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Narrative essay about mexicoa trip to mexico
Narrative essay about mexicoa trip to mexico
Narrative essay about mexicoa trip to mexico
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Catalina de Erauso experienced many different traumatic and surprising events throughout her life. She completely changed her identity from being a woman to a man after she made the decision to have a more adventurous life than the average seventeenth century woman. Catalina went from a life devoted to god, growing up in the Convent of the Dominican of Nuns, to becoming a lieutenant of the Spanish military. Her ability to transform and disguise herself into a man and live unnoticed for more than two decades suggests that gender is fabricated and not a true trait, masculinity can be created through deception.
Throughout Catalina’s memoir, she builds up her masculine façade. She hides the characteristics of femininity and highlights the key concepts of being a man. As a young fifteen year old girl about to take her final vows of becoming a nun she, “got
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in a quarrel with one of the sisters, dona Catalina de Aliri… was a big, robust woman, I was but a girl- and when she beat me, I felt it.”(3) This point gave her the final reason to leave the convent. When she was given the opportunity to leave, she took it. She stole the necessary supplies to make her transition. Catalina turns boastful and aggressive in a masculine manner and when she becomes a soldier it only reinforces those traits. Catalina’s masculinity is never more apparent when she kills one of her fellow lieutenants for calling her a “cuckold”. (40) This is an insult that is designed specifically to target at a man and Catalina has embraced her alter ego so thoroughly that she is willing to kill to defend her male honor. Being dressed as a man for so long she learns the traditional masculinity and violent behaviors as the men around her and this makes her a bold and ferocious killer driven by her own determination. Catalina never mentions specifically in her memoir being attracted men, however, there are many instances of relationships with other women.
There was an encounter with the sister in law of a Lima merchant, a misunderstanding with Catalina’s brother over his mistress and other occasions being betrothed to women in the New World. At one point in her travels she comes very close to dying on the way to Tucman from Concepcion. Two men on horseback save her and they take her back to their mistress’ ranch. As gratitude for saving her life she helps tend to the ranch for about two weeks. The mistress is so overwhelming thankful to Catalina that she offers her daughter for her to marry. “And a couple of days later, she let me know it would be fine by her if I married her daughter—a girl as black and ugly as the devil himself, quite the opposite of my taste, which has always run to pretty faces.” (28) These instances happened a lot, where because of her hard work throughout her life she was offered many women to marry. Those engagements, however, ended after she exploited the situation and rode off with gifts and dowry
money. While in Guamanga, Peru Catalina, not surprisingly, was in trouble when a sheriff recognized her from a crime she committed but was never convicted for. While fleeing from the law, yet again, she ran into one of the Bishops of the town, he asked for her weapons in exchange for his help in eluding the law. The bishop took her back to his house to dress her wound. The next morning is when he questioned Catalina about where she was from and who her parents were. Through out this conversation she mentions how calm she felt while talking to him, that she felt the humbled presents of God before her. “And seeing that he was such a saintly man, and feeling as if I might already be in the presence of God, I revealed myself to the bishop and told him, “Senõr, all of this that I have told you . . . in truth, it is not so. The truth is this: that I am a woman…” (64) Astonishingly enough, the Bishop was calm after Catalina finished telling him her life story of running away and transforming herself. The Bishop had his doubts of her actually being a female but, when Catalina agreed to have a woman examine her to prove that she was in fact a female, the results put all his worries aside. What the examination also brought up was that she was still a virgin. “He ordered that w be placed in decent quarters, and there in comfort I prepared me confession, which I made to the best of my ability, and afterwards His Eminence gave me communion.” (66) She is sent to a number of convents for more than two years however the Church finds out that she never took her vows as a nun. She is then free to go, where she receives permission from the Pope to continue dressing as a man. Catalina’s relationship with the church and her religion is often halfhearted and it seems that she only turns to churches in times of need. Laws at the time did not allow the police and other officers of the law from following criminals into the sanctuary of a church, thus allowing criminals a safe place from arrest as long as they stayed inside the church walls. This may well be the only reason that Catalina seeks safety in churches when she trying to hide from the law or in need of help, her reasoning for seeking protection from the church seems more complex than that. Catalina was raised in a convent, and the priests and nuns were the only family she likely encounters on her travels. Thus, it is not surprising that she turns to the church in times of distress. Catalina clearly finds some emotional help in the church and what it stands for. It seems that the church represents as her surrogate family, and she finds legal and emotional sanctuary within their walls. Throughout Catalina de Erauso’s traumatic, adventurous and invigorating life she seems to truly find her true self when she makes the first step in deciding to leave the Convent of the Dominican of Nuns and make her transformation in to a man. Catalina fully embraces her new alter ego and becomes very protective over her new masculine honor. Her relationship with the church aids her throughout her journeys since they are the closest things to her old life that she has left. Being dresses as a man for almost two decades completely transform her into a true icon for masculinity.
