The Pachuca Panic : Sexual And Cultural Battlegrounds

Growing up with parents who are immigrants can present many obstacles for the children of those immigrants. There are many problems people face that we do not even realize. Things happen behind closed doors that we might not even be aware of. Writers Sandra Cisneros and Amy Tan help us become aware of these problems. Both of these authors express those hardships in their stories about growing up with foreign parents. Although their most apparent hardships are about different struggles, both of their stories have a similar underlying theme.

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.

Sandra Cisneros explores gender preference within her Mexican-American heritage with strong usage of imagery and the variation of her tone. First, the imagery found in “Only Daughter” helps portray the sacrifices Cisneros father made for his children. For instance, Cisneros writes how ecstatic their father was that his children would use their smarts instead of their hands like he once had to. Cisneros describes her father's hands saying, “Even now my father's hands are thick and yellow, stubbed by a history of hammer and nails and twine and coils and springs” (Cisneros 99). Cisneros use of imagery creates a vivid picture of how her father has worked extensively to make sure his seven children do not have to work as hard as he did to live in

The novel How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, by Julia Alvarez, illustrates these challenges. Throughout the novel, we see how different aspects of culture shock impact the Garcia family. In this essay I will discuss how particular events change each family member’s Dominican cultural values and identity.

Common stereotypes about women in the Mexican-American culture include that women are uneducated, good housewives, and very fertile. Many parents still believe it’s the woman’s job to stay home and be the homemaker. The concept of gender, which is socially constructed, is reinforced since birth. (Sociology Lecture 08/24/2015) Ana was caught in the middle of gender politics. Her mother oppressed her daughter so she can become a grandmother. The film “Real Women Have Curves” deals with gender stereotypes and struggles of poor women living in East LA. Carmen was trying to have Ana chained to the notion of women being inferior to men. Carmen believed men to be superior, whereas Ana thought differently. However Ana strived to liberate herself from traditional cultural norms by pursuing her college education. Her mother’s negative influence only caused Ana to rebel.

Despite being outcasted by other feminist groups such as the mainstream Chicano movement, and the second wave feminist movement, they wanted to set themselves apart through the use of their own personal experiences with gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, class structure, and so forth. This term relates to Mexican-American and Hispanic women who oppose the traditional “household wife” role. They challenged the fundamental ideologies women, and young women are taught at an early age, and breaks away from the idea that men have dominion over women. This can also be categorized as a movement that fights against stereotypes against women. This term is important in context to our reading’s because this movement paved way for Chicano women to make their voice heard in their community. Just like we familiarize ourselves with key men in the Chicano movement, women also wanted to describe their experiences, and social injustices they were challenged with because they were women on top of other

In the film “Mi Familia,” we follow the story of the Mexican-American Sánchez family who settled in East Los Angeles, California after immigrating to the United States. Gregory Nava and Anna Thomas introduce the story of this family in several contexts that are developed along generations. These generations hold significant historical periods that form the identity of each individual member of the family. We start off by exploring the immigrant experience as the family patriarch heads north to Los Angeles, later we see how national events like the great depression directly impact Maria as she gets deported, although she was a US citizen. The events that follow further oppress this family and begins separate identity formations. These

This highlights that Chicanas prefer Chicanos more than they prefer each other; they perpetuate gender hierarchy by constantly placing males above females. Chicanas fear the criticism they will endure if they defy gender boundaries. Joan Riviere addresses this phenomenon in her essay “Womanliness as a Masquerade. Her essay explores the discomfort that woman feel when they act outside of the boundaries established by a male dominated society. In one example, she describes a

“…About eight sailors got me outside of the theater and they started beating me up. It happened so fast, I passed out. I woke up with a cracked rib, a broken nose, black and blue all over. I was really beat.”(Alvarez, 2006, p.155) During the 1940s, the public had generated stereotypes of the Pachucos and zoot suits, which were eventually transferred to all Mexican Americans. Many young men like Vicente Morales were attacked, humiliated, and stripped from their fashionable clothes by servicemen. However, to what extent did the fashionable expression of the zooters and the culture of the Pachucos influence the Zoot Suit Riots?

