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Latin American society has placed a very high value on women being virgins when they marry. This value is one of the primary themes in Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Marquez. Virginity is one of the main motifs when thinking about feminism in the novel. A feminist lens would certainly ponder the ideals of this certain Latin American society and think of virginity as a great way to show the novels true nature. However, this view is only seen on the surface, as one delves into the deeper meaning of this book it almost sees the authors view of this subject as childish. Throughout Chronicle of a Death Foretold, a mockery is made out of the idea that celibacy is for those who are not yet married. The plot of Chronicle of a Death Foretold is based on the understanding that maintaining a woman’s virginity is important enough to kill for, and conversely, that anyone violating this social conduct was risking his or her own death. Virginity in the novel is synonymously viewed with honor. This aspect is what Gabriel Marquez challenges with the use of irony in the novel. Throughout Chr...
Macaria’s Daughter, by Americo Paredes, is a murderous tale of male dominance and female virtue where there is a sacrifice between an altar of the Virgin of Guadalupe and the marriage bed of two distinct cultures. This story is set in south Texas and surprises the reader with the murder of a beautiful young woman named Marcela. She is found in the bedroom, lying on the floor in a pool of blood, 30 to 40 knife stabs decorate her breasts, while the local men gaze indifferently on her lifeless body. Her husband, Tony, who is at the scene, hands over the knife to the local authorities, the Texan police, who are dressed in tall, spiffy Stetson hats.
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
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.
Kumaraswami (2007) identifies that the females presented are stereotypical in their nature; this is to say that they either exist in the domestic atmosphere or that they have lost their purity due to being forced into the revolution. Although Camila and Pintada are complete opposites, the similarity lays in the fact that they both fit different parts of society at that time: “En combinación, forman una síntesis de dos extremos irreconciliables que se le presentan a la mujer mexicana y entre los cuales tiene que escoger” (Clark, 1980). In this sense, the mexican women were in two different situations, those who wished to remain traditionalistic and those who sought self-advancement through the likes of previously considered male characteristics. One can see the traditional character through Camila, Azuela has ensured that initially Camila would fit the traditional role of the female, caring, weak, and doting to the men’s needs. Thus Camila seems to be a flat stereotypical character that is expected to appear in novels of this era if women were to appear at all. Nevertheless, the character of Camila becomes more dynamic as Los de Abajo develops, thus she becomes more of an indication as to how women involved in the revolution did not remain ‘sana y buena’. On the contrary, the almost paradoxical characteristics of Pintada seem to confuse Azuela. Pintada is an emasculated character but only in the sense of
In conclusion the reading on the Guadalupe the sex Goddess by Sandra Cisneros confirms that gender is neither biological nor natural but learned. The study is quite insightful as it shows a character who was born and brought up in a home and culture where you are not allowed to discuss sexual matters live alone knowing your private parts. Cisneros, a Latino, was finally able to come into terms with who she was, what formed a woman and what her sexuality was. Once she understood this her sexuality became a huge source of power and not something to be embarrassed over or ashamed
It is the last piece in one of her more famous books, the memoir Silent Dancing: a Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rico Childhood (1990) and reveals the mental and physical sensations Hispanic girls encounter for the first time on their coming-out day, Quinceañera. A usually joyous occasion, Cofer depicts it in a much darker light than one would expect after having read the title, as it is the bitter, negative side of entering womanhood that she chose to describe. Quinceañera is the celebration a young girl’s coming of age in some parts of Latin America – a traditional birthday party, where customs highlight God, family and friends, food, music and dance. And yet, there is definitely nothing festive about this poem – even though we are presented with some of the stages of the preparation for the event, which would thrill and make any girl happy, Cofer’s choice of words eliminates any trace of gladness for the speaker on our part by creating imagery which is on the verge of being brutal. More often than not, children are not as mature as their bodies indicate they are, and obeying tradition by imposing customs on them can be traumatizing to both the body of a child and their
Federico García Lorca’s poem “La casada infiel” depicts the story of a gypsy who makes love to a married woman on the shore of a river. When looking deeper into the poem, Lorca appears to provide a critical observation on the values of the conservative society at the time in which he lived. The woman, at her most basic reading, is treated as an object, elaborating on the sexist values in society at the time. Lorca addresses issues of sexism as well as issues of sexuality within society mainly through the poem’s sexist narrative voice, objectification of the female character and overriding sense of a lack of desire throughout the poem. His achievement to do so will be analysed throughout this commentary with particular attention to Lorca’s use of poetic techniques such as diction, personification and imagery.
Although prostitution may be one of the world’s oldest professions to this day it is seen as a degrading and disrespectful career especially when regarding female prostitutes. In Chronicle of a Death Foretold, the town is very critical and strict about chastity and premarital sex. Maria Alejandrina Cervantes is the town madam which by society’s standards makes her to most marginalized, but ironically she is not brought down by her society’s rules. Gabriel Garcia Marquez uses characterization and irony to demonstrate Maria Alejandrina Cervantes’s contradictory role and to develop the theme of going against society in Chronicle of a Death Foretold.
