La Llorana is a very well-known and widespread urban legend in Mexico and has become just as prevalent in America with the Mexican American cultural influence on the media, such as horror movies, TV series, and novels. This legend has been passed down from generation to generation as part of the tradition embedded by the Mexican culture and as a result there are many different interpretations of La Llorana, such as what she looks like as well as what her story is. The fact is this myth is only ancient folklore and even so it has captured the minds of the public for decades. La Llorana in Spanish translates to English as the “crying or weeping woman”. The Myth has many interpretations due to the amount of retellings it has gone through, but …show more content…
She is known to be always crying and asking where her children are, the tale tells that this woman either killed her children and threw their bodies in the water or drowned her children and then let the water carry them away, the reason why she did this depends on the interpretation, some say it was out of spite for her husband others say she sacrificed them. After committing this gruesome act, the legend states she then committed suicide by either drowning or killing herself. She has been imagined in two polar opposite depictions: “Some describe La Llorona as a female ghost, a woman with razor-sharp fingernails dressed in white or black with a face resembling death. Others believe her to be a young and beautiful woman who, when approached by traveling young men, transforms herself into a hag.” (Ruiz & Korrol 362) Despite how it is only folklore and there is no actual vengeful spirit that wanders and searches for the children, people hold on to this tale and many even believe in …show more content…
It is effective, the fear installed in the youth prevents them from immoral conduct, the adults are given a vivid picture of the consequences of neglecting their children and the duty as a parent is created, driven by fear of being punished. This tool uses fear as a trigger for the key understanding of how to live life morally. Fear is probably one of the most powerful emotions, it has been used for ages in order to teach human beings of morality. Think of the medieval times when someone commit an immoral act such as let’s say stealing an apple from the market, the arm that they used to steal with would be cut off as punishment, leaving them to be unable to steal with that arm ever again or to simply die from bleeding to death. This is another way of creating an understanding of ethics in society by using fear as a tool, the person would think more than twice upon stealing knowing they could forever lose their arm or die, that apple would not look as worthwhile to the person and they would refrain from stealing. That is the idea behind the popularity of this legend, La Llorona is just another way of demonstrating the importance of ethics in life and the fear is an important aspect as to why the myth is popular and why it is effective still to this
North Americans and Mexicans must also attempt to overcome the ideas that women should be seen and not heard. In Anzaldúa’s words, “Hocicona, repeloma, chismosa, having a big mouth, questioning, carrying tales are all signs of being mal criada. In my culture they are all words that are derogatory if applied to women – I’ve ever heard them applied to men” (2947).
In the beginning of Cortazar’s “La Noche Boca Arriba”, our main character gets into a motorcycle accident caused by a woman randomly screaming (Cortazar, 1964). This sets the audience up for the events that follow. From the beginning of the story, we can see ...
difference is La LLorona hollered from sorrow and pain but Cleofilas hollered with happiness and joy. Like this way whoever the woman is if they are abused and could not overcome it they should learn from Cleofilas and take a step against violence which makes them a happy and joyful
Women are seen as failure and can’t strive without men in the Mexican-American community. In this novel you can see a cultural approach which examines a particular aspect of a culture and a gender studies approach which examines how literature either perpetuates or challenges gender stereotypes. Over and over, Esperanza battled with how people perceived her and how she wished to be perceived. In the beginning of the book, Esperanza speaks of all the times her family has moved from one place to another. “Before that we lived on Loomis on the third floor, and before that we lived on Keeler.
All these things cultivate a rousing story full of suffering and self-realization. While the youthful, yet undeniably strange, La Loca resembles the messiah of the Christian faith, there are significant differences. However, as we indicated through discussion of the abortion and prayer, the child cultivated a sense of selfhood for the Chicana sense of voice and power. Essentially, the two are not the same, but Ana Castillo’s tale proves that, cast in a certain light, the two are not so different.
