Real Women Have Curves Summary

Real Women Have Curves, set in a tiny sewing factory in East L.A., this is the story of five full-figured Mexican-American women who are racing to meet nearly unmanageable manufacture deadlines in order to keep their tiny factory from going under. While they work, hiding from the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service), they talk, about their husbands and lovers, their children, their dreams for the future. The story is told from the point of view of Ana, the youngest among them. Just graduated from Beverly Hills High School, Ana dreams of getting out of her home and going off to college and becoming a famous writer. Although she needs the money, Ana doesn't like working at the factory with her mother or sister, and has little respect

for the coworkers, who make fun of her ambitions and what they consider her idealistic feminist philosophies. However, Ana keeps coming to her job and recording her experiences in a journal. As the summer unfolds, she slowly gains an understanding and appreciation of the work and the women, eventually writing an essay that wins her a journalism fellowship which will take her to New York City, her parents did not approve. They felt that she needed to stay with her family and help them work to pay the bills. During one day at work, Ana got miserably hot and decided to take her clothes off, despite of the ugly things her mother had to say about her body. The other girls in the factory followed. The women bonded over this strong and very impactful decision by Ana.
Beyond the traditional Mexicana role.

All young adults of Ana's age are at a crossroads, but for youth of color and low income, the choices are more limited and difficult than for the more privileged, like most of Ana's Beverly Hills classmates. The pressure is on the former to do what it takes to help their families financially. I felt this way at age 14. I wanted to quit high school to work in the fields, but my mother taught me a lesson. She made me work 10 hours a day except Sundays all summer, and by fall I begged to go back to school. She knew I would live a farmworker's life of poverty if I did not get an education. By contrast, Ana's mama strongly discourages her from applying for college, even dismissing her teacher when he comes to visit. Her mama can only envision the old Mexican traditional role of wageworker and housewife for her daughter, and constantly demeans her for her weight. Ana's self-esteem is strong, however, and she believes that she has value even if her amply curvaceous figure won't fit into the dresses that she, her mother and coworkers sweat to make in the sweltering, dimly lit garment factory. Her father, sister and grandfather provide the encouragement she lacks from her mama — who is also real-sized, and does suffer from a lack of

self-esteem.
Becoming rebelliously proud. The film movingly and humorously drives home the central theme of playwright Lopez that young women are under assault to conform to stereotypical female body images. At some point, all teenage girls face the pressure to fit in and commodify themselves, dumb down their intellect, and relinquish any dreams that aren't compatible with being a wife and mother. This pressure is doubly hard for women of color, who usually have fewer options and a harder life. Hollywood soap operas and Spanish-language novelas relentlessly broadcast the message that in order to be attractive, women must be thin, and usually blonde (but that's another story). "Who says so!" is Ana's bold response to her gossipy coworkers who buy into this line — at least until Ana makes her influence