A Red Girl's Reasoning And The Jailing Of Cecelia Capture Analysis

Sandra Cisneros’s short story “Never Marry a Mexican” deals heavily with the concept of myth in literature, more specifically the myth La Malinche, which focuses on women, and how their lives are spun in the shadows on men (Fitts). Myths help power some of the beliefs of entire cultures or civilizations. She gives the reader the mind of a Mexican-American woman who seems traitorous to her friends, family and people she is close to. This causes destruction in her path in the form of love, power, heartbreak, hatred, and an intent to do harm to another, which are themes of myth in literature. The unreliable narrator of this story was created in this story with the purpose to show her confusion and what coming from two completely different

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.

State how marriage is presented in the stories, “Desiree’s Baby” and “The Story of an Hour.”

Ross seeks to prove her thesis in many ways. For example, in Chapter Six, Ross discusses a study by Rafter (1990); it is stated that prisons are “not only to control crime but also gender and race.” In addition Ross found that at the WCC domination and control are exerted over Native American women - not only because of their gender, but also their race and ethnicity. Another example that proves Ross’s thesis is cited in again cited in Chapter Six. Ross found that the prison counselor often “belittles [Native Americans] in front of other prisoners.” And when the prisoner does send a Native American counselor, it is only an hour per week, and is not extended to the Native Women in the WCC’s maximum security facility. There is a white counselor full-time at the WCC, who facilitates many groups for prisoners. While Native Americans are invited to attend these meetings, they do not feel comfortable attending. This is because of their cultural and spiritual beliefs. Native American women would prefer a counselor who understood their beliefs and their culture.

In her novel, Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir, Deborah A. Miranda theorizes that the underlying patronage of her father’s violent behavior arises from the original acts of violence carried out by the Spanish Catholic Church during the era of missionization in California. The structure of her novel plays an essential role in the development of her theory, and allows her to further generalize it to encompass the entire human population. “In this beautiful and devastating book, part tribal history, part lyric and intimate memoir, Deborah A. Miranda tells stories of her Ohlone Costanoan Esselen family as well as the experience of California Indians as a whole through oral histories, newspaper clippings, anthropological recordings, personal reflections, and poems.” Patching together every individual source to create the story of a culture as a whole, Miranda facilitates the task of conceptualizing how Societal Process Theory could play into the domestic violence she experiences growing up as the daughter of a California Indian.

During the eighteenth century, marriage was a representation of not only the unity between man and women but it was also a representation of a woman taking a servile, less meaningful role in the household. Once married, women were expected to be completely submissive to their husbands. This was the norm across Europe and even in enlightened society. These relationships were hierarchical. It was not customary for women to attend schools that educated men the math and sciences. Women holding privileged positons in society traditionally allotted to men were seen as the exception. Yet these exceptions did not generally bother society because they did not lead to certain conclusion that women could do anything. In Gotthold Lessing’s novel “Nathan the Wise” and Francoise de Graffigny’s “Letters from a Peruvian Woman”, both authors upset traditional expectations about what constitutes a novel’s happy ending by refusing to end either of their novels with weddings. In Lessing’s “Nathan the Wise”, the rejection of marriage plot reflects a larger symbolic representation of religious tolerance. While in Graffigny’s novel “Letters from a Peruvian Woman”, the rejection of marriage plots illustrates a woman whose circumstances would make her the exception. Zilia, Graffigny’s main character, was an enlightened woman who chose sovereignty over servitude. Therefore, I would argue that the intentions behind both Lessing and Graffigny’s rejection of the marriage plot was not to serve the same

“Red Candle” centers around Lindo’s sacrifice and filial obligations. Lindo is forced into an arranged marriage with a boy named Tyan-yu. Despite being opposed to this marriage, she endures this loveless marriage in order to defend her family’s honor. She realizes that the marriage would not destroy her identity, and it is with honor that she leaves the marriage. “I would always remember my parents' wishes, but I would never forget myself” (58). On the night of her wedding, Lindo makes a realization about herself. She realizes that she does not need to abandon her identity despite her new family trying to strip her identity from her. Lindo still has independent thinking which cannot be taken away from her even if it is disguised under a veil of obedience and submissiveness.

“A Red Girl’s Reasoning,” by Pauline Johnson is a story that explores the controversy of incompatible cultural values, specifically regarding marriage customs and traditions. This short story highlights cultural distinctions between Aboriginals and Europeans, by elevating European culture as superior and questioning the authenticity of Aboriginal conventions. Christine’s questions the cultural hierarchy in the Hudson Bay society and demonstrates her role as a transgressor to shrink the cultural imbalance between Aboriginal and European. Her ideals defy socially acceptable ideals, and she tests rigid boundaries

