Catholicism glorifies and portrays mothers as the main foundation of the family through the example of the passive and unconditional loving Mary, the mother of Jesus Crist. This idea of mothers as unconditional lover beings has been passed on and reproduced in the Chicana/o community. Gil Cuadros and Reyna Grande through their autobiographical work testify against this predominate idea of mothers being always caring and loving persons. Even though most mothers fall into the norm of a normal mother, normality is subjective; therefore Cuadros and Grande’s work represent the complexities of reality. Grande’s The Distance Between Us and Cuadro’s City of God are autobiographical narratives that incorporate reality as a form of testimonial of existence,
The description of the clinic and his observations create a sense of artificiality and lack of individual significance. The reader is first introduced into the waiting room of a clinic: “just after Christmas”, “artificial limbs” and “packages wrapped empty as rattle” (Cuadros 120). The descriptions of the decorations create a sense of artificiality and temporality. What before Christmas were significant and valuable decorations, after Christmas they become trash. Furthermore, the interaction between him and the doctor is cold and unaffectionate. Even when there is physical contact he touches him with gloves and at the end of their consult he “moves on to other rooms, other patients” (Cuadros 120). The lack of gestures of genuine care of his doctor and the easiness to move from patient to patient portrays the poetic voice as insignificance. He is just another patient, “just like any other [infected] queer”, along with this identification comes a sense of lack individuality (Cuadros 122). Just like the Christmas decorations his time is coming to an end and is ‘at risk’ of being completely forgotten. Combating the possibility of oblivion or being remembered as just another “queer that dies because of AIDS”, Cuadros as a permanent testimony of his existence incorporates this poem into his
In this chapter Reyna is reunited with her father, however she is disappointed of their obvious emotional detachment. Even though, she has complicated relationships with both of her parents with the inclusion of this scene the reader learns of the relationship between her and Mago. To Reyna this sisterhood bond is valuable and fundamental to her growth. Due to the emotional distance between Reyna and her parents the siblings foster a stronger bond as an act of resilience against their complex relationships with their parents. Taking in consideration the achievements of Reyna Grande as an author, aside of growing up in poverty and the difficult relationship with her parents is an act of personal resilience. By sharing her story Grande can foster community resilience for those that find representation in her work. Also, due to her vulnerability and the act of letting the reader into her healing process, her narrative creates a sense of empathy in the reader and for those with similar experiences solidarity and
Hector Berlioz, born in the romantic era was a great lover of music. Being a child of a doctor was forced to take up the drug even he hated it. The description of the dissecting room by Hector Berlioz shows how his initial visit had terrorized him. Though at the beginning Berlioz was not prepared for dissecting the body parts and the physical impact of the hospital was slowly getting used to it. The hospital was depicted with perished and crazy wards. The horrible smell of incontinence and diarrhea that was spread in the atmosphere of hospital always clings to him even when he went home. Even it was a hot and sunny evening, the scene of unhealthy patients and their
Doña Guadalupe is a woman of great strength and power, power and strength which she draws from her devout faith and her deep and loving compassion for her family, and power and strength which is passed down to her children. “‘Well, then, come in,’ she said, deciding that she could be handle this innocent-girl-stealing coyote inside. On going into the long tent, Salvador felt like he’d entered the web of a spider, the old woman was eyeing him so deliberately” (360). Doña Guadalupe is a very protective woman, which is extremely speculative when it comes to her children, this is especially true when it comes to boys, because she has not gone this far only for all of her hard work to be ruined by a no good boy. This shows how protective she is, she loves her family, and especially her kids so much that they themselves must pass her test before being able to pass on to her children. “The newborns were moving, squirming, reaching out for life. It was truly a sign from God” (58). Doña Guadalupe is also a very devout and faithful person. She sees God in everything and in everyone and by that fact, what she sees and who she sees is true, and she tries to be a model of clairvoyance for the family. “Doña Guadalupe put the baby’s little feet in a bowel of warm water, and the child clinging to his mother. He never cried, listening to her heartbeat, the same music that he’d heard from inside the womb” (57). Finally, Doña Guadalupe is very passionate which allows for a great model upon which her children follow. This further shows how she is clearly th...
As the next few weeks go on we see Pedro and Tita's relationship develop. The biggest change is when Pedro's son Roberto is born. Tita begins to breast feed Roberto because Rosaura had no milk after the strain of her pregnancy. The author uses imagery to express the feelings of longing between Pedro and Tita by writing about the looks they gave each other. Specifically when Pedro looked at Tita, it was a look that, when matched with Tita's "fused so perfectly that whoever saw them would have seen but a single look, a single rhythmic and sensual motion." This look changed their relationship forever, it bonded them together and they would never be separated in their hearts. This shows that the theme of, true love can withstand anything, is true. After this interaction between them they had been less careful about hiding from Mama Elena and when the baptism rolled around Mama Elena had seen enough. She decided, in the middle of the party that Pedro, Rosaura and Roberto would be moving to San Antonio to be with her cousin. They left and after about a year Mama Elena passed
#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
The autobiography Journey of Hope Memoirs of a Mexican Girl and the documentary short “Children in No Man’s Land” has brought into light three important topics that are results of immigration. The first is the “American dream” and the notion of yearning to migrate abroad to seek dreams formed by misconceptions of the limited knowledge one has of their destination. The second is assimilation and the process of assimilating oneself to their new homeland. The third is a unique situation presented in both these works, which is estrangement from their family members. This paper attempts to critically analyze the unique journey of immigration for Rosalina, Maria de Jesus, and Rene. It argues that glorified images and dreams of what America could be like falsely creates a sense of hope. It focuses on the dual task of reviewing the process of assimilation based on each immigrant situation, and an examination of familial estrangement as
In conclusion, Alcala’s poem takes a different approach with her poem in describing an affair. She uses the thought process of a woman as she experiences an affair. As a result, Alcala is propelled to use to figures of speech, persona and images in order to guide her reader to the main point of her poem of cautious uncertainty. The author utilizes persona in order to describe the characters intentions and emotions, which also establish the tone of the poem as tentative and vigilant throughout the progress of their affair. Moreover, the author also utilizes figures of speech, such as metaphors in order to draw a brief comparison between two countries and the couple. Most importantly, Alcala appeals to the five senses in imagery in order to engage her readers with depth into a very subtle and also nostalgic poem.
