Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life

Josie Mendez-Negrete’s novel, Las Hijas de Juan: Daughters Betrayed, is a very disturbing tale about brutal domestic abuse and incest.  Negrete’s novel is an autobiography regarding experiences of incest in a working-class Mexican American family.  It is Josie Mendez-Negrete’s story of how she, her siblings, and her mother survived years of violence and sexual abuse at the hands of her father.  “Las Hijas de Juan" is told chronologically, from the time Mendez-Negrete was a child until she was a young adult trying, along with the rest of her family, to come to terms with her father 's brutal legacy. It is a upsetting story of abuse and shame compounded by cultural and linguistic isolation and a system of patriarchy that devalues the

Living in Mexico throughout her teen years was very rough. Unlike other teenagers where their parents constantly provide for their children, Marisela’s life was a lot different than the usual parent- child relationship. She lived with her Abuela ( Grandma) Lupe, along with her 3 brothers and sister. She constantly had to take care of her brothers and sister at such a young age, that she became the mother-like figure of the

You can see how Maria’s El Salvador is empty of people, full only of romantic ideas. Jose Luis’s image of El Salvador, in contrast, totally invokes manufactured weapons; violence. Maria’s “self-projection elides Jose Luis’s difference” and illustrates “how easy it is for the North American characters, including the big-hearted María, to consume a sensationalized, romanticized, or demonized version of the Salvadoran or Chicana in their midst” (Lomas 2006, 361). Marta Caminero-Santangelo writes: “The main thrust of the narrative of Mother Tongue ... continually ... destabilize[s] the grounds for ... a fantasy of connectedness by emphasizing the ways in which [Maria’s] experience as a Mexican American and José Luis’s experiences as a Salvadoran have created fundamentally different subjects” (Caminero-Santangelo 2001, 198). Similarly, Dalia Kandiyoti points out how Maria’s interactions with José Luis present her false assumptions concerning the supposed “seamlessness of the Latino-Latin American connection” (Kandiyoti 2004, 422). So the continual misinterpretations of José Luis and who he really is and has been through on Maria’s part really show how very far away her experiences as a middle-class, U.S.-born Chicana are from those of her Salvadoran lover. This tension and resistance continues throughout their relationship.

Demetria Martínez’s Mother Tongue is divided into five sections and an epilogue. The first three parts of the text present Mary/ María’s, the narrator, recollection of the time when she was nineteen and met José Luis, a refuge from El Salvador, for the first time. The forth and fifth parts, chronologically, go back to her tragic experience when she was seven years old and then her trip to El Salvador with her son, the fruit of her romance with José Luis, twenty years after she met José Luis. And finally the epilogue consists a letter from José Luis to Mary/ María after her trip to El Salvador. The essay traces the development of Mother Tongue’s principal protagonists, María/ Mary. With a close reading of the text, I argue how the forth

Thesis statement: Esperanza has a variety of female role models in her life. Many are trapped in abusive relationships, waiting for others to change their lives. Some are actively trying to change things on their own. Through these women and Esperanza’s reactions to them, Cisneros’ shows not only the hardships women face, but also explores their power to overcome them.

“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

One thing all human beings, have in common is the struggle for self identity. Children are raised by parents or guardians who have struggled and fought for their own identities. In many cases, parents are still trying to figure it out, while raising their own children. Such is the case with the characters in Junot Diaz’s, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. The theme of identity is conveyed through the characters’ Dominican culture, social standing, and in finding love. Oscar, Lola, and Yunior are three central characters in Oscar Wao, who’s Dominican cultural and family expectations were major obstacles as they struggled to establish their identity.

Currently Sandra Cisneros resides in San Antonio in a purple house and she describes herself as “nobody’s mother” and “nobody’s wife.” Both Frida Kahlo’s and Cynthia Y. Hernandez’s works convey the idea of having one’s culture limit one’s freedom and individuality. Cisneros and Esperanza are both victims of this idea and realize that the only way to live one’s life freely is to defy the roles and limitations created by one’s culture.

Junot Díaz’s Drown, a collection of short stories, chronicles the events of Yunior and his family. Each story focuses Yunior and his struggle growing up as a Dominican immigrant and finding a place for himself within American society. Throughout the progression of the novel, Yunior realizes the stereotypes placed on him and recognizes that being white is advantageous. Yunior’s experience growing up both in the Dominican Republic and the States has shaped his perspective on life and life choices.

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.

Although Rigoberta lived in a traditional Indian society, she learned about the world outside of the fincas and the Altiplano at a very young age. She experiences the death of her younger brother at the finca. She feels angry and afraid of what her future holds for her as an indigenous girl. Rigoberta again feels scared, yet compelled, after her first trip to Guatemala City with her father. She starts to crave change for both herself and for her community as she gets older. She yearns for an education and hopes to learn Spanish so that she may explore the world outside of the Altiplano and the fincas; she desires to learn about the world outside and its people.

Belicia’s encounters with love and violence went very differently compared to her fathers. Belicia was blinded by love for the Gangster, much how Oscar was when he fell in love with Ana, Jenni and Ybon. She got herself into serious trouble when it was revealed she was the lover of Trujillo’s sister’s husband. Once Trujillo’s sister figured it out she made Belicia abort the baby but that was only after she got beat so bad she was concussed for a couple days. Beli was also beaten in cane fields as was her son which could be a foreshadowing that the curse with the help of love and violence will lead future family members to danger as well. La Inca had said, “How she survived I’ll never know. They beat her like she was a slave. Like she was a dog” (147). Beli’s beat down signifies the first out of many violent occasions trying to rush love. Still after receiving this cruel and sickening beating she still longed for her Gangster and wanted to be with him again immediately. Belicia like Oscar was greatly blinded by her love for the Gangster that no amount of danger could stand in her way to get to him. But after a while she felt something that Oscar could seem to understand and that was that she was getting ignored and was not going to be accepted by the

In Chronicle of a Death Foretold Gabriel García Márquez depicts the gender roles within Colombian society as deeply rooted in the mentality of Machismo culture to shed light on social inequalities. The depiction female characters Marquez’s novella offers a deeper comprehension of the diverse methods by which patriarchy is established within the Latin American culture. Marquez reveals not only the degree to which women’s internalization of this system or their mistreatment and abuse within this imbalanced male hierarchy, but also the assortment and multiplicity of resentment and opposition to female exploitation.

The film “Apocalypto” takes place in a certain period of the pre-Columbian era where we are presented young hunters from a village. Their rituals, the way of hunting, the cohesion between them, and especially, the bonds of friendship and family. The director makes us acquire sympathy for the hunters, giving a calm and familiar aspect to the characters. As for the social aspect, the film is essentially emphasized in the figure of man in these societies; being brave, warrior, were characteristics valued by the Amerindians. The film addresses these characteristics through the subject virility of one of the characters; for not having children, the married man is mocked by everyone in the village, including his

Columbia of the 1950’s was a breeding ground for the perpetuation of intense gender stereotypes, originating years prior with the colonization of the nation. In the conservation of these societal norms, the idea of love was construed and became an expectation rather than a genuine feeling and the true meaning of the concept was lost. Through imagery of predatory birds and flowers, Gabriel García Márquez is able to develop a comprehensive understanding of not only the strict gender roles of Columbia but also present the ritualistic nature of love as a theme in his novel, Chronicle of Death Foretold. Imagery allows for an in-depth appreciation of the actual events occurring and a greater grasp of the notion which Márquez uses to his advantage in the portrayal of love and gender to the audience.