A Guatemalan native, a male graduate student that I work with in my research group at the University told this story. He came from the countryside, living in a small village back home. According to him, the story of La Llorona, involving a weeping woman, arose sometime in the 1700s and became well known both at school and home. Some claimed to have actually seen the weeping woman. Some disregard it as unscientific and implausible. No one is sure of the exact origin of this urban legend. This story was told to me and another graduate student in our research group while sitting in lab waiting for the experiment results. The story began as we started sharing our own background and the culture of our own countries when the storyteller decided to make a little shift and started to tell a story told to him by his older cousin--the story of La Llorona:
The Tuatha De’ Danaan were more a “godlike” people than anything else, although Celtic mythology would like to have us believe otherwise; “…the Tuatha De’, to some degree, became gods by the time they arrived in Ireland.” (Leeming, 81) This is due to the tradition of the Celts and their telling of the settlers of Ireland all being deities. “In accordance with Irish tradition, much of its history and mythology were viewed as one and the same- many diverse races of both gods and humans alike settling Ireland.” (Rosenberg, 369) We learn, though, that the Tuatha De’ are divided into two societal castes: deities and mortals. Those that were “deemed” deities were craftsmen, artists and noble combatants. The others, “mortals”, were farmers and field workhands. The Tuatha De’ Danaan “deities” were considered such as “…they were the gifted and powerful of their race.” (Rosenberg, 372) This is what elevated them to a godlike status; the ability to perform and execute tasks that required more than just the average education or experience needed by a simple farmer or worker.
In the essay “Corridos and la pura verdad: Myths and Realities of the Mexican Ballad, Villalobos and Ramirez-Pimiento discuss the Mexican Corrido, the issues it relates to, and its relevance to the border culture. The issues the corrido relates to involve the question as to whether the descriptive verses in the ballads are factual or fictional. The corrido is relevant to the border culture because many of the subjects are drug traffickers that are regarded as heroes.
The story contains the old tale of La Llorona, a woman who drowned her children and was cursed to walk the earth in search of their bodies. Woman Hollering Creek was written in the year of 1991, so it applies to the third wave feminism. The telenovelas were the thing that gave Cleófilas hope throughout her marriage and escaped. The author has it so to liberate how important the fact that Cleófilas ' returned to Mexico set her free. In the hard town of the United States, she had no option but to submit to her husband. However, in the warm town of Mexico, where she once lived, she is able to gain independence as a woman. The story ends with running away from her husband, with the help of a woman, Felice, who takes her back to Mexico. But leaving that world, and crossing the river in order to ultimately return to Mexico, gives Cleófilas a new perspective. Her companion, Felice hollers when they cross the river, but not in either anger or pain, when crossing over the creek means Cleófilas is returning to Mexico, and becomes not angry or painful, but
Selena’s death sent “shockwaves” across the Latin community as well as the English-language. Tens of thousands went to her funeral to pay their respect to her and her family. After her death, Selena’s first English album, “Dreaming of You”, was released and became a huge hit. They made a movie of her biography in 1997, starring Jennifer Lopez as Selena and James Edward Olmos as her father. Thousands of people visit her grave, Mirador de la Flor, in Corpus Christi, near the Selena Museum dedicated to her life, fame, and career. Even today, she’s still considered “La Reina de Tejano” and her legacy still lives on.