“From Lieutenant Nun,” a memoir written by doña Catalina de Erauso, tells an intriguing story of a young Spanish female and her advantageous journey through Spain and the New World. Her family intends for her to become a nun but, that is not the life she seeks for herself. Therefore, she breaks away from the convent in hopes of finding somewhere to make her fortune by passing as a male. Catalina’s story is noteworthy because it gives readers another perspective of exploration focusing on self-discovery during the seventeenth century emphasizing how passing as a male is the only thing that secured her ability to explore. In the memoir, Catalina repeatedly reminisces about clothing and, whether she consciously or unconsciously does so, she allows the reader to see that this is an important aspect of her exploration. Throughout Catalina’s journey, clothing plays an increasingly important role not only in her travels but, also her personal life because it symbolized ones status, role, gender and privileges.
They both admire her mother’s beauty. Her grandmother begins to reveal certain aspects from her mother’s past and the nagging feelings gets stronger. La Inca explains to her that she is very similar to her mother. She tells her about why she had to send her mother to New York; she also had fallen in love with the wrong man. At the end of this story, we see Lola go through this internal change. I think the author did this to show that maybe Lola couldn’t understand her mother because there were many things about her she didn’t know and that their story was so very similar. We don’t get to see anymore of the conversation; therefore, we don’t see if this revelation serves a purpose, but I would like to believe it
Grande introduces to the audience various characters that cross Juana 's path to either alter or assist her on her journey to find her father. Through those individuals, Grande offers a strong comparison of female characters who follow the norms, versus those that challenge gender roles that
She takes her situation and beliefs and applies it to the general population explaining “[They] look at veiled women as quite, oppressed creatures” (Ridley 46), Muslim women are stereotyped and viewed by the general population as people with no say about their own lives. Muslim women deal with the judgment from outsiders who are ignorant to their true culture. They are viewed as lower class simply because of what they wear. Cisneros’ essay also included the problems of race, class, gender, and education. She felt that breaking the standards placed on her by her cultural norms it would displease her tradition loving father. He felt that Cisneros should find a husband and not focus on her education so much. Cisneros writes “I am the only daughter in the Mexican family of six sons” (Cisneros 366). This not only exemplifies the internal family issues of being the only female, but also the external problems of the norms placed on women in a Hispanic culture to be an ideal wife. Tan’s essay emphasized the fact that her race, gender, education and up-bringing played a role in people knowing her writing, even though she does not want it to. When informing the readers that her fans would often write not only about her work but also about “… [her] youthful indiscretions, the slings and arrows I suffered as a minority…” (Tan 1), this bothered Tan to an extent because she
Junot Diaz’s novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is focused on the hyper-masculine culture of the Dominican, and many argue that his portrayal of the slew of women in the novel is misogynistic because they are often silenced by the plot and kept out of the narration (Matsui). However, Diaz crafts strong women, and it is society that views them as objects. The novel recognizes the masculine lens of the culture while still examining the lives of resilient women. In this way, the novel showcases a feminist stance and critiques the misogynist culture it is set in by showcasing the strength and depth of these women that help to shape the narrative while acknowledging that it is the limits society places on them because of their sexuality
In the opening pages of the text, Mary, nineteen, is living alone in Albuquerque. Vulnerable to love, depressed and adrift, she longs for something meaningful to take her over. Just as she is “asking the universe whether or not there was more to life than just holding down boring jobs”, she takes on the job of helping an illegal (political) refugee, José Luis who had been smuggled from El Salvador to the United States, to adjust to his new life in Albuquerque. She instantly falls in love with him and hopes to start her life over with the new aim of “taking the war out of him.”(p. 4) Providing a refuge for him, Mary, as Fellner suggests, “imagines herself to be whole and complete in the experience of love”. (2001: 72) She willingly puts José Luis as the “center” of her life (p.5) with the hope that “love would free her from her dormant condition” (Fellner 2001: ...
Esperanza, the most liberated of the sisters, devoted her life to make other people’s lives better. She became a reporter and later on died while covering the Gulf Crisis. She returned home, to her family as a spirit. At first, she spoke through La Llorona, a messenger who informed La Loca that her sister has died. All her family members saw her. She appeared to her mother as a little girl who had a nightmare and went near to her mother for comfort. Caridad had conversations with her about politics and La Loca talked to her by the river behind their home.
...perceived. Therefore, she uses her writing to give women a voice and to speak out against the unfairness they endure. As a result, Cisneros’ story “Woman Hollering Creek” demonstrates a distinction between the life women dream of and the life they often have in reality.
To understand fully the implicit meaning and cultural challenges the film presents, a general knowledge of the film’s contents must be presented. The protagonist, Tita, suffers from typical Hispanic cultural oppression. The family rule, a common rule in this culture, was that the youngest daughter is to remain unwed for the duration of her mother’s life, and remain home to care for her. Mama Elena offers her daughter, Tita’s older sister Rosaura, to wed a man named Pedro, who is unknowingly in mutual love with Tita. Tita is forced to bake the cake for the wedding, which contains many tears that she cried during the process. Tita’s bitter tears cause all the wedding guests to become ill after consuming the cake, and Tita discovers she can influence others through her cooking. Throughout the film, Tita’s cooking plays an important role in all the events that transpire.
