Sexuality plays a significant role in the novel. Be it Oscars’ inability to have sex, Yunior, the narrators, constant search for a woman, the sexual abuse that Lola is victim of as a child or the constant sexualization of Beli as a teen. In these cases, when analyzed, the reader can see that the treatment or, mistreatment of these cases, is often transgenerational. Starting with Lola, the sexual abuse she experienced was at a very young age, and when she tells her mother about it, she is told that she must never speak of it again. This shame that comes with sexual abuse is often repressed by families and victims alike. Lola refers to repressed memory as “within a year I couldn’t have told you what that neighbor looked like, or even his name” (Diaz 56). The way that Lola was sexualized at such an early age, is the same way the she was sexualized on the streets of Santo Domingo as a teen. Yet, Beli does not recognize these similarities. Often, young victims often feel a sense of blame because of the shame that is felt by their families. The sexualization of young girl is not seen a major problem, that is because woman in the novel are disposable. It does not matter if it the dominate Raffaele Trujillo, or the weak Oscar Wao, they all see women as the next conquest, not matter how it is romanticized.
Beli is sadly seen as mostly a sex object. She never experienced true love. In fact, even many of the descriptions in the novel explain men either trying or wanting to hit on her.
The book’s main appeal and power is the author's use of Estrella, who serves as the focal point of all the large issues. In one particular scene, we see Estrella playing with one a naked doll. Estrella asks the naked doll if she was okay and then shook the doll's head “No”. This conversation with the doll can be seen as the sense of denial that takes place in a child’s mind that is not allowed to openly express herself, her fears, her anxieties, and her hopes. She allows the doll to represent her honest feelings about the lifestyle of living she is placed in. She is a unique and interesting individual, who will not grow up to be knocked down by economic issues, difficult labor, and especially men.
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).
In “Lieutenant Nun: Memoir of a Transvestite in the New World” by Catalina de Erauso, a female-born transvestite conquers the Spanish World on her journey to disguise herself as a man and inflicts violence both on and off the battlefield. Catalina discovers her hidden role in society as she compares herself to her brothers advantage in life, as they are granted money and freedom in living their own lives. Erauso decides to take action of this act of inequality by forming a rebellion, as she pledges to threaten the social order.The gender roles allotted to both men and women in the Spanish world represent the significance of societal expectations in order to identify the importance of gender in determining one’s position in the social order in the Spanish World.
Gender equality can be a very complex subject, throughout the years power has been correlated to gender. In Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, “The Rod of Justice” gender inequities are represented with a great level of complexity and difficult understanding. Throughout the text one can sense Machado’s involvement over authority and control, and how the characters portray this subject. The story is focus on Damiao, who is the main character. Damiao was seeking escape from his seminary obligations, and he requests the aid of his godfather’s mistress, Sinha Rita. He knew that if she could use her sexual powers over his godfather she could help him escape his obligations. She is portrayed in the story as having a power over the people who surrounded her, as her authority was not questioned nor overruled. She had sexual power over Joao Carneiro, and also had to power to manipulate the actions of Damiao, but this power was interesting as in society in those times women had limited power which was not compared to the power men had. Nonetheless, Rita proves to be a well independent women, doing things under her own power. She would have been a women of great power, if she had the chance to live in the 21st century, and how society has altered the gender role of a woman since.
Lola loves her mother, but can’t help but feel underappreciated and overworked with her mother’s idea of “perfection” likely stemming from Beli's own life and wanting to avoid the same fate for her daughter. This disconnect between Beli and her daughter Lola, caused by her desire to create a better life for her reinforces the same difficulty that plagued her in Santo Domingo. Instead of coming to America and letting go of the harsh values that caused her anguish, she upholds them to the point where it creates a wedge between mother and daughter, leading Lola to start acting up and make her
Collectively, these literary images go to describe a young ethnic man, probably of Latin descent, who lives with his mother in a poverty stricken area. The careful recitation of instruction given to the younger man seems to demonstrate an intricate knowledge the narrators has accrued from both predecessors and experience. Singularly, this part of the story is very powerful in that it shows a young man having to hide who he is and where he comes from in an effort to seem appealing to women, and speaks volumes about the deception that both genders go through all in name of the chase.
Sopo Lolomatauama this movie, “Lean on me,” was a very uplifting movie toward showing students that they can be all they put into their future. As you said, “Crazy Joe”, was just that crazy on the thought that the students if they were protected from the violence, drugs, and gangs they could make it if they hit the books. Character education I believe was portrayed in this movie, the moral character was shown that if you try to make good decisions things were going to be possible. On the performance character, the movie talked about hitting the books, and coming to school with no excuse you could perform well enough to get onto college. But on the civic character, I remember a girl who was pregnant and he month didn’t want to help her, but
In "The love potion" Belcore was so inlove with Adine but she was so mean to him, she didn't even notice him. I dont think that she knew how much he liked/loved her.
