The Little Widow From The Capital Sparknotes

Yohanca Delgado uses magic realism to distort the widows character to exaggerate the investment of the narrators on the widow from the capital, and how their judgment contributes to social discrimination. The distortion illustrates how the acceptance of her neighbors defines her in the eyes of everyone around her, as well as being a direct parallel to the caricature stereotypes used against immigrants.
Magical realism is evident multiple times in The Little Widow from the Capital, we see her fold a man into a scrap of fabric, as well as sew his mouth shut. She did not literally have that power of men, but it exhibits the control she possessed over men in the eyes of the gossiping neighbors. “Behind them their men and children call out for

“The little widow seemed to understand what we expected of her.” (Delgado, 19) If they get to know each other she is no longer a witch, she is a person with a story more human than the fairy tale they created. This is a direct reflection of the social discrimination immigrants face when they come to America. The stereotypes and propaganda against immigrants relies on exaggerations and wild stories like those the gossipers whisper which dehumanize the people behind the

She did not leap off a skyscraper only to disappear into billowing white fabric and a flock of pigeons. The birds represent her freedom from the neighbors, no longer subject to their peering eyes and sharp words. Their rumors are not always born of malice, ironically they find a sense of community in the othering of the widow. They bring her clothes to alter as a way to see inside her apartment. In fact the sense of belonging they find with each other is reliant on the exclusion of the widow. There can not be an “us” without a “them.” What is strong nationalism that anti-immigrant sentiment is based on if not putting down others? Even as the women in the building shun and reject the widow, spreading rumors about her crafts and using her pain as entertainment the widow never stops being kind and good to those around her. She cares for Lucy in the midst of her own pain, she protects women when the women around her do not. She is also filling the stereotype they expect of her of good manners, a kind of gratitude. They have accepted the white man's burden, convinced themselves she needed a subletter and graciously found her one. They assumed she did not come from money, or have much value herself. Because after the great kindness they had shown her of course she should “mutter only quiet thank yous.” (Delgado,