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Feminism In 'The House Of The Spirits And Lourdes Puente'

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The quandary around female autonomy in Latin American fictions particularly Isabel Allende’s novel The House of the Spirits and Cristina Garcia’s Lourdes Puentes, is depicted in a multitude of ways. The portrayal and experiences of female characters is one determining factor. Alongside the very concept “female” exist due to biological differences between male and female, making male characters part of the equation equivalent to the dilemma of female autonomy.
Female rebellion echoes autonomy in The House of the Spirits as the female characters revolt through numerous distinct actions against pre-imposed ideologies. Clara makes use of communication as “war zone”, according to Virginia Satir this phenomenon is due when a person feels that his …show more content…

Clara did not take any actions as Blanca did with the count by leaving her husband. But Clara remained in her oppressing marriage life by diverting her frustration by her muteness towards her husband and caring for community and children.Clara appeared as a female autonomous character at “Tres Marias” by educating women rights but she had to stop her noble cause under the orders of Esteban, the oppressing male figure. On the other hand despite, Blanca seem to love her independent life she ended up marrying her lover, leading her autonomy as a myth. Amanda being the feminist who aborted her unwanted child and rejected the latter’s father somehow die because of her love for Jamie through drug abuse. Furthermore, Alba initially emerged as a strong woman who is determined to preserve the house in the corner nonetheless in the end long for Miguel. Transito the success of her coorporative made her economically autonomous somehow she still needs male’s sexual appetite to run her business. Ferula regardless of the fact that she had not used Esteban’s money she somehow was deprived her independence as she had to be the perfect daughter stifled in traditions to look after her sick mother. Female autonomy is an ideal as women are humans who deal with feeling and emotions and who somehow need the support of the opposite sex and vice

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Julia Alvarez's historical novel, In The Time of the Butterflies, captures the lives of the Mirabal sisters and the Dominican Republic under the appalling dictatorship of Trujillo. Unfortunately, in a dangerous scheme to overthrow Trujillo, the Mirabal sisters meet their tragic fate. Before their death, these martyrs dodged through dozens of obstacles. In the Dominican Republic, it was extremely difficult for women to be respected and taken seriously because they were seen as domesticated and inferior. This old ideology of gender roles gravely affected the Mirabal sisters and their participation in their revolution against Trujillo; however, they still managed to challenge these gender limitations throughout the book.

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In the short story “ Aguantando” he shows us an independent women who is willing to do anything to make a better future for his sons despite their social economics situation. The mother of Yunior is a strong female role who in this story did not depend on any men, not even the father of her sons to move along with their lives. She worked hard to provide for her sons, she try to remain strong and she tried to keep herself strong despite all the problems that surrounded her. This comes to show that Diaz was not afraid of showing a strong independent women in his stories and that like men women can be independent human

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The fate of a woman From the beginning of a girl's life she is told what she can and cannot do. In Judith Ortiz Cofen's “The Changeling” and in Mary Lady Chudleighs “To the Ladies” a young Spanish woman and a wealthy older woman resist society's restrictions on women. In “The Changeling” the narrator is a young Spanish girl who makes up a “game/” to try to gain her father's attention. She is jealous of all of the attention that her father shows her brother.

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I was also able to understand Esperanza’s life more clearly in The House on Mango Street by learning more about her culture. In addition, I reflected on the gender roles in my own culture and gained more knowledge on how it affects my daily life. By exploring the reasons behind the several similarities and differences, it allowed me to make connections between my culture and Esperanza’s culture. In conclusion, learning more about gender roles in the Hispanic and Indian cultures has helped me become more internationally minded and knowledgeable on my own culture as well as another

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In the story, “The Myth of a Latin Woman” is about the author Judith Ortiz Cofer talking about her life and growing up as a Puerto Rican girl. She talks about the struggles she had to go through, like always being under heavy surveillance by her family. She would be under their watch because she was a girl and was expected to protect her family’s honor and to behave like in her family’s terms “proper senorita”. I agree that she was forced to mature fast just at her teenage years; a point that needs emphasizing since so many people believe Cofer could never act her age.