Being a Native American woman during the period of European conquest came with many hardships. One of these hardships resulting in perceived inferiority, is the subjection to rape and other degrading and violent actions. Michele de Cuneo describes the violence he inflicts on the Carib women in his letter by stating, “I took a rope and thrashed her well” (Cuneo 1). Furthermore, he asserts, “Finally we came to an agreement…” (1). As the letter progresses, it becomes apparent that the Native American woman is in pain, can no longer fight to protect herself, and the actions between them are not consensual. The way that Cuneo so freely describes his experience with the Native American woman validates the idea that he finds his unjust actions exciting and he gathers feelings of pride from them. In fact, Roger Bartra in his article “A la Chingada,” emphasizes that men specifically choose untouched women to rape so that they feel “perpetually guilty” and if she is consensual the rape is not as enjoyable (Bartra 161-162). From the ideas of rape produced by Cuneo and Bartra it can be concluded that

Despite revealing the inequality in society for women, Margaret tries to put an end to the inequality between men and women by describing marriages where both partners are mutually respected. For example, she feels that the ideal marriage is “one of mutual esteem, mutual dependence. Their talk is of business, their affection shows itself by practical kindness” (739). Fuller believes that “mutual esteem” and “mutual dependence” lead to a relationship of equality between a man and woman. She also believes that the couple must not only have mutuality but “affection” in order to maintain equality. In addition, she feels marriages of mutuality and mutuality and affection “meet mind to mind, and a mutual trust is excited, which can buckler them against a million” (742). The author uses this passage to show that

Lindo was arranged to marry Tyan-yu. While the marriage was short-lived, Tyan-yu constantly lied to Lindo, and Tyan-yu’s mother treated Lindo like an object to be bartered between families. Lindo experiences depression being trapped in this lifestyle, so she decides to flee to America in order to escape it. When reminiscing on her marriage Lindo says, “I had no choice, now or later. That was how backward families in the country were. We were always the last to give up stupid old-fashioned customs” (Tan ). Similar to the mother in the beginning, Tan creates appeal to pathos, forcing the reader to sympathize with Lindo. The reader’s sympathy to Lindo allows Tan to expand on the larger issue of sexism, creating an emotional and educational tone in order to coax the reader into, again, understanding the true scale of sexism. Tan drilling this larger idea of sexism into readers changes the reader’s perspective. With new perspective, readers notice the need for change to establish equality between both sexes. Therefore, Tan is using her writing as a tool for a deeper subject: exciting change within the world, and thus, exemplifying Jong’s words.

The chief character of the story is Clemencia. Clementia is a US born Mexican-American woman. As opined by Clemencia herself, she is “vindictive and cruel, and…capable of anything” (Cisneros 68). At the same time Clemencia is a victim of racial bias. Involved in an unhappy marriage, her mother exhorted, “Never marry a Mexican” (Cisneros 68) and at the end of the affair with her beloved Drew, he confesses he could “never marry a Mexican” (80). Thus, Clemencia is a perpetrator of racial bias towards men of a Hispanic descent, “I never saw them. My mother did this to me” (69), while being a victim of racial bias herself. Although middle-class, she flees the comforts of a middle class life to live in a lower-class Latino neighborhood and sells her art among the upper-class. Hence, she also feels like she is, “Amphibious…a person who doesn’t belong to any class” (71). Clemencia is also a betrayer of women. Feeling betrayed and abandoned by her mother for marrying an Anglo man and betrayed by her ex-lover for ending the affair, Clemencia seeks gratification through her affairs with married men. The overall theme of Never Marry a Mexican is overcoming racial stigmas and finding the beauty in humanity.

We live in a society where the similarities between female and males are seen at birth. It begins innocently with the toddlers; girls get pink while boys get blue. The gap between boys and girls develops with time and becomes increasingly apparent. There are still gender stereotypes today, but it is not as bad as it was in the past. Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl” perfectly portrays gender stereotypes. It represents gender concepts as cultural constructs in the period it was written. These conceptions are comparable to current stereotypes about gender. The book gives us a list of commands from a mother to a daughter. Men in the society are dominant to the women, and the set of rules is a product of patriarchy whereby the mother and daughter appear as subordinates to the men in their lives. The article makes one aware of the prevailing masculine hierarchy that exists in a family, and how it creates firm gender roles for females in the society.

The character Clemencia for Never Marry A Mexican is just so refreshing and modern. A women of her words. Her fierceness and unique voices help me realizes that these invisible double standard gender stereotypes is only as strong as to how much I believe in them. Before reading this short story, I was indulge into a society where it 's a shame for women to think of men sexually let alone a marry man. I think it is a sign from society to pretty much wanting women to be pure and well behave. But, Clemencia she goes against that current. Her thoughts are liquid and they sting. They let the readers in and be apart of her brain as a spectator. She makes the reader, realizes how powerful she is and she is able to have that power because

As an undergraduate at Lehigh University I’ve wanted to change several social, academic, and extracurricular situations that I’ve faced. Lehigh could benefit from being a more diverse educational atmosphere. The most recent student demographics statistics stated that 68% of students are Caucasian. Penn Dental would offer me a class of students with more diversity in ethnicities, cultures, and backgrounds than what I’ve experienced at Lehigh. I’ve supported student groups and programming that promotes equality across lines of race, gender, socioeconomic status and sexuality.