One of the largest Hispanic-origin population in the United states are Mexicans (Gonzales-Barrera & Lopez, 2013). Mexican American’s are considered minorities in the United States. There are many reason why I am choosing to explore Mexican Americans for this paper. As a minority myself, I can relate to some of the struggles that Mexican American’s may face. However, there are some things that I will never relate to or know the personal aspect of the Mexican culture. Just like any other population, Mexican Americans have their own culture, values, and challenges.

During World War II second generation Mexican American women began to create their own sense of style. Many Mexican American women began to wear zoot suits and began to be known as pachucas. Pachuca girls typically wore dark lipstick, had up-do hairstyles, plucked eyebrows and wore skirts that exposed the knees along with long socks. Women with this sense of style were seen as trouble makers and delinquents because people often thought they were gang members. Despite what people thought of them, pachuca girls saw their style as a way to assimilate both to the Mexican and American culture. They also wanted Mexicans to be viewed differently and worthy of being part of the U.S. However, Mexican American women were often discriminated. The way pachucas dressed and behaved caused a lot of negativity towards them and controversy. They were referred to as malinches for betraying proper female behavior which brought shame both to their parents and the Mexican people. Discrimination seemed to

‘How the Garcia girls lost their accents’ by Julia Alvarez talks about the four girls fleeing to the united states after their father’s attempt to overthrow dictator is undiscovered. They arrived in Brooklyn, New York to a life totally different from the one back home where their name inspired respect and had dozens of maids serving them fine foods in silverware, but had to live in fear of uncles disappearing by the hand of the secret police. In the new world their parents try to hold onto their old traditions, but the girls have a different idea and instead try to find new lives for themselves but find themselves caught between the old and the new world. The novel tells their struggle to fit in and to express/communicate themselves. The story is all about one of the many aspects of the immigrant experience; language barrier and the power of word/being able to express oneself. The book is extremely popular among Hispanic immigrants for its relatableness. Although an unpopular opinion, I wouldn’t recommend Millennials to read the novel because its complex storyline, poor transitions between stories, characters difficult to

While wearing oversized trousers that pegged at the ankle, long coats, and floppy hats, also known as zoot suits, it was hard not to take notice of the Mexican American teenagers in Los Angeles, California during the 1940s. These Mexican Americans, referred to as zoo suiters because of their apparent attire, quickly became targeted by American sailors who were stationed in the city. To the sailors, their clothes signaled not only defiance, but lack of patriotism as well (pg 664). The tension between the two groups continued to

An American college student doesn’t understand the struggles of the real world. They have lived a sheltered lifestyle. It is just for rich kids to have fun. In Mike Rose tells the story of a girl named Laura, a girl born in the poor section of Tijuana, Mexico. “Her father was a food vendor, and her memories of him and his chipped white cart come back to her in easy recollection: the odor of frying meat, the feel of tortillas damp with grease, and the serpentine path across the city; rolling the cart through dust, watching her father smile and haggle and curse-hawking burritos and sugar water to old woman with armloads of blouses and figurines, to blond American teenagers, wild with freedom, drunk and loud and brawny.” When she was six her parents

For millions of immigrants, America has been seen as the land of opportunity where anyone could become anything he or she wanted to be. A family that believes strongly in the American dream can be found in Amy Tan’s short story, “Two Kinds.” The story centers around the daughter of a Chinese immigrant who desperately wants her daughter to become successful. In the story, the author shows the difficult lives immigrants face when moving to a new culture. In this short story, the theme shows the protagonist’s conflict with her mother on the type of daughter her mother wants her to be. The author establishes the theme of how difficult mother-daughter relationships can be through characterization, setting, and symbolism.