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Introduction The movie Real Women have Curves gave insight to a first generation Latina girl Ana Garcia who struggles to balance her family's culture and heritage. Ana is expected to work in her sister's dress warehouse, find a husband, and have children while forgetting her dreams of a college education. However, one of her high-school teachers Mr. Guzman tries to convince her parents to give her an opportunity allow her to attend college. Both parents' refuse point blank. Her mother Carmen states that Ana's sister Estela is a spinster and she'll never marry, so it was Ana's duty to give her grandchildren. As this film is evaluated through the lens of human behavior, it is important to define the word family and what this meant to Ana throughout …show more content…
this life journey she was experiencing. Strengths and Protective factors Ana is transitioning from being an adolescent to young adulthood during this time she demonstrates strengths in having a good sense of self-worth, being opinionated, smart, and driven to succeed. She also demonstrates strong morals and values that have been instilled by the intergenerational component of her family. Ana has a great attachment to her grandfather that refers to her “as his gold” and this relationship is natural and uncomplicated for Ana.
She also shows attachments to her father, sister and mother in various levels. These relationships are seen as strengths as well as protective factors for Ana. Ana maintains her family relationships well and has a different method for dealing with each family member. Ana relationship with her father was very nurturing, but her father does have his traditional/cultural ways that would not be changed. Although, he eventually supports Ana in attending college he remained enmeshed in his culture and traditional ways. Ana and her sister Estela relationship was of a mutual existence both supported each another in different aspects of their life course. The relationship between both sisters’ flourish when Ana went to work …show more content…
at the family business for no pay.
Ana being out-spoken voiced her concern about Bloomingdale Department store receiving cheap labor and then selling the dresses for a much higher price. Ana shares her resentment and feels that Estela is being taken advantage of due to her heritage and culture. A turning point that changes Ana's view was being present for the meeting with Mrs. Glass also of Latin origin. Estella needs to ask for an advance and Mrs. Glass expressed her disapproval and commented “women like us need to work even harder” infuriating Ana by the lack of disrespect for her sister’s hard work, dedication and pride in her work. Ana learns a valuable lesson and her attitude toward working at the dress warehouse changes. Ana asked her father for financial assistance knowing her sister was too proud to ask for help. This showed it didn’t matter what challenges this family faced the love and support they had for each other was a great protective factor as well as a strength. Ana’s strength and attachment to her family as well is her upbringing made her the resilience person that she plays in this film. Ana’s mother Carmen a difficult part of Ana’s life and her life course. Both loved each other, but had very different views on life
choices, in this inspiring film. Carmen has her traditional/cultural values and expected her children to follow these roots and heritage. Ana knew these old traditions would hold her back from becoming the first in her family to go to college. Applying the resilience theory when Ana is given this opportunity she struggles with this decision and feels this choice of attending college is a feasible dream, but struggles internally due to her families’ strong expectations of her. It was indoctrinated since she was child as a part of this family you graduated high school and went to work to contribute household, married and had children. Ana continues contemplating school or work after seeing her parent’s negative reaction about attending college in another state. Ana shows great resilience during this very provoking time in her life. Culture is rich in this film and is a significant part of Ana’s journey has a member of this family. Strengths and protective factors that’s Ana endured culturally was being family-oriented and closed knitted to her family, school, and community which are rich qualities for any individual to acquire. Ana is also bilingual due to being raised in this patriarchal Latin family which will benefit her in the future. Ana not motivated to work at the family business, but still does brings strong cultural values and work ethics to the surface. In applying life course theory to this film when any obstacles or challenge arises for Ana she had an intergenerational family member to turn too (Heinz, 2011). This is truly a blessing when making any form of decisions as a young adult on the path of life. In regards to protective factors in Ana's community Ana resides in a lower socioeconomic community in Los Angeles, California. This neighborhood although poor is enriched with a diverse population, and culturally enriched shops that have formed relationships with their patrons. A good example of this was when Ana goes to by a cigar for her grandfather and the cashier know exactly what cigar her grandfather liked. Ana was also fortunate to have a teacher Mr. Guzman that was invested in her future and enlighten her path of attending college. Ensuring she completed her personal statement to apply for college. Ana was transitioning from adolescences’ to young adulthood and during this journey she shows struggles with her body image, and becoming a women in her diverse relationship with her boyfriend Jimmy. Ana embraces her body image and feels beautiful after her sexual encounter with Jimmy due to his kind words of Jimmy telling her she was beautiful. Ana develops better self-esteem about her body shape thanks to Jimmy. Ana finally feels beautiful in her own skin, despite all the negative weight comments and insults her mother voiced throughout Ana’s life. Once Ana experiences this transition and is comfortable in her own skin she empowers the other women at the workplace to do the same all are happy to take part in being in their undergarments, but Carmen being Carmen does not agree with this free spirit behavior. Ana exhibits her strength and resilience even after her mother being negative and she made Ana feel that she was not good enough in many area of life. Carmen again shows her inability to change her traditional ways, but Ana does not allow her mothers’ hurtful remarks get in her way of she felt about herself and neither did other women.
