Social And Cultural Struggles In The Moths Helena Maria Viramontes

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Katherine Webb ENGL 2307-003 Dr. Flores October 21, 2015 Response 5 The first person narrative of The Moths and Other Stories serves to illustrate the social and cultural struggles of Chicano women during the mid-twentieth century. In the first short story The Moths Helena Maria Viramontes uses symbolic imagery to capture the passage from adolescence to womanhood specifically shown in the relationship between the granddaughter and grandmother. The imagery helps readers visualize and create their own sensory perceptions and much of Viramontes’ descriptions revolve around the death of the grandmother and the transformation and rebirth of the 14-year-old granddaughter. The girl doesn’t believe she is “even pretty or nice” like her older sisters