Examples Of Machismo

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,

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.

As Santiago continually states, women are cruel and have no control over their own doings. Women are also deemed by Santiago not to be worthy opponents, notice how he refers to the marlin as a “he” even though he has not seen it yet. Numerous examples in this section include:

Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Chronicles of a Death Foretold shows how Machismo drives all male ambition. Machismo, in Latin American countries was derived from the word macho meaning an intense masculine pride. Machismo was first used in 1948, and was taken as a code of honour for men, rules that would make you considered macho. Respect and reputation are highly regarded as important traits in Machismo, and are the driving force of reason in the novel. (Add another sentence about the broadness of Machismo).

Machismo is something seen in the domestic situations throughout Hispanic people. The violence, the subservience that is expected and the men believe the women are second and are second class citizens. There role is to be domestic housekeepers and to birth children. Alicia makes

Based on Cisneros’ works of literature, gender roles in a Hispanic culture revolves around patriarchal rule. The repercussions of a patriarchal rule includes the limitations of female liberation and development. Cleofilas’ abusive situation exemplifies the limitations of her independence and development as she can not make her own decisions and has to solely depend on her husband. This situation is illustrated when Cleofilas explains that the towns are “built so that you have to depend on husbands... You can drive only if you’re rich enough to own and drive an own car. There is no place to go” (Cisneros 628). Cleofilas reveals that men are the dominant gender and have more authority, and that women are compelled to depend on them in her society. It is an exceptionally rare case that a woman can afford her own car, for the men usually control the finances in a household. Additionally, Cleofilas has nowhere to seek refuge from her husband. Although she yearns to return to her father’s home, she decides not to due to the social standards imposed on her. In her society, the act of returning home after marriage is socially unacceptable. She understands that her family will be viewed in a negative light if she were to return home, as seen when Cleofilas refers to her town as a “town of gossips” (627). Similar to other men in the society, Juan Pedro’s authority is shown through his abuse. Cleofilas recalls, “He slapped her once, and then again, and again; until the lip split and bled an orchid of blood” (626).

                Throughout the novel, many characters demonstrate the pressure honor holds as a value in the town’s culture by failing to inform Santiago Nasar of Pedro and Pablo Vicario’s plan. This shows their idea that honor must be sustained within a family. It is true that there are the few towns people, like Clotilide Armenta, who try to directly warn Santiago, but most fail to involve themselves in any way. In the case of Santiago's fiancée, instead of warning her soon to be husband, she only thinks about herself and her own honor; “she went through a crisis of humiliation” (133), ashamed, thinking that Santiago must marry Angela to uphold Angela’s and the Vicario family’s honor because he had taken her virginity. We can further see the support by the town of these values by the fact that the Vicario twins only spend three years in jail. When the boys go to speak to the priest, they say that they have committed murder, but that there is no crime. In court, “the lawyer stood by the thesis of homicide in legitimate defense of honor” (55). Because of the short time the boys

“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

Machismo, or male chauvinism, is a concept that characterizes many Latin American male behaviors, most importantly those associated with masculinity and pride. This concept, most likely introduced to New Spain by Spanish conquistadors who embodied these traits, was then adopted and integrated as a part of Mexican culture going forward. Because of male masculinity prevailing over feminine traits during the 17th century, misogyny and the oppression of women became a norm in Mexican culture. Struggling to be valued in Mexico, women turned to literature and art to voice their opinions and expose the machismo in Mexican culture. Through literature and art, is where feminism in Mexico arose and is continually strengthen in. This paper will discuss the ways in which Mexican feminist literature and art over time have exposed and challenged machismo, misogyny, and the Mexican patriarchy since the Spanish Conquest.

Oftentime men can be seen controlling women throughout the novel. In a patriarchal society, this is customary to a certain extent. However, many of the men in the novel go so far as to abuse women as objects to relieve their sexual needs. Trujillo himself is one of the worst offenders. He becomes infatuated with

Machismo has been an important issue in the lives of many Latino men. The idea of being a macho man has influenced many men in Latino communities because their culture demands it, and if they are not categorized as males, then they are the burla of the community. The term machismo has been an exaggeration within this novel, since if we focus on each of the characters, everyone looks for Oscar to be a macho. If you look at Belicia and machismo in Junot Díaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, we can see how she does not fulfill her desire for Oscar to be a macho.

Angela is described as the prettiest of her four sisters and was considered well-named by Bayardo San Roman, who had admitted that it was the first impression of her name that had really caught his attention and was one of the main reasons he chose to marry her after taking just one look at her from afar. Her first name, Angela means “angel” (messenger of God) and her last name, Vicario is an actual last name in Spanish which means “a vicar” (a member of the church who exercises a range of pastoral responsibilities and is usually a representative of the Bishop). This is all quite ironic because Angela is not a virgin and thus, not pure. Her confession caused her brothers, Pedro and Pablo to seek revenge by terminating the man that had taken her virginity, which results in a violent tragedy which is not holy or righteous in any way. The death of Santiago Nasar had caused the brothers to face a lot of misery, only due to the order of their sister, Angela Vicario. By exhibiting this, Gabriel Garcia Marquez shows the hidden power of women that only Angela had in the Columbian society at that time.

In Mexico, men and women are equal in the eyes of the law. However, the man is head of the family. Mexicans use two types of cultural representations to separate the male and female gender roles. The male role is defined by machismo, which is described as violence, power, aggressiveness, and assertive behaviors in sexual situations. For the female role, Mexicans use the Virgin of Guadalupe as an icon. This virgin represents the suffering and sacrifice that women have to make daily for their families. She also represents the submissive, but virtuous woman that Mexican women strive to be. While some still follows these gender roles, the cultural is transforming with urbanization and the roles are shifting (“Mexico”, n.d.)

As soon as Pedro and Pablo hear Santiago’s name out of Angela’s mouth, they start planning his murder. The narrator recounts the series of events, “After their sister revealed the name to them, the Vicario twins went to the bin in the pig sty where they kept their sacrificial tools and picked out the two best knives” (Marquez 50). The knives they picked represent them planning to slaughter him like one of their pigs. Slaughtering any living thing can be brutally violent- especially when it is a human. Their premeditated slaughter is a result of one thing- the influence of machismo. Machismo represents everything a man should be- strong, honorable, and dominant. This strength and dominance machismo requires usually translates into violence. This is exactly what happened with the brothers. Pedro and Pablo interpreted their duty as something that had to be violent. This interpretation of machismo that both the brothers and the community have generated them to believe violence against Santiago was the only way to restore the Vicario’s lost honor. Another part of what can be considered their planning is the fact that they told everyone in the butcher shop what they were going to do. Regardless if the people thought their treats were true, no one truly did anything to prevent the murder. The community did not do anything because of

Since “the brothers were brought up to be men,” they needed to take action in order to regain their sister and family’s honor (30). Honor was idolized in the town to the point that the act of killing Santiago can be forgiven, or even rewarded. The town’s ideal of honor closely relates to heroic, masculine theme like going on an epic quest. For instance, Pablo Vicario’s wife Prudencia Cotes “’never would have married [Pablo] if he hadn’t done what a man should do’” (63). In other words, Pablo is the hero who goes on a grand journey to slay the monster Santiago. After slaying Santiago, he proves himself as a man, gains his honor, and is rewarded with a bride, who would not have married him otherwise. Prudencia’s decision to marry Pablo amplify the hidden cultural expectation for a man to uphold the honor of the family, even if upholding the honor means sacrificing someone else’s life.