The Representation of Space in The House on Mango Street : A literary analysis with pedagogical implications for upper secondary students

Sammanfattning: This essay explores the power dynamics embedded in the construction and perception of spatial environments in the novel The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. With the help of Henri Lefebvre’s theory of space as a socially constructed phenomenon and practice, this essay argues that the characters’ experience and perception of spaces in the novel including the house and the street are entangled with the dominating forces related to gender, identity and patriarchy in the surrounding society. The essay also argues that the novel apart from revealing these power dynamics, also, through its protagonist Esperanza suggests a new kind of space, an alternative and more just space for the individual and the community. Additionally, this essay also discusses and elaborates on the pedagogical implications of using the novel with a focus on space for upper secondary students. An investigation of how individual and social spaces functions in different ways in the novel provides valuable opportunities for teachers and students to reflect and discuss power relations, social injustices and inequities in their community, and allow them, as the protagonist Esperanza, to imagine alternative and more just spaces.