Mixing locations and time periods allowed Díaz to create a novel with high political and cultural significance. The characters challenge the social norms of their place and time, for example Lola presenting herself as a “Banshees-loving punk chick” to the dismay of her mother, and in a completely different time period Lola’s grandfather doing the unspeakable and challenging the rule of the Dominican dictator (54). For characters like Beli and Abelard, Oscar and Lola’s grandfather, their storylines draw on the impact that the government, especially the ruthless ruler, Trujillo, has on their lives. Further down the line though Oscar, Lola and Yunior do not have to live under a harsh dictatorship in the Dominican Republic, they do have to cope with the always-increasing social pressures of growing up in America as Hispanic immigrants, exhibiting the deviations in social and cultural aspects of life as time…
Josie Mendez-Negrete’s novel, Las Hijas de Juan: Daughters Betrayed, is a very disturbing tale about brutal domestic abuse and incest. Negrete’s novel is an autobiography regarding experiences of incest in a working-class Mexican American family. It is Josie Mendez-Negrete’s story of how she, her siblings, and her mother survived years of violence and sexual abuse at the hands of her father. “Las Hijas de Juan" is told chronologically, from the time Mendez-Negrete was a child until she was a young adult trying, along with the rest of her family, to come to terms with her father 's brutal legacy. It is a upsetting story of abuse and shame compounded by cultural and linguistic isolation and a system of patriarchy that devalues the experiences of women and girls. At the same time, "Las Hijas de Juan" is an inspirational tale, filled with strong women and hard-won solace found in traditional Mexican cooking, songs, and storytelling.…
There, Duarte met Juana. Juana became Duarte’s “mistress” during his time at the estate. The constant insulting and teasing resulted in a tight bond within the family. The illegitimate siblings resembled a tribe because they were so tight-knit. Eva was constantly conflicted about being illegitimate. She was close with her family but, at the same time, she was ashamed to be associated with them.…
In the provided literature surrounding Mexican American Borderlands and The Caribbean Experience in the United States, there are strong common themes of gender roles. These gender roles include common stereotypical roles as well as the struggles which are caused as a result of the roles. In the following essay, the literature will be discussed as well as how each story surrounds these gender roles.…
Edgar Morales, my 33 year old father, is a medically retired Army veteran. Everything about him has a story, including the tattoos on his arm. Looking forward to attending college, Edgar discusses the shifts in his life that made him who he is today. It was the Army that converted Edgar Morales into a patriotic citizen. When you first meet him, you may be intimidated because of his bulky body, looking like someone you wouldn’t want to mess with, but he truly is a respectful and responsible man.…
Today, family is one of the most sacred values we share in the individualist society we live in. Every family is different and has different rules and values; but in most of them, fathers are supposed to be leaders of the family, and role models for their children. They are also considerate like the one who transmits the traditions of their ancestors in order to carry them on. “Fiesta, 1980” is a short story written by Junot Dìaz taken from his short story collection, Drown, (1996). “Killings” is also a short story taken from, Finding a Girl in America (1980), written by Andre Dubus. Both of these stories are dealing with the family’s subject and provide us different perspectives of it. In Dìaz’s story we can see the relationship among a foreigner family, while in Andre Dubus’s story we see an American average family. In both stories, fathers play an important role; they figure prominently and have a considerable impact on their family but on the story also. The father in Dubus’s story is more family oriented that the one in Dìaz’; moreover the family is more closely–knit in Dubus’s story than in Dìaz’s story. The difference between the behaviors of the two fathers can be explained by their cultural backgrounds, which are not the same. These stories also provide us another perspective of the father’s role in the family, through their strength and their weakness without compromise.…
The definition of family often tends to mean different things among varied groups of people. Violence, like family, also varies in definition and carries different cultural values and significance. Regardless of one’s meaning of family or violence, these two things in many ways influence and impact people’s lives differently. Hector Tobar’s novel, The Tattooed Soldier shows the impact of violence on people who each see family from a different standpoint. Furthermore, in the film Sin Nombre directed by Cary Fukunaga we see a different type of family heavily integrated with violence. Both Sin Nombre and The Tattooed Soldier demonstrate that the loss of family becomes the roots of all violence. In both works the main characters, Antonio and El Casper, lose their families through violence, which creates…
El Norte, a 1983 film directed by Gregory Nava, depicts the life of two indigenous teenagers who flee their native country, Guatemala, in search for a better life in America. The reason for fleeing is due to the ethnic and political oppression of the Guatemalan Civil War. The film builds up a strong connection shared between Enrique and Rosa, one of genuine feeling and fierce emotion. This connection is foregrounded by the exaggerated style and is often compared to adulterated relations among Hispanics. Such a differentiation is proposed to underline the strain on the social connection created by the financial aspects of migration. In both Enrique’s and Rosa’s hopes of pursuing the “American Dream”, their fantasies of a better life are both…
