An Analysis Of 'Sonrisas' By Pat Mora

The story “Woman Hollering Creek" by Sandra Cisneros describes the lives of Mexicans in a Chicago neighborhood. She depicts the life that women endure as Latino wives through her portrayal of the protagonist, Cleofilas. For Cisneros being a Mexican-American has given her a chance to see life from two different cultures. In addition, Cisneros has written the story from a woman’s perspective, illustrating the types of conflicts many women face as Latino wives. This unique paradigm allows the reader to examine the events and characters using a feminist critical perspective.

An assumption that the authors make towards their audience is that cared about wealth and presentation. Overall, calling the audience highly judgemental. The living styles for “tortilleras” were very different from La China. The poor inhabitants of Mexico city lived in houses, divided into many rooms and shared with many people. The most impoverished lived on the floor, which I'm sure you could imagine was extremely uncomfortable. The woman would walk around barefoot covered in poor ugly clothing, they were not well kept whatsoever. They all slept together side by side on the floor along with their families. Their earnings were low and their lives very much depended on their workload. These were the real woman who held down Mexico. These were the real representations of women in latin America. Hard working woman who had to sacrifice for the well-being of themselves as well as their families.

Edna St. Vincent Millay’s unconventional childhood, growing up without a father because her mom kicked him out and having to learn independence and responsibility by the age of twelve, influenced her poetry and shaped her as an motivated and self-sufficient individual. By the time “Vincent”, as she liked to be called, was nineteen years old, she already had already made a name for herself as a formidable poet. A couple discovered her and sponsored her education at Vassar College where Vincent experimented with her sexuality. She openly expressed her bisexuality, and continued to have both male and female sexual partners. When she married Eugen Boissevain, the couple agreed

The poem “Sonrisas”, meaning smiles, tells about the many smiles that people wear in their daily lives. Mora gives two parts of this poem that explain the cultural differences in Mexican American’s work life and home life. It gives an insight on how Mexican customs differ with American customs, and how these individuals adjust to living two separate lives while trying to hold

Throughout the book, it is evident that predominantly only the observations and perspectives of Anglo-American males were presented rather than the ones belonging to native Latinos men which, arguably, can be problematic as the audience is only exposed to what Americans have to say on Mexican- American culture adaptation. This exclusion of the native voice can especially be seen at the section regarding targeting women as the crucial point in infiltrating the Mexican home with Americanized ideals. According to Sanchez, during 1915, there was a clear mindset that thought the “housekeeper creates the atmosphere” in the family and should “the female adopt American values, the rest of her family would follow” (Sanchez 99). Home teachers were told to teach women songs in English about the duty of women such as “…like to wash, to sew, to cook”. Yet, after six years, women stilled lacked behind men in English skills which, were seen as the a crucial part of Americanization. Unsurprisingly, the lack of success in the Americanization of women was perceived to be the “patriarchal nature of the Mexican Family”(Sanchez 101). Disappointingly, Sanchez did not include the Mexican female voice into this section, which could have provided more insights on how the women themselves felt about the Americanization programs and how they perceived the roles they played within their family, as he felt that professors such as Emory Bogardus (Sanchez 101) from University of Southern California has a more right to talk about Mexicano family structure than the Mexicans

Whether one is aware of it or not, stereotypes can easily creep its way into one’s daily choices. Despite being a women herself, Tanner’s first focus of attention was fixed on the “three other women at the table” with distinct styles of fashion: the classy and professional “man-tailored suits in primary colors with solid-color blouses” of the first

In both stories, each woman was put into a stereotypical role of being housewives. This was popular in history because women did not have much choice or option rather then stay home and cook, clean, take care of their children, etc. Both women were married but instead of appreciating their lives in a joyful perspective, they were oppressed by their living conditions. In both stories, there is a window scene mentioned. The window seems to have symbolism of freedom which is ironic, because in reality they were both trapped in unhappiness. Each time the characters looked through their windows, the outside view is described through the characters perspective in a optimistic and desirable tune, while staying

In “Illegal Alien” Pat Mora writes about the problem of the difficulty people have communicating when they are of different backgrounds. For years now people have been judged by their skin color, their race, or where the originally come from. In “Illegal Alien” Pat Mora gives us a good example of this as the character in her poem goes through this trial of being from both the Mexican and the American cultures. Pat Mora indicates her difficulties that she is going through being born into two different cultures.