Both are portrayed as sexually desirable in the novel; their sexuality is a form of power for them. For Belicia, the power is emphasized by her immense breasts. She realized she could control men with her sexuality. Lola’s legs and hips are the source of her power. :She can reportedly stop traffic when she wears shorts: Lola recognizes her power and uses it for seeking to escape. Love, being the driving force throughout the novel and violence are two big themes. Oscar relishes the beauty of love despite all of the violence. He experiences it when he loves Ybón, and Abelard experiences it when he protects his daughter. Lola has a different experience of love and violence. One example when her mother fakes and cry and then says to Lola "Ya te tengo [I have you now]"(2,70).This action shows cunningest from Belicia and emotions from Lola. The method of parenting can also be considered as both good and bad. If Belicia didn’t treat her daughter like that, she could have become a lazy, good for nothing woman but the steely way that she was brought up made her become more than a man. La Inca repeatedly reminds Beli of her illustrious family history: "Remember, your father was a doctor, a doctor, and your mother was a nurse, a nurse". Faith also plays a great part in the novel; the way that she prays for Lola is worth mentioning in chapter (3,152).The implantation of Spanish
Latin America is rich with stories and legends. Many are said to have been originated from the time of the Conquistadors or the indigenous era. One story or legend that has surpass all other folklore and the times, in all parts of Latin America, is that of “the weeping woman” or best known as “La Llorona”. Her sad story is said to have originated in a small town in Mexico. It was said that in this small humble town, there lived an enchanting young girl. She was by far the most beautiful young girl in all the nearby villages. Just as her beauty was recognized through out all Mexico so to was her name. The older Maria got, her beauty seem to increase and sparkle like priceless rubies and gems. But unfortunately her heart was black and full of pride. No man was suitable and they were beneath her beauty to even be glanced by her eyes. Until one day there rode into town a dashing young stallion of a man riding on his half wild horse. Some say that he claimed to say “He thought it wasn't manly to ride a horse if it wasn't half wild”. http://www.literacynet.org/lp/hperspectives/llorona.html. This young man was not just handsome but wealthy and played the guitar while singing with his majestic voice. In one glance, Maria knew that this was the man she would marry. She didn’t make it easy for him to woo her. This young man would serenade beautiful melodies out side her window and present her with gifts from afar. Maria would ignore every thing the young man did to get her attention. Finally this young man conquered her love and it wasn’t long before they both got engaged and married. Years went by and Maria bore him two kids. This ...
El “cucuy” supposed to eat the kids that don’t listen to their parents. La llorona iIs one of the most hispanic famous legends, back then “la llorona” was a beautiful young lady who's had two kids, a girl and a boy and she killed them to be able to be with his husband that she loved and when he rejects her she ends up killing herself and according to the legend she's looking for kids to kidnap them. “La llorona” and “el cucuy” are very popular legends on the hispanic cultures they both are similar because they both are about a supernatural figures that appear on the dark and both look for kids. These legends reflect the culture with their terrifying s Most hispanics know these legends and can relate with them because their parents scared them throughout their childhood. What values are evident in each?These legends have a huge value on the hispanic culture because this was a way for parents to keep their children out of trouble or bad behavior. Throughout the years people have been talking about these legends and people have assume that they have seen “la llorona” or “el cucuy” around
The contrast between the Mexican world versus the Anglo world has led Anzaldua to a new form of self and consciousness in which she calls the “New Mestiza” (one that recognizes and understands her duality of race). Anzaldua lives in a constant place of duality where she is on the opposite end of a border that is home to those that are considered “the queer, the troublesome, the mongrel and the mulato” (25). It is the inevitable and grueling clash of two very distinct cultures that produces the fear of the “unknown”; ultimately resulting in alienation and social hierarchy. Anzaldua, as an undocumented woman, is at the bottom of the hierarchy. Not only is she a woman that is openly queer, she is also carrying the burden of being “undocumented”. Women of the borderlands are forced to carry two degrading labels: their gender that makes them seem nothing more than a body and their “legal” status in this world. Many of these women only have two options due to their lack of English speaking abilities: either leave their homeland – or submit themselves to the constant objectification and oppression. According to Anzaldua, Mestizo culture was created by men because many of its traditions encourage women to become “subservient to males” (39). Although Coatlicue is a powerful Aztec figure, in a male-dominated society, she was still seen
...Halevi-Wise, Yael (1997). Story-telling in Laura Esquivel's Como Agua Para Chocolate. The Other Mirror: Women’s Narrative in Mexico, 1980-1995. Ed. Kristine Ibsen. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997. 123-131.