Comparing Clothing And Status In Colonial Mexico And A Chocolate Party In Spain

　　Natalie Diaz's debut collection, When My Brother Was An Aztec, is a book of poems that accounts Diaz's skills in imaginative and lyrical language. The collection explores her past in unexpected form and images, tackling the subjects of her family, most notably her meth addicted brother, life on the reservation, and being a Native American woman. In this collection Diaz has filled the pages with rich and interesting images that rely on Native American culture, experiences of her own as a Native American woman, and mythology. As I read this collection I was struck by how heavy her images rested on the page and yet how weightless they seemed to fly off.

“Beautiful and Cruel” marks the beginning of Esperanza’s “own quiet war” against machismo (Hispanic culture powered by men). She refuses to neither tame herself nor wait for a husband, and this rebellion is reflected in her leaving the “table like a man, without putting back the chair or picking up the plate (Cisneros 89).” Cisneros gives Esperanza a self-empowered voice and a desire for personal possessions, thing that she can call her own: Esperanza’s “power is her own (Cisneros 89).” Cisneros discusses two important themes: maintaining one’s own power and challenging the cultural and social expectations one is supposed to fulfill. Esperanza’s mission to create her own identity is manifest by her decision to not “lay (her) neck on the threshold waiting for the ball and chain (Cisneros 88).” Cisneros’ rough language and violent images of self-bondage reveal the contempt with which Esperanza views many of her peers whose only goal is to become a wife. To learn how to guard her power

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel is a powerful novel that serves as a great introductory guide to the Latin-American culture. The novel consists of primarily female characters, the De La Garza family, where each one portrays a female stereotype, or perhaps their role in the society. The setting of the story takes place during arise of the Mexican Revolution in 1910, which helps to further distinguish the roles of the women and how they go about living their everyday life. Like Water for Chocolate can be looked at as a story about two women, a daughter and a mother, Tita and Elena De La Garza. Tita, our protagonist, struggles against her mothers’ tradition, to “serve” her until the day she dies, without having a life of her own.

In several cultures, women are seen as archetypes more than men. The proposition of women are instantly idealized and glorified and instantaneously ignore the true complexity of a woman. Countless of these superficial images can be seen across various cultures where the societies within these cultures define what it means to be a female and what type of behavior is and isn’t acceptable within those parameters. The persistent restatement of these stories throughout these generations reinforces the gender system. Women who step out of the norm in these societies are then held punishable for their actions. Alicia Gaspar de Alba pinpoints the three archetypal roles that are given to the women in the Mexican and Chicana cultures. These are,

Clo grew up in a time when the gender roles for Mexican women were more traditional and her father really only expected her to get married and not much else. Her father actually arranged for her to be married to a wealthy man that was her father’s age. All Clo wanted to do was go to art school in Paris but her father ignored her pleas. On the day of the wedding, Clo came down the stairs naked and embarrassed her father so much so that he sent her away to the art school in Paris with money to help keep her away.

Because Schreffler is arguing that Díaz, López de Gómara, Solís and González created a misconstrued view of Aztec painting, imagery is a vital component of this essay. The visuals strengthen his argument by giving viewers a clear sense of the difference between typical Aztec panting and the painting that the accounts describe. For example, Schreffler includes two images of paintings done by the

What is ironic is that although the Spanish felt that Mexico’s population had to be converted because they were uncivilized and inferior, "mestizaje, the product of racial interbreeding with Indian, black, and mixed-blood women," took place. As a result, Mexicans share a rich mestizo cultural heritage of Spanish, Indian, and African origins. By raping the uncivilized Other, the Spaniards were in turn making themselves uncivilized. Those women represented nothing more but the medium through which the Spanish could vent their sexual desires. This was a major problem that Mexican women had to encounter.