The role of strong female roles in literature is both frightening to some and enlightening to others. Although times have changed, Sandra Cisneros’ stories about Mexican-American women provide a cultural division within itself that reflects in a recent time. The cultural themes in Cisneros’s stories highlight the struggle of women who identify with Mexican-American heritage and the struggle in terms of living up to Mexican culture – as a separate ethnic body. The women in Sandra Cisneros’ stories are struggling with living up to identities assigned to them, while trying to create their own as women without an ethnic landscape. In Sandra Cisneros’ stories “Woman Hollering Creek: and “Never Marry a Mexican” the role of female identities that are conflicted are highlighted, in that they have to straddle two worlds at once as Mexican-American women.
The daughter alludes to an idea that her mother was also judged harshly and made to feel ashamed. By the daughters ability to see through her mothers flaws and recognize that she was as wounded as the child was, there is sense of freedom for both when the daughter find her true self. Line such as “your nightmare of weakness,” and I learned from you to define myself through your denials,” present the idea that the mother was never able to defeat those that held her captive or she denied her chance to break free. The daughter moments of personal epiphany is a victory with the mother because it breaks a chain of self-loathing or hatred. There is pride and love for the women they truly were and is to be celebrated for mother and daughter.
Demetria Martínez’s Mother Tongue is divided into five sections and an epilogue. The first three parts of the text present Mary/ María’s, the narrator, recollection of the time when she was nineteen and met José Luis, a refuge from El Salvador, for the first time. The forth and fifth parts, chronologically, go back to her tragic experience when she was seven years old and then her trip to El Salvador with her son, the fruit of her romance with José Luis, twenty years after she met José Luis. And finally the epilogue consists a letter from José Luis to Mary/ María after her trip to El Salvador. The essay traces the development of Mother Tongue’s principal protagonists, María/ Mary. With a close reading of the text, I argue how the forth chapter, namely the domestic abuse scene, functions as a pivotal point in the Mother Tongue as it helps her to define herself.
Family is one of the most important institutions in society. Family influences different aspects of a person’s life, such as their religion, values, morals and behavior. Unfortunately, problems may arise when an individual’s belief system or behavior does not coincide with that of family standards. Consequently, individuals may be forced to repress their emotions or avoid acting in ways that that are not acceptable to the family. In the novel The Rain God, written by Arturo Islas, we are presented with a story about a matriarchal family that deals with various conflicts. One major internal conflict is repression. Throughout the novel the characters act in strange ways and many of the family members have internal “monsters” that represent the past that they are repressing. In his article, “The Historical Imagination in Arturo Islas’s The Rain God and Migrant Souls”, Antonio C. Marquez’s implicitly asserts a true idea that The Rain God is a story about repression. Marquez’s idea can be supported from an analysis of secondary sources and a reading of the primary text.
Juana Ines de la Cruz was a self-educated Mexican nun and writer who lived during the second half of the seventeenth century. Born to a lower-class family, Juana’s mother had her sent to Mexico City as a child with the hopes that the city would provide greater opportunities for her clever and talented daughter. Juana quickly gained a position serving the family of the Mexican viceroy at the time. The viceroy, recognizing Juana’s giftedness, provided the girl with the means to educate herself. As a teenager, in order to continue her life of study, Juana joined a convent where she assembled an impressive library and spent years writing everything from plays to poetry.
...l Castillo, R. 1994. La Familia: Chicano Families in the Urban Southwest, 1848 to the present. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.
In the short story, “fiesta 1980”, in the book Drown, You Or the Main character, and Narrator, faced many conflicts. The central Idea of this text is about a young boy who struggles with his relationship, and his feelings towards his father. Most of the time Papi( Yuniors dad) is hostile, and declarative, towards Yunior, and the rest of the family.
Sandra Cisneros’s “Never Marry a Mexican” introduces readers to Clemencia. Cisneros eludes Clemencia as a woman who appears proud of her Mexican heritage, yet knows not how the slanderous phrase “Never marry a Mexican” uttered from her well-meaning mother’s trusty lips about Clemencia’s own Mexican father negatively foreshadows her seedy life and gloomy world perspective later down her destructive journey of adulthood.
After having two children, her situation become worse. She had to work in fields for daily wages of ruppes 5 in order to support her family. But these all situation made her even more stronger, she was ready to stand and fight for her