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Urban legends stories of the llorona
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La Llorona
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 ...
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...in slavery by the Maya merchants. La Malinche was giving to a Spanish Conquistador after conquering a city called Tabasco. While in his possession, she learned Spanish and become Hernan Cortes personal interpreter. Eventually falling in love with Cortes and become his mistress. In this adultery relationship she bore him two sons. Eventualy She learn that Cortes was heading back to Spain with out her. Those Cusing her to comit a hanes crime of killing her two sons by the bank of a lake that “would be ome the foundation for Mexico City”. http://thehauntedinternet.com/lallorona.html..
Works Cited
1. “La Llorona- a hispanich legend.” http://www.literacynet.org/lp/hperspectives/llorona.html
2. Paul Harden “The Legend of La Llorona” http://www.caminorealheritage.org/PH/1207_llorona.pdf
3. “The Haunted Internet” http://thehauntedinternet.com/lallorona.html
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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:
New York, NY: Penguin Group, 1997. Haskett, Robert. The. “Activist or Adulteress”? The Life and Struggle of Dona Josefa Maria of Tepoztlan”. In Indian Women of Early Mexico, edited by Susan Schroeder, Stephanie Wood, and Robert Haskett, 145-163.
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Over the past few decades, research on women has gained new momentum and a great deal of attention. Susan Socolow’s book, The Women of Colonial Latin America, is a well-organized and clear introduction to the roles and experiences of women in colonial Latin America. Socolow explicitly states that her aim is to examine the roles and social regulations of masculinity and femininity, and study the confines, and variability, of the feminine experience, while maintaining that sex was the determining factor in status. She traces womanly experience from indigenous society up to the enlightenment reforms of the 18th century. Socolow concentrates on the diverse culture created by the Europeans coming into Latin America, the native women, and African slaves that were imported into the area. Her book does not argue that women were victimized or empowered in the culture and time they lived in. Socolow specifies that she does her best to avoid judgment of women’s circumstances using a modern viewpoint, but rather attempts to study and understand colonial Latin American women in their own time.
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In the story "Woman Hollering Creek" Sandra Cisneros discusses the issues of living life as a married woman through a character named Cleofilas; a character who is married to a man who abuses her physically and mentally .Cisneros reveals the way the culture puts a difference between a male and a female, men above women. Cisneros has been famous about writing stories about the latino culture and how women are treated; she explain what they go through as a child, teen and when they are married; always dominated by men because of how the culture has been adapted. "Woman Hollering Creek" is one of the best examples. A character who grows up without a mother and who has no one to guid and give her advise about life.
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