There are seven billion humans living on planet earth, with hundreds of different cultures and ethnicities. As the leading species on earth, humans have further felt the need to also have a dominant gender. This title is given to the males of society. In the novel How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez, the main characters experience a firsthand look to how male dominance prevails in not only the Dominican Republic but also in America. The Garcia family is a prestigious family line in the Dominican Republic, as a result the children of the family have a traditional and very controlled upbringing. The Garcia family moves from the Dominican Republic to the United States which causes the children of the family: Sofia, Yolanda,
They have their hair up due to the immense heat and are sweating. Carmen and Pancha are older than the other women while Ana is the youngest with an elder sister (Estela since she owns the factory). Since Carmen is the mom, she would sound strict and would voice her opinion on all matters. Meanwhile Ana can sound like the regular teenager that is stubborn and doesn’t care of other people’s thoughts. Estela is mature and sounds hopeless of one day meeting the man that will like her for her intelligence in the same for Rosali, who is truly insecure with her appearance and has curves. Pancha would sound similar to Carmen and be blunt. All the actors must be capable of speaking the Spanish language and sound with imperfect
While most movies of the 2000s somehow spoke about sex among young adults, for the first time the emphasis is on the virginity of a Mexican American female. In part this topic is not discussed openly, it is only discussed awkwardly in a mother to daughter conversation. This movie opens the eye to many families conservative other this matter, Ana’s mother openly shames her daughter to losing her virginity to a random person which was not the case. In this scene, rather than have a heartwarming conversation with her daughter she is angry possibly at her daughter but possibly at herself for not knowing what her daughter was doing. Ana is prepared to lose her virginity and is responsible to purchase contraceptives something also talked about but mostly whispered in the chicano community. Ana states that women get pregnant not because they are having sex but because they are having it unprotected or don’t know how to use different methods of contraceptive. The talk among Mexican American families is not how to use contraceptives rather it is do not get pregnant or “ELSE”. Real Women Have Curves shows that the real problem is not getting pregnant it is the lack of communication Mexican American women have with their
#1.The thesis in “A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood” by Judith Ortiz Cofer is that because of the stories her grandmother told every afternoon when she was a child, her writing was heavily influenced and she learned what it was like to be a ‘Puerto Rican woman’. The thesis of the selection is stated in the first and last sentence of the second paragraph: “It was on these rockers that my mother, her sisters, and my grandmother sat on these afternoons of my childhood to tell their stories, teaching each other, and my cousin and me, what it was like to be a woman, more specifically, a Puerto Rican woman . . . And they told cuentos, the morality and cautionary tales told by the women in our family for generations: stories that became
She struggles with finding beauty in her true self because of the negative attention she gets from her mother, and begins to break the barriers that are set for her. Ana begins to believe that beauty is in the eye of the beholder whether her mother agrees with her or not. She is not allowed to date and her mother is convinced that she will never find a husband because she is “enormous.” Although, before she ends her senior year she meets a boy and starts to go out with him, she keeps this a secret from her mother but sooner or later she suspects Ana has done something sinful to her body and slaps her in the face during an argument. At the end of the film when Ana is leaving the house to go to college her mother would not even come out of her bedroom to give her, her blessing. Throughout all the hardship Ana endured her last year of high school to become happy she succeeds and lives her life the way she wants to, not how others want her
While it can be seen as if Ana is being rude to her Mother, Ana is trying to bring herself out of the traditional ways her mother believes in. Ana wants her mother to see that women are not worth by their “virginity”, or their looks. As Ana’s sister Estela
It’s not easy to build an ideal family. In the article “The American Family” by Stephanie Coontz, she argued that during this century families succeed more when they discuss problems openly, and when social institutions are flexible in meeting families’ needs. When women have more choices to make their own decisions. She also argued that to have an ideal family women can expect a lot from men especially when it comes to his involvement in the house. Raymond Carver, the author of “Where He Was: Memories of My Father”, argued how his upbringing and lack of social institutions prevented him from building an ideal family. He showed the readers that his mother hide all the problems instead of solving them. She also didn’t have any choice but to stay with his drunk father, who was barely involved in the house. Carvers’ memoir is relevant to Coontz argument about what is needed to have an ideal family.