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Clara: She was Esteban Truebas wife; she was a calm caring person. She is calm because there was times were Estevan will hit her and she will forgive him

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In a study of print media, researchers at Wesleyan University found that on average, across 58 different magazines, 51.8 percent of advertisements that featured women portrayed them as sex objects. In The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende employs the motif of beauty and expectations as a powerful tool to reveal the dehumanization of women in patriarchal societies, highlighting the ways in which societal norms and expectations reduce women to mere objects of desire and limit their potential as human beings, while also celebrating the strength and resilience of women who challenge and oppose these oppressive societies The motif of beauty and expectations is introduced in the novel through the character of Rosa, who is praised for her beauty

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Clara describes the situation as “absurdity” and sees the contrast between Nivea’s group and the hard-working women. Allende’s use of Clara in this scene was to ultimately show the class differences between the women and how it may play a role in the overall idea that class struggle and gender are important in the oppression of women. “He had finally come to accept—beaten into it by the tide of new ideas— that not

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For example, Esperanza states that “I am the one who leaves the table like a man, without putting back the chair or picking up the plate” ( Cisneros # 89 ). This reveals that Esperanza is not going to fall in the category of all other women who has to follow all the rules and clean up after the men. This also shows that the girls are always expected to do certain things and which is becoming a maid for a men. The women are just supposed to do all the cleaning, pushing, and the men are like the guests who needs special care. The women has no freedom when they are always looking after the men and cleaning all the men’s

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Her emotions are a dark cloud over her narrative, they blind her to the truth. Her feminine vulnerability is in full view when Pleyel accuses her of being morally loose with Carwin. When Clara takes on a subjective perspective, her narration becomes untrustworthy. Her emotions not only make her blind to the truth, but they are obstructing her rational thought. On many occasions Clara becomes exceedingly emotionally distraught “my terror made me, at once, mute and motionless”(Brown 57), and due to these unnerving emotions, her narration becomes one of storytelling instead of relaying the true events that unfolded.

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A Homage to Feminism Feminism revolves around the notion that men and women are equal, an idea that is seldom accepted or embraced at the end of the twentieth century in Latin America. In the autobiographical novel, The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende weaves a story about the lives of women through four generations during the revolution of 1970. The idea of male dominance is prominent throughout both the political and social arenas of Latino communities. However, Allende uses members of the Del Valle family to portray the theme of feminism evolving during this time. Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits, highlights the intertwined lives of two Latin American women, Clara and Alba, to parallel the feminist attitudes that associate with

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In Mexican American society , women are deemed inferior to men, evident in traditional family roles, the male is the head of the family who provides for the family , while the woman stays at home to look after the children she is expected to provide for her husband . In the third vignette of ‘The House on Mango Street’ titled ‘Boys and Girls’ the reader is informed of the division between men and women when Esperanza refers to herself and her sister Nenny , and her brothers, “They’ve got plenty to say to me and Nenny inside the house. But outside they can’t be seen talking to girls”. The male dominance begins at a very young age.

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The story states, “She had big breasts, slim legs, and blue eyes” (Bolaño 1). This relates to today’s misconception of women because when a guy first meets a girl the first thing he does is analyze her appearance and when he sees her again she has gained weight and her face seemed worn this made the narrator view her different He wanted to old Clara back. This relates to to today's misconception because he didnt try and get to know the new Clara and her personality. He was body shaming her.

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“She had done nothing but reach up to the heat on her mouth and stare at the blood on her hand as if even then she didn’t understand (Cisneros).” Juan Pedro keeps this behavior up. A woman who goes by Felice changes Cleofilas idea on how a woman should be treated and their purpose to society. Felice helps Cleofilas escape her husband and takes her across the border back to Mexico.

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The role of women in literature crosses many broad spectrums in works of the past and present. Women are often portrayed as weak and feeble individuals that submit to the situations around them, but in many cases women are shown to be strong, independent individuals. This is a common theme that has appeared many times in literature. Across all literature, there is a common element that causes the suffering and pain of women. This catalyst, the thing that initiates the suffering of women, is essentially always in the form of a man.

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