In the Book women are looked upon as objects by men whether they are boyfriends, friends fathers or husbands. The girls in the novel grow up with the mentality that looks and appearance are the most important things to a woman. Cisneros also shows how Latino women are expected to be loyal to their husbands, and that a husband should have complete control of the relationship. Yet on the other hand, Cisneros describes the character Esperanza as being different. Even though she is born and raised in the same culture as the women around her, she is not happy with it, and knows that someday she will break free from its ties, because she is mentally strong and has a talent for telling stories. She comes back through her stories by showing the women that they can be independent and live their own lives. In a way this is Cinceros' way of coming back and giving back to the women in her community.
Many short story writers have written about the gender and role of woman in society. Some of these stories express what Barbara Walter calls, “The Cult of True Womanhood” meaning the separation of both man and woman in social, political and economic spheres. In order to be considered a “true woman” woman were to abide by the set of standards that were given to her. Women were expected to live by the four main principal virtues - piety, purity, submissiveness, and domestication. In Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Storm,” Calixta the main female character breaks away from “The Cult of True Womanhood” when she has a sexual encounter with her past lover Alcée. The storm goes through many twists and turns that tie with their adulterous actions. Although she breaks away from the four main principal virtues, she in the end is considered to be pure innocent of heart because the action in which occurred happened instantly, and as white as she was, she was taken away from her innocence.
In society, constructs of correctness have been formed on the basis of expected, gendered behavior. Individuals have traditional roles that they play which are based on the historical performance of their gender. Although very rigid, these traditional roles are frequently transferred, resulting in an altered and undefinable identity that exists beyond the boundaries of gender. These transgressions into the neuter role are characterized by a departure from the normal roles of society which, if successful, complete the gender transference and allow the individual to live within a new set of boundaries. The Female Marine, or the Adventures of Lucy Brewer is the fictional autobiography of a woman who recounts her experiences in the navy and life as a cross-dressed male. Throughout her narratives, Lucy is able to successfully leap back and forth between gender roles without repercussion. On the other hand, Hannah W. Foster's The Coquette is a sentimental seduction tale that narrates the tragic demise of a young woman who attempts to exceed acceptable behavioral boundaries by establishing herself as a virile, independent individual, a role established by Simone de Beauvoir to be associated with the male (Beauvoir 405). Because of the similarity in the situations of these women there lies a need for an examination of their narrative purpose. The differing results of success with these women are found in the author's reflection of their audience's narrative expectations that deal with the social outcome of women who attempt to move beyond gender-identified behavioral roles.
In a nutshell, Connie regrets her risky business with two personalities and the resultant attentions, which were also provoked due to her contact with the false environment (Oates 120). Arnold's penetrating threat finally causes Connie to feel exhausted and not able to be resistant to his aims. Therefore one could regard Connie as a girl in a woman's body because she is not able to act and react reasonably in crucial moments. In addition, one could regard Joyce Carol Oates' short story as an insistent warning of the unpredictability's of life.
In the story "Woman Hollering Creek" Sandra Cisneros discusses the issues of living life as a married woman through a character named Cleofilas; a character who is married to a man who abuses her physically and mentally .Cisneros reveals the way the culture puts a difference between a male and a female, men above women. Cisneros has been famous about writing stories about the latino culture and how women are treated; she explain what they go through as a child, teen and when they are married; always dominated by men because of how the culture has been adapted. "Woman Hollering Creek" is one of the best examples. A character who grows up without a mother and who has no one to guid and give her advise about life.
They had to sacrifice their motherhood in some form or another in order to gain success in other aspects of their lives. Joan, a young girl wanted to have an education and so she ran away from home under the disguise of a boy to gain higher knowledge which was not an option for a girl in her time. Joan stated, “I dressed as a boy when I left home”… “I was only twelve. Also women weren’t/allowed in the library. We wanted to study in Athens” (8). Joan having to disguise herself as a boy, showed that women were not allowed to have an education; they had limited opportunities. However, under the disguise as a male, Joan was given the opportunity to be a pope, a role generally reserve for a man. Nevertheless, it was discovered that she was a female when she gave birth in public and hence, she was stoned to death. Even other women who did not have to choose between motherhood and career, were unable to get promoted even if they were more qualified than men. This is due to the gender gap and the historical male domination. Louise, who came for a job interview at Marlene’s employment agency stated, “Nobody notices me, I don’t expect it, I don’t attract attention by making mistakes, everybody takes it for granted that my work is perfect” (52). This illustrates that even though the feminist movement had made significant advances in gender equality, there are still limitations in inequality concerning