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…
the most commonly known version, is that there is a woman that wanders near the rivers looking for her children, it is said if she cannot find them and if she finds the living children, she will take them and kill them to take the place of her lost children. So culturally children are always taught from a young age to never wander away from home or talk to strangers or to simply go to sleep on time as she might snatch them for misbehaving.
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. Why would people hold on to a belief that is clearly only a folktale? There is the idea that the myth has been used as a guide in establishing ethics which is why it is popular to this day, in other words the culture uses this myth to help individuals starting from a very young age and as well as grown-ups to distinguish between what values are moral and immoral. The myth establishes a “set of cultural codes that people have used overtime to identify behavioral cues and to create role models.” (362) The children growing up are told the myth of La Llorona and they are in a sense taught through this myth or legend on how they should behave respectfully within society which will help them identify behavioral cues over their life time. The children’s fear of being killed by an evil “tortured soul” as she is described, guides the children in making the right choices at such a young age. I know first-hand my childhood friend growing up would always tell me she had nightmares about La Llorona coming for her at night, she was always afraid of breaking the rules set by her family and this was a good thing, but at the same time she was practically traumatized with fear whenever she went to sleep. The children being shown the severity of the consequences of being immoral are consumed by the tale which helps establish a lasting understanding of ethics. The myth surprisingly is not only used for disciplining children; it is used on educating adults as well by directly labeling “neglectful mothers as Lloronas in the hope of preventing women from acting outside prescribed societal roles.” (362) Women are shown how to understand ethics as well by grooming them into role model mother figures. La Llorona murdered her children and now she is trapped unable to move on and to leave the living world, she must search for the souls of the children she killed in order to move on and this displays symbolically how great of a consequence there is to neglecting one’s children. The myth effectively installs ethics into the mind-set of every individual that is influenced by the cultural tradition. However, it might also be simply popular because it is a great horror story to tell that can make a lot of money by being widely acknowledged in society, especially seeing how much society loves Halloween. If the culture promotes a tale such as this they are bound to make money from the intrigue of the public, whether it is making movies or writing novels or selling other consumer related products. La Llorana is literally everywhere in the media today. My favorite show Grimm on NBC Networks featured an episode for the legend of La Llorona, you can probably imagine the millions of people glued to the TV screens watching that episode. The public wants to believe something exciting and abnormal might happen to them in the world and the society promotes ancient legends knowing how attractive this is to the consumer market due to the obsession with Halloween, which is actually more popular then Christmas and makes more money. If one were to search through YouTube, the music artists are even inspired by the legend of La Llorona, as apparently the madness of her story is very attractive to the present day society and well it is a business. Me and my friends have gone to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studious Hollywood were there was maze dedicated to the legend of La Llorona on Halloween. There is even something called a Coffee Shop of Horrors were you can purchase La Llorona Mexican coffee; does it not sound horrifyingly delicious! Just think about roasting and blending this wicked coffee of La Llorona, that certainly adds spice to the dull and tedious everyday life, who needs Starbucks when you can have the mysterious cup of La Llorona! While the consumer market does heavily rely on ancient legends and their connection to the fandom of Halloween, not all legends are as popular as La Llorona. There are many myths and legends that are not as well-known or not as frequently incorporated by the media. There is also the fact that Halloween has become popular relatively recently and the legend of La Llorona has been kept alive for hundreds of years. There is no doubt that La Llorona in this day and age helps fuel the love of Halloween and makes a lot of money, but this is not the reason why the myth or legend is still around today and held to be so popular and even believed to be true by some people. Just as in the case of my childhood friend, many children are taught about La Llorona as a lesson on life in order to understand what is ethical behavior. Even adults see the legends as a reminder of what is moral and immoral in terms of being a mother. The darkness and tragedy while does make good money, is doing so unintentionally. The madness of the myth involved instead is taught in order to implement morality in the individuals of the culture. The culture keeps this tradition for this reason. Some people are so deeply influenced they grow up believing it is true rather than a lesson on ethics in life, as the fear is very powerful if installed at such a young age. However, the intention is to ensure that society is uncorrupt and that everyone understands their place as an individual and how to live life ethically. I ultimately believe the best explanation for why people hold on to a belief that is clearly only a folktale is that it is a tool for establishing ethics within society by the culture.
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
day.
Ester Hernandez is a Chicana artist, best known for her works of Chicana women. Ester’s goal is to recreate women’s lives to produce positive images of women’s lifestyle and to create icons. Her piece, Frida y Yo, contains the iconic painter Frida Kahlo. Frida, after being in multiple accidents causing long-term pain and suffering, began painting, mostly self-portraits, to portray her reality and glorify the pain. Similar to how Hernandez's goals are a juxtaposition to Frida’s artwork, the art piece Frida y Yo creates a juxtaposition between life and suffering and death and fortune.
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
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.
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.
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 main character in “Woman Hollering Creek” is Cleόfilas Enriqueta DeLeόn Hernández, a woman who leaves her home in Mexico to marry a man, Juan Pedro Martinez Sánchez, in Texas. Flowing behind Cleόfilas’ new house in Texas, is a stream named Woman Hollering. Cleόfilas imagines her marriage to be filled with joy and love. To Cleόfilas’ surprise, Juan Pedro is a vile husband that is both physically and verbally abusive. Cisneros brings attention to a recurrent issue within the Chicana community. According to The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, “The majority of abused women, (75%) of Mexican-American women reported spousal abuse”
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
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.
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
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
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 ...
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
...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.