Rather, it criticizes this culture through its portrayal of women. The narrative is focused on a male and is told by a male, which reflects the male-centered society it is set in. However, when we compare how the narrator views these women to who they really are, the discrepancies act as a critique on the Dominican culture. Yunior, who represents the typical Dominican male, sees women as objects, conquests, when in fact their actions show their resistance to be categorized as such. Beli, whose childhood was filled with male domination by Trujillo and the family she worked for, attempts to gain power through sexuality, the avenue the culture pushes women toward. This backfires, creating a critique of the limited opportunities available for women. La Inca portrays a different side to this, working quietly but in ways that are not socially acceptable through self-employment. Society attempts to cage these women, but they continue to fight against it. Diaz, in an interview, quoted James Baldwin, stating, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced" (Fassler). He exhibits the misogyny in the system but does not support it, rather critiques it through strong female characters. By drawing attention to the problem, the novel advocates for change. Diaz writes, at the end of part 1, “Nothing more exhilarating… than saving yourself by the simple act of waking”
In “Like Mexican” Gary Soto’s grandmother uses her wisdom and an advising tone in order to encourage Gary to marry a Mexican girl who is financially poor and is like a “house-wife.” A traditional family such as this author’s shares an outlook how marriage is significant and culturally supervised by the parent or the grandparents. The grandmother looks toward a homogamy for Gary’s marriage. The grandmother’s conversational style is most defined throughout “Like Mexican” since it began with the grandmother’s advices and throughout the essay Gary was yet again spoken by his grandmother. The repetition of the thought constantly wraps around Gary’s mind. In contrast, the essay “Gender in the Classroom” strikingly separates the male and female student’s own conversation styles. From Deborah Tannen, males are likely to speak up to show their “contribution” and to “express themselves on the floor.” Also, male students tend to find the “public classroom setting more conducive to speaking” in a large group. (Tannen pg. 285). However, in “Like Mexican” as the audience, we were not introduced with many of Soto’s male friends or a male gathering in order for Soto to express his thoughts and feelings. In another opposition in “Gender in the Classroom” “most women are more comfortable speaking in private to a small group they know well.” (Tannen 285). In other words, female
As a traditional, collectivistic cultural group, the Latino population is believed to adhere deeply to the value of familismo. (Arditti, 2006; Calzada, 2014). Familism is an emphasis on the importance of the family unit over values of autonomy and individualism”. (Santistaben, 2012). Family is considered to be the top priority in the Latino culture. Comparatively, at times, this isn’t true of our busy, work devoted western culture. In western culture we think of our family in a nuclear sense made up of a: mom, dad, and siblings. Conversely, Hispanic culture focuses on the whole extended family including aunts, uncles, grandparent, and cousins. Their culture believes having close connections with the entire extended family benefits the development of their children. The entire family helps the child by giving them differing levels of social and emotional support. (American Home Resolutions,
In the short story “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid is a story that everyone can related to. The story is about a mother telling her daughter what to do, what not to do and how to do things. Kind of like society or parents or a friends of what to do. There has also been always been expectations of what to do and how to do things in life regards of gender, nationality or religion. The male has he’s duties and the female has different duties. However, in the typical society today, a person is supposed to graduate from high school and go straight in to an Ivy League university, to get a degree in a field of study that makes lot of money. While working a person must save money for that dream big house with the white picket fence. At the same time, you have to look for that perfect spouse so you can have the big beautiful dream wedding. After the wedding it’s the romantic honeymoon to Bora Bora. After a couple years the baby comes, and you are a happy family. Typically, that is what parents teach their children of what is what is expected of them.
Latin American society places a great deal of importance on the family as a support network; it is not uncommon for several generations to reside in the same house. This emphasis is called familismo, and the mother in the family is usually the most important figure. She “is seen as the primary nurturer and caregiver in the family…[and] plays a critical role in preservation of the family as a unit, as well as in...
Growing up everyone has certain roles to perform; gradually your roles can change once you are freely able to express yourself without any restrictions. Unfortunately just like thousands of other women in the world at the time, the women of Mexico were limited and had role in which they followed. A challenge Mexican women had during their early times was that, “no unmarried women under thirty could legally leave her parental home” (Soto, 10). This limited women to their own individuality as they were force to stay home and take care of their parents since there was no husband to tender for. Every women wanted to get married so that they can grow older a...
Growing up in a Latino base community there were numerous instances that metaphor,“si me voy con la Luna o el Sol”, which means either you choose the Sun (Dad) or Moon (Mother), was used just to see who the kids prefered .Therefore creating, the environment that children would be repeatedly asked to choose the ultimatum between parents. In the reading “Mamitis and the Traumas of Development in a Colonia Popular of Mexico City” by Matthew C. Gutmann and “Bad Boys and Good Girls: The Implications of Gender Ideology for Child Health in Jamaica” by Carolyn Sargent and Michael Harris correlations between class in their countries and how it impacts family developments. The Essay will focus on Gutmann’s reading on mamitis gender expectation, secondly how Sargent’s reading tackles the issue of
Gender roles are extremely important to the functioning of families. The family is one of the most important institutions. It can be nurturing, empowering, and strong. Some families are still very traditional. The woman or mother of the family stays at home to take care of the children and household duties. The man or father figure goes to work so that he can provide for his family. Many people believe that this is the way that things should be. Gender determines the expectations for the family. This review will explain those expectations and how it affects the family.