In Frida Kahlo’s painting My Grandparents, My Parents and Me, Kahlo shows what it is like for a family in the Mexican culture. Kahlo’s painting conveys the preconceived notions of being conscious of your roles in the family, for instance, the painting displays that the woman is supposed to marry, have a child, raise the child and have the family of her own. It also displays the family lineage and what a woman or man aspires to be in life.

One of my favorite art works is La Molendera, or The Woman Grinding Maize, by Diego Rivera. The medium of this painting is oil paint on a horizontal canvas that measures 106.7 x 121.9 cm. When I first see this painting, the woman dressed in white with her hair split in two braids, grinding maize on a stone, is what stands out to me the most. It is traditional for women in Mexico that make tortillas to grind the maize, corn, on a rock. In the background I see three already made tortillas baking on top of a ceramic dish. The colors used in the atmosphere are cool toned, which gives you a sense of calm and a soothing sensation. The main colors used here

After reading “Yellow Woman”, a sense of mystery is imposed on the reader. Much of the story centers on the identity of the two main characters with issues of duty and desires, social obligations, and the human and spiritual worlds. Taking place in 1970’s New Mexico, the author reveals the aesthetic beauty of a Native American homeland and culture through detail and color.

The racist connotation that Miss Jimenez associates with who she thinks would “fit in” society’s box is a definite reflection of the hardships Valdez witnessed in his community. For example, the Zoot Suit Riots that occurred in 1944 was rooted by a reaction by young Mexican-American males against a culture that did not want them to be a part of it. Stuart Cosgrove examines this issue when he states, "In the most obvious ways they had been stripped of their customs, beliefs and language.” (*Vargas 317) These youths were going through an identity crisis because they did not know which culture they could identify with. Miss Jimenez is a character that embodies that repression Valdez explains in “Los Vendidos.”

Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel explains women’s roles in northern Mexico during the turn of the nineteenth century. The novel takes place in northern Mexico on a family ranch where many family traditions are carried out. Also, the novel describes some of the typical foods that were prepared and fiestas that were celebrated in the Mexican culture around this time. However, the novel mainly focuses on the roles of females in Mexican society at that time. The novel goes beyond explaining women’s roles and also explains what took place in the Mexican family. Throughout the novel, readers learn the role of mothers, the conflict between personal desires and tradition, and typical foods, celebrations, and family traditions that were

Hispanic art, food, and entertainment all have a common theme; they are all fun, light-hearted, yet fulfilling and rich in cultural heritage. On one side, Mexican culture in particular loves to make fun of itself. There are many depictions in song and art of lazy Mexicans in large sombreros with thick mustaches eating burritos. On the other hand artists like Diego Rivera paint large murals depicting rich historical events like the revolution, in bold colors on controversial topics (This Old, n.d.).

Woman are dressed in “faded dresses”(line 11)this imagery is used to show that the women are less professional and in a lower class than the woman in the first room. They “stir sweet milk coffee”( line 11 and 12) and shush each other from laughing, although they are joyful they still try to contain themselves to maintain their cultural idea of always being serious. As Pat uses more complex imagery like “steam from fresh tamales” she appeals to the human sense “taste” to represent that she's feeling a little more homeliness and at ease. The author separates the two worlds to ensure the audience understands that in the second room there is more togetherness and the woman are more in tuned and enjoy each other's company more than the first room where the woman are more stern and independent. A difference in the woman's eyes are mentioned unlike the first room the woman “trap smiles in their dark Mexican eyes” it's almost as if the Mexican values is a stress reliever from the first room showing that it is important to reconnect with your Latino

The painting shows five women naked with flat figures, disintegrated planes and faces, inspired by African masks. The compacted space the figures occupy appears to project forward in jagged shards; a fiercely pointed slice of melon in the still life of fruit at the bottom of the composition teeters on an impossibly upturned table top. In this painting, Picasso makes a radical departure from traditional European painting by adaptation of Primitivism and abandonment of perspective in goodwill of a level two-dimensional picture of a plane.