“The Unexpected Lessons of Mexican Food.” This essay follows a Mexican-American boy, Armando Montano, on a journey to find himself. He starts off with telling you just a little bit about himself, like how he grew up, his nationality, and the food his father used to cook for him. Then it evolves into his journey to find himself. From when he went back to the place his dad was born, and he discovered just how rich his culture was and how much they use food to connect to it, to his time in Brazil and the way his friends seemed to except him as Mexican even when his own family did not. The whole essay he struggles to find his identity and just where he, a mix of cultures, belongs. There are two parts of himself that he struggles with which one…
Antonio Marez is a child of eight years of age who is moving to adolescence who is eager to know what the future holds for him. He comes from two different types of parent his mother a Luna who was brought up as a Catholic farmer and his farther a Marez from the llano a cowboy. Antonio feels pressure in pleasing both of his parents not knowing how to settle the two cultures into his life. Challenges standards such as the myth and bring in different ideas through the perspective of Antonio Marez questioning his religious beliefs. He strives to make his own moral decisions as well accept his responsibility for the consequences that came along from his loss of innocence to…
This paper is depends on an essay, The Color of Family Ties, from the book Rereading American. The essay, The Color of Family Ties, has carried on the comparison in the difference of race, class, gender and extended family involvement to Whites family, Blacks family and Latinos family to find their relationships between their kinships.…
Mexican culture has been characterized as an accepted background of values: familism, respeto and simpatia (respect and congeniality), curanderismo (folk healing), religiosity/spirituality, and the importance of language are among the most important (Cultural Responses to Health Among Mexican… 2007). In a typical Mexican family, the father is the breadwinner. The man can also be known as a machismo. Machismo is refer to as manliness and has positive and negative views in reference to it. The man in the family holds great responsibility, and makes majority of decisions. The mother falls under the caregiver role, whom force holds the family together and shares cultural wisdom (Cultural Responses to Health Among Mexican… 2007). Family is an important value in the Mexican culture.…
I chose to look at the Hispanic culture. Hispanic families put the utmost importance on family. This means they support each other in any way they can financially, emotionally, and socially. Hispanic families tend to be very close and care more about the whole then the individual; older siblings will often take care of the younger ones. In Hispanic families, the males tend to take on the role of authority with the eldest in charge. Women in Hispanic families gravitate towards being the caretaker's; wife and mother. However, that job is changing into a working mother roll. In these families’ parents are inclined take a lot of pride in their kids. The parents want their children to get a good education but do not often contribute to the child's…
“The Mexican Americans share a culture that is neither Mexican national nor Anglo in character” (Williams, 1990). This ethnic group has very distinct cultural values, norms, and social patterns that make them even more unique. They value the relationships created with the larger society. They trust and support others by developing warm, friendly, and personal relationships through social interactions. “Respeto and dignidad are other important values in Latino culture” (Appleby, Colon, & Hamilton, 2007). The Mexican Americans view space time, and relationships differently than the dominant culture. They are comfortable standing close to each other and share relationships that are both expressive and instrumental. The group values individualism which is shown through each person being unique and special in what they do. As a group, they are goal-directed and seek constant competence and self-confidence through social, emotional, and cultural exchanges. Another strong value this group shares in the family. They are very family oriented that include extended family members. The male is often the head of household and has great power and responsibilities in his role. If a family member is in need, they often seek help first from the Latino community due to the culture norms of personal relationships. The roles of the family members are very distinct in their culture. As mentioned above, the male serves as the head of…
As a son of Mexican American immigrants, Richard Rodriguez recounts the story of his childhood and his struggle to assimilate into American culture. In Aria: A memoir of a Bilingual Childhood, Rodriguez always felt like an outcast whenever he set foot outside of his house. As a young child, he exclusively spoke Spanish to members of his household and tried his best to learn and speak English in the real world. He “regarded Spanish as a private language. It was a ghetto language that deepened and strengthened [his] feeling of public separateness” (Rodriguez 505) because it identified him as a member of his family and it served as a link to his own Mexican heritage. By speaking Spanish, he communicates a certain level of intimacy with all of his relatives. However, as his narrative progresses, he finds himself slowly breaking away from that intimacy as he begins to speak more English, both by force and social pressure. Teachers scolded him if he spoke anything but English and his peers Americanized his name into Richard (rather than calling him Ricardo.) He began to feel like a traitor by mastering this “public language” when his relatives began treating him differently. His bilingual childhood was an enormous adversity that Rodriguez had to overcome.…