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Oral History And Art By Debra Blake Chapter Summary

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In the book, Chicana Sexuality and Gender, Cultural Refiguring in Literature, Oral History, and Art by Debra Blake reveals the various experiences and perspectives many Chicanas endure growing up with the culturally symbolic female figures: La Malinche, La Llorona, Mexica goddess, and La Virgen de Guadalupe. Blake describes the multiple forms Chicanas refigure and reimagine these powerful figures that are originally used to confine and marginalize women by providing the oral history and insight of the working class and semi-professional Chicanas and Mexican Americans. Blake emphasizes how these female figures need to be preserved and redefined to dismantle the heterosexist and patriarchal narratives since they have a profound effect on the …show more content…

Blake describes that La Llorona’s consists of themes of assimilation, lost, and dangers of being a person of color. For instance, “La Llorona would be used to warn children from not only natural dangers such as waterways or the unknown dangers of the night, but also hostile Americans right outside their doorstep.” (Blake, 151). In other words, La Llorona’s story is utilized to warn children of the harm and racism a Chicanx person endures. The legend reflects the Chicana experience by depicting the systematic oppression and challenges many face in the real world. Therefore, La Llorona is portrayed as the women who lost her children due to the injustices and patriarchal institutions that are forced upon people of color. Through oral history, Chicanas are able to preserve, relate, and sympathize with La Llorona’s story and view her as a victim of symbolic violence. Likewise, La Llorona’s legend reflects the way patriarchal society failed her and continues to fail Chicanas. Thus, Chicanas are able to dictate the truth and meaning behind the legend by changing her malevolent oppressive

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Have you hear the tales of la llorona? Have you? Well la llorona as know the weeping woman is a tall, thin spirit, blessed whit natural beauty, long flowing black hair. It says than she searches for her children near the lakes at night. One day her beauty captures a rich and a poor man.

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The Virgin of Guadalupe is a worldly known work of art; Jeanette Favrot Peterson questions the meaning of this iconic symbol in her article The Virgin of Guadalupe: Symbol of Conquest or Liberation? Peterson argues that this symbol is not only of religious connotation but of political value to freedom as well. Furthermore, paraphrasing her claims, that it was not until the nineteenth and twentieth century’s did the image reach its fullest potential of bringing together a fragmented people and become known as the “Mother of Mexicans.” The legend says that Juan Diego was visited by the Virgin on the hill of Tepeyacac and that she sent a message with him that she wanted a church built in her name, only after the third visit was he able to convince

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Without a proper understanding of their culture, folk groups, and their respective stories, these figures become caricatures of themselves, further distancing them from the communities that created them in the first place. For example, in the film The Curse of La Llorona, 2019, the film is composed of a Latinx cast yet the main character, and the basis of the story, revolves around a white woman. La Llorona becomes a “malevolent force” who drowns children, not a grief-stricken ghost who cries out in the night for the loss of her children (Winick “La Llorona: Roots…”). A large majority of creators who use these characters irresponsibly use the fact that these oral traditions aren’t under copyright and thus can ignore and not recognize the original myth or people, financially and creatively. It’s important that these figures are respectfully adapted, consulting the groups the legend comes from, rather than pushing them aside for

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Through Antonio and Ultima, readers identify the creation of a culture that has been forge by war, discrimination, and common hardships. With Ultima being a powerful curandera, the story shows the importance of the female character within Mexican culture. Today, this is prevalent in many Mexican-American households, as the elderly women are held in the highest respect. Another aspect of Mexican-American Culture is masculinity, which is shown in Bless Me, Ultima when Antonio’s father says, “a man of the llano does not run from a fight” (Anaya, 1999, p.37). There are countless examples of Mexican-American masculinity in this novel, like when it mentions that Gabriel’s two eldest sons are fighting in WWII.

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“The common denominator all Latinos have is that we want some respect. That 's what we 're all fighting for” - Cristina Saralegui. Judith Ortiz Cofer published the article, “The Myth of the Latin Woman,” where she expresses her anger towards stereotypes, inequality, and degradation of Latin Americans. Cofer explains the origins of these perceived views and proceeds to empower Latin American women to champion over them. Cofer establishes her credibility as a Latin American woman with personal anecdotes that emphasize her frustration of the unfair depiction of Latinos in society.

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Mexican folklore has inspired many American writers. La Llorona is a legend that translates to “The Weeping woman”. Its a story about a woman named Maria who drowned her kids in a river after her husband left her. Its believed that she now wanders the earth, crying, and searching for her children. Her cries are a sign of a impending doom.

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The Myth of The Latin Woman Analysis Latin American women face challenges every single day and moment of their lives. They are strongly discriminated against in all sectors of employment, in public places, and even while just walking down the street. In her essay, "The Myth of the Latin Woman," Judith Ortiz Cofer describes her own experiences using illuminating vignettes, negative connotation, and cultural allusion to exemplify how she used the struggles in her day to day life as a Latin woman to make herself stronger. Cofer uses illuminating vignettes to illustrate the different situations she encountered as a Latina while growing up and living in America.

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The Rhetorical Analysis of “The Myth of the Latin Woman” There are many examples of incidents happened because of cultural differences. Some of them are short, single events, while other follow a person or social group for decades. Professor Judith Cortiz Cofer describes the second example in her essay The Myth of the Latin Woman that was originally published in Glamour in 1992. The author focused on the stereotypical view of Latin women from the perspective of the personal experience as a Puerto Rican girl and woman in the USA. Cofer based her essay on examples from her own life and observations of the problem in a broader sense.

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