Research Paper on:
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, Brown Girls, Brownstones by Paule Marshall, and The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros and the Theme of Domestic Space

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
Tracy Gregory, For - July 2001 -- properly! There is an old saying, "Theres no  place like home." This sentiment is conveyed in three separate novels, in which the female protagonists, though from different ethnic backgrounds, are each impoverished, so home represents for them  the security they long for. House and home are also metaphors for life experiences and identity, as interpreted by Esperanza in Sandra Cisneros The House on Mango Street, Selina  in Paule Marshalls Brown Girls, Brownstones, and the March family in Louisa May Alcotts timeless classic, Little Women. To these women, a home is more than mere mortar and  bricks, it is whats inside which gives it true meaning. These are places which house hopes, dreams, fears and frustrations. Domestic space is not what exists within four  walls. It is filled with love, nurturing, and even though this space sometimes appear cramped, confining and the walls seem to be closing in, through the power of the  creative imagination and the desire to succeed, there is always room to grow. The House on Mango Street describes a year in the life of a young Hispanic girl named  Esperanza. Her family cannot afford to buy a home, so they are forced to live in a dilapidated and overcrowded tenement on Chicagos Mango Street. Despite its disrepair,  Esperanza begins to cherish the space she has, albeit limited. Like the rest of her family, Esperanza dreams of a big, opulent house, where she can have enough privacy  to write the poetry still encased within her soul. In one of her solitary moments of contemplation, Esperanza muses about how, more than anything, she dreams of "a space