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” (“Sonnet 18”) is one of Shakespeare’s most famous poems. It is the model English, or Shakespearean sonnet: it contains three quatrains and a finishing couplet.. The poem follows the traditional English sonnet form by having the octet introduce an idea or set up the poem, and the sestet beginning with a volta, or turn in perspective. In the octet of Sonnet 18, Shakespeare poses the question “Shall I compare the to a summer’s day” and basically begins to describe all the bad qualities of summer. He says it’s too windy, too short, too hot, and too cloudy. Eventually fall is going to come and take away all the beauty because of the changes nature brings. In the sestet, however, his tone changes as he begins to talk about his beloved’s “eternal summer” (Shakespeare line 9). This is where the turn takes place in the poem. Unlike the summer, their beauty will never fade. Not even death can stop their beauty for, according to Shakespeare, as long as people can read this poem, his lover’s beauty will continue to live. Shakespeare believes that his art is more powerful than any season and that in it beauty can be permanent.

Three women sit in a room and idly chat about their love lives. One wears a mini skirt with a low-cut blouse and ruby-red lipstick. She places her heels on top of the table and speaks of the many men she has loved. Another dons golden hair that falls in soft waves against her rosy-pink cheeks and blue eyes. She speaks in a low voice and gushes about how much attention she receives from the opposite sex and her particular affection for one young man. The third wears faded layered garments with unkempt grey locks loosely fitted into a braid. She describes the life of an old woman knitting needles and still waiting on the right man to knock on her door. These three distinct women can all be found in society today. Though they are different in

A life in the city of Seguin, Texas was not as easy as Cleofilas, the protagonist of the story thought it would be. The author, Cisneros describes the life women went through as a Latino wife through Cleofilas. Luckily, Cisneros is a Mexican-American herself and had provided the opportunity to see what life is like from two window of the different cultures. Also, it allowed her to write the story from a woman’s point of view, painting a vision of the types of problems many women went through as a Latino housewife. This allows readers to analyze the characters and events using a feminist critical view. In the short story “Women Hollering Creek” Sandra Cineros portrays the theme of expectation versus reality not only through cleofilas’s thoughts but also through her marriage and television in order to display how the hardship of women in a patriarchal society can destroy a woman’s life.

Edna St. Vincent Millay’s sonnet, “I, Being Born a Woman and Distressed,” serves as an excellent example of a multi-faceted piece. From one angle, it is simply a Petrarchan sonnet, written with a slight variation on rhyme scheme – but that variation, taken deeper, reveals new layers of meaning. Added to Millay’s choice of meter and end-stop, along with a background of Millay’s person, this sonnet seems not so “simple” after all.

In Reed’s accounts he expressed how he heard “the angry voice of the master of the house reminded the woman that she was not doing five or six things at once” in which his woman would then go attend to the orders he had just given (Reed, 17). There is an order of importance to note that Reed always refers to these Mexican women as the man’s woman and never their wife, however when he speaks through the woman’s account he refers to the man as their husband. There is more respect demanded from the women of Mexican culture during the early 1900s because the men viewed their laborious work that brings in money as a means to deserve to be treated like masters of their family. The specifically crafted language Reed uses when he speaks of the labor the women perform, can demonstrate that he realizes they are weary and overworked. Along with everything Reed includes when he is describing the women work, there is important to also note that he omits any complaints made by women to their husbands. Throughout the novel in any interaction between and man and his woman, never did the woman complain about her arduous work and the commands she received. The work women did in Mexican culture is expected of them and it ties into machismo on part of the men because they feel their job is only to bring income while the wives took care of the rest. Taking this into account, Reed portrays these women to be tolerant and respectful not only to these men in their lives they

Acting almost as the polar opposite to Gale, Soniela is a very dedicated person. She takes good care of herself, works hard to achieve her dreams and is very organized with her life. She also has an upbeat personality and hardly ever loses sight of her priorities - in fact, she frequently helps her friends when they're feeling depressed or in some bad condition. Always focused on her dreams, but that doesn't stop her from finding some time to help those who need it.

In the crowded, metropolitan cities of Coruscant, a brave Jedi couple, Markonius and Sonnetia, bore a powerful child named Alexander. Alex unmistakably inherits crystal, blue eyes from his dauntless father and blonde, wavy hair from his gentle mother. Both of his parents are Jedi Knights, an organization that once guarded the chaotic galaxy in the way of the force. In a perilous time when Jedi are being savagely hunted by the wicked Galactic Empire, the family keeps an eye on each other in order to survive. Markonius apprehensively ponders about the safety of his family. Droids constantly scan every nook and cranny of the populous city to bring forth suspects who secretly possess the forbidden knowledge of the force. Due to the strict security