In the course of Garcia Marquez’s work, the importance of respect was revealed to be taken almost sacredly in the characters’ Columbian culture. Honor was viewed as a crucial piece of one’s morality. Without honor, one was considered an outcast in society. For example, Angela Vicario was sent home on her wedding night because she was not a virgin. As a result, her mother beat Angela for invoking dishonor upon the family. Angela explains to the narrator, “‘I wasn’t crying because of the blows or anything that had happened… I was crying because of him,’“(P. 91, Garcia). Angela acknowledged that her impurity was reprehensible, therefore she accepted her mother’s thrashing. Her immoral actions led to a failed marriage and scorn upon her family, as well as her husband, Bayardo San Roman.
middle of paper ... ... Garca Márquez never lets the reader know for certain that it was indeed Santiago Nasar who took Angela Vicario's virginity, but it never really matters because when Angela “looked for it, [a name], in the shadows” (53), and said, “Santiago Nasar” (53), he was already dead. Angela Vicario’s actions tested everyone’s honor in Gabriel Garca Márquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Once shame was brought onto the Vicario family, it was Pedro and Pablo’s obligation to restore their good name.
Women in Latin America were expected to adhere to extreme cultural and social traditions and there were few women who managed to escape the burden of upholding these ridiculous duties, as clearly shown in “Chronicle of a Death Foretold”. First, Latin American women were expected to uphold their honor, as well as their family's honor, through maintaining virtue and purity; secondly, women were expected to be submissive to their parents and especially their husbands; and lastly, women were expected to remain excellent homemakers. One of the most prominent expectations of women in Latin America, and certainly the main idea surrounding “Chronicle of a Death Foretold”, is the idea that women should be pure, maintaining their virginity, prior to marriage. In the novel, Angela Vicario was forced by her parents and family into accepting a proposal from Bayardo San Roman, none of whom knew she was no longer a virgin. Knowing that her future husband would expect to spend their wedding night with a virgin, Angela scrambled to find ways to reinstate her virginity and deceive San Roman so he would not detect her impurity.
Chronicle of a Death Foretold makes the reader consider whether fate controls our lives more than we think. Fate is an important theme in this novel because it cannot be changed. Marquez believes that even if you know your fate, you cannot change the outcome. Marquez shows that people can not alter their fate through the plight of the characters Santiago Nasar, Angela Vicario and the twin brothers.
The novella “Chronicle of a Death Foretold” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is viewed largely as a scathing critique of societies bound to an unrefined code of honour. While that premise is relatively simple,fairly straightforward and easily justifiable, a case in stark contrast to the aforementioned idea could also be argued.The main idea for this new case being,that defending the very essence of honour was necessary for the survival of the community in order to prevent any form of moral decline and no one man should put to a stop,the actions of those who were morally obliged to undertake the restoration of honour,after all the affairs of honour were “sacred monopolies, giving access only to those who are part of the drama”(97). Indeed,as any reader who has an idea of human history would note,that there is a natural human desire for vengeance against those who desecrate their sacred ethos.Unfortunately, this essay will not dwell on this counter point, neither would a thesis be made out of it, it is only mentioned to highlight the negative implementing factor used in the restoration of honour and that factor is brutality.
In Latin America, women are treated differently from men and children. They do lots of work for unexplainable reasons. Others for religious reasons and family orders and others because of the men involved. Women are like objects to men and have to obey their orders to either be rich or to live. Some have sex to get the men’s approval, others marry a rich man that they don’t even know very well, and become slaves. An important book called Chronicles of a Death Foretold is an example of how these women are treated. Purisima del Carmen, Angela Vicario's mother, has raised Angela and her sisters to be good wives. The girls do not marry until late in life, rarely socializing beyond the outsides of their own home. They spend their time sewing, weaving, washing and ironing. Other occupations include arranging flowers, cleaning up the house, and writing engagement letters to other men. They also keep the old traditions alive, such as helping the sick, comforting the dying, and covering the dead. While their mother believes they are perfect, men view them as too tied to their women's traditions. The men are afraid that the women would pay more attention to their job more than the men. Throughout the book, the women receive the respect they deserve from the men and others around them.
Concepts of virginity can been seen in all aspects of life, from movies, to books, to even religion. This wide-reaching topic has created many controversies and opinions worldwide. So what exactly is virginity? A person, whether a male or female, is believed to be a virgin, when he or she has not engaged in coitus. However, the value of one’s virginity differs depending on location and a culture’s religion. The perception of virginity also differs depending on gender. In females, virginity has been associated with purity, honor, and worth, whereas virginity in males is often pictured as a “conquest”. Virginity is a subject filled with issues of morality, religion, culture, and gender stereotypes.