Through these examples, I was able to grasp that Marquez feels that gender roles are such a prime feature and so deeply embedded in the Latin American culture that separation in gender roles cause turmoil and conflicts. That individuals are so devoted to these traditional roles, they end up not seeing how harmful they are. This discussion has helped me understand the roles the female characters played in the book. In general, most of the women in the book have accepted the inferior role in the text and fulfill their societal role rather than make something of himself. Angela’s mother, Pura Vicario, exemplifies this when, “devoted herself with such spirit of sacrifice to the care of her husband and rearing of her children that at times one forgot she still existed” (31). It is easy to see that Pura Vicario took on her traditional role, as most women in the Colombian culture did, and that’s why she had beat Angela with such fervency. In contrast, men were expected to be much more macho and uphold their family
The writer’s poetic langue was so confused but it was beautiful. For me the theme of this play is that the gender roles and the social class of marriage and family. This play explored the limiting situation for women living Spain. And the how tragic ran through their family.
Without being drugged, without being presently threatened, she gave in to prostitution. This symbolizes the true breaking of innocent young girls into sex machines at the hands of the brothel owners. No child willingly succumbs to that kind of invasion without persistent and threatening brainwashing and torture. This “training” of children to be prostitutes is no training at all, it is a cruel and calculated manipulation of defenseless human beings.
This is a movie where all the main characters are women. It is about strong women who should, based on other films, develop in a typically "feminine" problematic environment, but is instead, viewed from the perspective of women themselves. They are not observed from outside in, but from the inside out. At the same time, Danzon reverses and thus subverts the classic representations of gender, while relocating and challenging gender roles. Unlike the common representation of women in former Mexican cinema, femininity is not defined as being an opposition to masculinity in the film. In fact, men almost rarely appear. When they do appear, they appear as constructed discourse, female imagination, or as feminized subjects. The traditional excessive narrative and visual that usually characterizes a melodrama that manifests through the body of the woman is not the case in Danzon. In Danzon, is it the body of transvestite Susi that is decorated and fetishized; it is the body of Reuben, the young lover of Julia, which appears as an object of desire; and it is not sexual desire of the mysterious figure of Carmelo to Julia that serves as reason to the narrative. Furthermore, Julia occupies and develops the role of seductress, conqueror, and possessor of desire; images that are otherwise a traditional cinematographic male role. Another central element that violates the traditional forms of representation is not only the fact that the female figures replace male and their roles, but the
When traditional efforts to achieve a goal yield fruitless results, women utilize multiple different methods to bring about what they desire. Approaching the midpoint of the text, the narrator describes his visit to the town brothel, owned and run by the head of the establishment, Maria Alejandrina Cervantes, on the night of the wedding. According to the narrator and his comrades, Maria is an elegant, tender, and serviceable woman, especially during coitus. Following the festivities of Bayardo San Roman and Angela Vicario's wedding, the narrator seeks the company of Maria in her nightclub, where she waits for the narrator in her private room. The narrator illustrates the sight of Maria, "The lights were out, but as soon as I went in I caught
In many cultures, including the Dominican Republic culture, communicates the definitions of masculine and feminine and what it means to be considered a female or male. In The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Diaz explores the issues of sexuality, power in literature and culture. Furthermore, what elements of the text can be perceived as being masculine (active, powerful) and feminine (passive and marginalized) and how do the characters support these traditional roles? The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao demonstrates the traditional gender roles expectations of males and females in the Dominican Republic and how these characters must follow them in order to be perceived as being masculine and feminine. As readers, we can learn how gender roles expectations in society can influence an individual's behaviors, thoughts, and characteristics in order to follow the masculine and feminine standards the Dominican Republic’s culture has set.
Las protagonistas de las novelas La fiesta del Chivo y La voz dormida logran recuperar sus voces para presentarlas al mundo de la novela histórica, a través de un elemento particular que merece un acercamiento más profundo y minucioso, el interlocutor. Las historias de Tensi y de Urania logran sobrepasar la barrera del silencio gracias a la labor del sus respectivos interlocutores. Son estos quienes permiten que la voz de estas mujeres puedan reproducirse y que de alguna manera recuperen algo de lo que perdieron en la violencia que les arropó. Por tanto propongo que utilizando la teoría de la búsqueda del interlocutor de Carmen Martín Gaite, es gracias a la función del interlocutor que Urania y Tensi logran recuperar la voz que les había sido silenciada y así logran contar a través de su historia, las historias de dos naciones y de muchas personas que nunca pudieron contarla.