future house and get out of Mango Street.

A. Houses

Cisneros notes that Esperanza does not feel at home in her house, which causes alienation and isolation, making her feel herself an outsider in her community and leading her to deny her own value and reject her way of life by making her think of Mango Street as only a tentative place for her:

We didn’t always live on Mango Street. Before that we lived on Loomis on the third floor, and before that we lived on Keeler. Before Keeler it was Paulina, and before that I can’t remember. But what I remember most is moving a lot. (3)

Esperanza’s family moves so much that she cannot remember how many times they moved. Moving to a house usually means a promotional transfer or getting better condition of life, but in Esperanza’s case they are trying to avoid the present bad conditions of living:

We had to leave the flat on Loomis quick. The water pipes broke and the landlord wouldn’t fix them because the house was too old. We had to leave fast. We were using the washroom next door and carrying water over in empty milk gallons. (4)

Though they move to a house in order to get out of the bad housing condition, they have to move a similar house because of their economic problems. They are like refugees moving from one place to another and never getting a place they like. Their situation illustrates their diaspora in the U.S. society. Diaspora means the voluntary or forcible movement of peoples from their homelands into new regions and it is a central historical fact of colonization (Ashcroft, Griffiths, and Tiffin 2000; 61). Historically, the immigrants were forced to leave their homelands because of the political background and they searched for a new place to stay. In other words, they have been "separated from their original homeland and have remained in the diaspora" (Guevin 38). So they are like travelers trying to find a place where they can stay. Their ancestors actually experienced the loss of lands after colonization, and the descendants still cannot find a place where they can live in peace.

Looking back at Mexican history in 1846, Pat Mora, a Mexican American author and poet, and a founder of the Family Literacy Initiative, explains the unstable situation after the Mexican–American War, saying that the stories narrate a space of before (Mexico) and after (United States), a politics of displacement and cultural dislocation, once Mexican and indigenous space now under Anglo domination (138). After Mexico lost in the war, Mexicans naturally lost their homeland, became refugees and were dominated by white Americans. They had to live in their former homeland but they were left in a condition of dislocation.

Esperanza’s situation is similar in that she cannot find her stable place and migrates one house to another and feels isolation and dislocation that leaves her no desire to stay, but to leave the Mexican American society. Thus, Esperanza desires to construct a place where she can create her identity, and she suggests that the way to solve the problem of dislocation is to find one’s own place to live in, saying, I knew then I had to have a house. A real house. One I could point to. But this isn’t. The house on Mango Street isn’t it. (5)

Cisneros shows the houses of Mexican American people as poor and small spaces with no privacy through Esperanza’s point of view. Esperanza tells of her being ashamed of being asked about her house by her friends, when her house is pointed out by a nun from her school where she used to live in Loomis:

You live there. There. The third floor, the pain peeling, wooden bars Papa had nailed on the window so we wouldn’t fall out. You live there? The way she said it made me feel like nothing. There. I lived there. I nodded. (5)

Her narrow and unclean house symbolizes her poor economic state in the Mexican American society, where there are also similarities with many other Mexican American people in the United States. Her unstable condition can be seen in moving from one house to another: not a richer house, but a similar small house: this augments her recognition of the poor situation of her family.

This situation indicates a financially unstable state that the Mexican American society has. Here, we can see inequality of social system that Mexican American people stay in low class in the U.S. society. Cisneros points out that Esperanza’s instability and moving are tentative escapes from reality, because although Esperanza’s parents tell her that they will move to a nicer house next time, Esperanza always finds it a similar small house. Gaining a good house is Esperanza’s family’s dream.

(And) our house would have running water and pipes that worked. And inside it would have real stairs, not hallway stairs, but stairs inside like the houses on TV. And we’d have a basement and at least three washrooms so when we took a bath we wouldn’t have to tell everybody. Our house would be white with trees around it, a great big yard and grass growing without a fence. This was the house Papa talked about when he held a lottery ticket and this was the house Mama dreamed up in the stories she told us before we went to bed. (4)

Having a house is very important for Esperanza’s family. Esperanza knows the reality that she lives in the very small depressing house. Because of her uncertain situation moving from one place to another, Esperanza feels herself rootless and poor like other Mexican American people around her on Mango Street. It is true that the house symbolizes a temporary living place where Mexican American people show instability and insecurity since they do not have their own space in the society. For Cisneros, the house symbolizes an ideal, dream of success in life that many Mexican Americans want to gain.

In other words, financial success means to gain the subjectivity and identity in the U.S. society. To have their own castle means that Mexican American people build stability, social position, and economic status, which means to establish a Mexican American identity in the United States. Like Esperanza’s family, many immigrants came to the United States to find their success and happiness to attain their American Dream. However, like Esperanza’s father, most of them find their situation in the United States poorer than when they were in their own country. The illusion of the dream is broken as Norma Klahn, the author and editor of Chicana Feminisms (2003) explains: the situation of Mexican Americans after being left as second-class citizens in the U.S. community is very poor, and they cannot attain a normal standard of life and stay in the secondary position