Sons Of Malinche In The Labyrinth Of Solitude Summary

2) The essential attribute of the macho—power—almost always reveals itself as a capacity for wounding, humiliating, annihilating. Nothing is more natural, therefore, than his indifference toward the offspring he engenders. He is not the founder of a people; he is not a patriarch who exercises patria potesta; he is not a king or a judge or the chieftain of a clan. He is power isolated in its own potency, without relationship or compromise with the outside world. He is pure in communication, a solitude that devours itself and everything it touches. He does not pertain to our world; he is not from our city; he does not live in our neighborhood. He comes from far away: he is always far away. He is the Stranger. It is impossible not to notice the
resemblance between the figure of the macho and that of the Spanish conquistador. This is the model—more mythical than real—that determines the images the Mexican people form of men in power: caciques, feudal lords, hacienda wonder, politicians, generals, captain of industry. They are all machos, chingones.
Author: Octavio Paz
Country of origin: Mexico
Title of text: The Labyrinth of Solitude: Life and Thought in Mexico - Chapter 4 The Sons of La Malinche
Genre: Poetry/ essayist
Octavio Paz is an essayist/ poetry writer who was born in Mexico and writes literature about Mexican politics, economics, Aztec art, anthropology, and sexuality.
His essay “sons of Malinche” in the Labyrinth of Solitude, Paz describes macho power as one who has “the capacity for wounding, humiliating and annihilating”. He uses this definition to metaphor macho power as the “white privilege” that is given to men of European decent. Like the Europeans, Paz shares the belief that those of indigenous decent are like “a solitude that devours itself and everything it touches”. In other words, Paz believes that those of the indigenous race have no power and are therefore worthless. This belief of indigenous having no worth begins with the story of Spanish conquistador, Hernan Cortes, who sexually violated his indigenous translator and advisor Dona Marina. After Marina was violated by Cortes, she gave birth to the first son who was born of both indigenous and European decent. This gave Marina the title of La Malinche or the violated mother, who now symbolizes how the indigenous race was violated by the Europeans. Indigenous males like Paz, are denied the freedoms of their male European peer’s due to the “worthless” label that was bestowed onto his race by La Malinche. Paz believes that the only way to leave these historical labels is for Mexicans in power to reshape their community’s views regarding the privileges that are given to European men, and the privileges that are taken
away from men of the indigenous race.

8) Que strange was English. Rude and to the point. No one preceded a request with a—Will you not be so kind as to do me the favor of…, as one ought. They just asked! Nor did they add—If God wills it to their plans, as if they were in audacious control of their own destiny. It was a barbarous language! Curt as the commands of a dog trainer. –Sit. –Speak up. And why did no one say, —You are welcome. Instead, the grunted, —Uh-huh, without looking him in the eye, and without so much as a –You are very kind, mister, and may things go well for you.
Author: Sandra Cisneros
Country of origin: U.S
Title of text: Carmelo
Genre: Fiction
2) Sandra Cisneros is a Mexican- American novelist who was born in the U.S and writes about Chicano identity, poverty, and the effects of being caught between the Mexican and American cultures. In her fictional novel Caramelo, Cisneros describes the harsh impact that racism has on a person’s ability to integrate with a new culture. She uses an example of her main character, Celaya "Lala" Reyes, talking about her father (Inocencio) who left Mexico to earn money working in the U.S. Upon arrival in the U.S, Inocencio found himself experiencing no kind words, barked orders and little eye contact with his American peers, pp.___ Inocencio remembers how these interactions were directed only towards his Mexican peers as a form of verbal racism. The verbal racism that Inocencio experienced, restricted him from advancing in the American society and forced him to take jobs that were less than ideal. Jobs such as; dishwashing, bussing and shucking oysters. Verbal racism not only forms a language barrier that limits an immigrant’s ability to participate in the American culture, but also forces these individuals into hostile working environments. Cisneros used this passage to communicate how these harsh effects of racism effect a person’s ability to integrate with a new culture.

11) I will not be ashamed again
Nor will I shame myself. I am possessed by a vision: that we Chicanas and Chicanos have taken back or uncovered our true faces, our dignity and self-respect. It’s a validation vision.
Seeing the Chicana anew in light of her history. I seek an exoneration, a seeing through the fictions of white supremacy, a seeing of ourselves in our true guises and not as the false racial personality that has been given to us and that we have given to ourselves. I seek our woman’s face, our true features, the positive and negative clearly, free of the tainted biases of male dominance. I seek new images of identity, new beliefs about ourselves, our humanity and worth no longer in question.
Author: Gloria Anzaldúa
Country of origin: U.S
Title of text: Borderlands La Frontera the new Mestiza
Genre: essay/ poems
3) Gloria Anzaldúa is an essayist and poetry writer that was born in the United States and writes about border culture, language and feminism. In her semi-autobiographic book, Borderlands La Frontera: The New Mestiza, she uses the phrase “I will not be ashamed, nor will I shame myself” pp. 109 to represent her desire for Chicanx people to have pride in their indigenous roots. The shame associated with these roots begins with the story of La Malinche, otherwise known as the violated women. La Malinche was an indigenous woman by the name of Donna Marina who was sexually violated by Spanish conquistador, Hernan Cortes, and gave birth to the first mixed Indigenous and European son. Today, La Malinche represents the shameful identity of the indigenous race who was made vulnerable by being “ripped open” by the Europeans. This shameful identity forces Chicanx who live in the Borderlands to “switch” between the Mexican and American cultures. Anzaldúa describes this unfair way of life as living with a “false racial personality that has been given to us and that we have given to ourselves”. Anzaldúa not only encourages her Chicanx peers to “seek new images of identity, new beliefs about ourselves, our humanity and worth”, but also to follow in her footsteps and create lives that are without these historical or American labels. Lives where they feel pride for their roots rather than shame.

2)Discuss 2-3 texts that actively subvert stereotypes of Mexican, Mexican American and Chicanx people.
During the colonization of Mexico, many stereotypes were formed regarding the Chicanx race. In the novel Borderlands La Fronters; the New Mestiza, Gloria Anzaldúa describes a documented Chicanx woman who entered a migrant camp and witnessed youth who stepped off of a truck, soiled with feces and hosed off by a white man. Following this, she entered the white man’s house and demanded “two weeks wages, including two Saturdays and Sundays, minimum wage, 15 hours a day”, pp. 146. To which the white man assumed she was an undocumented worker and requested her I.D, expecting her to not have one. Instead, she gave a valid I.D and demanded the pay, otherwise she would report his enslavement of Chicanx to the mayor. Anzaldúa uses this passage to describe how White men once stereotyped all Chicanex individuals in the U.S as illegal immigrants and a form of cheap and accessible labor. Similarly, in the novel Revolt of the cockroach people, Oscar Zeta Acosta uses his main character Mr. Brown to communicate the struggles of being a Chicanex lawyer in the U.S, during a time that was unusual for chicanex immigrants to have documentation, none the less a higher education. In both examples, we can see how documented chicanex individuals were stereotyped as illegal immigrants because of their physical appearance. In both examples, documented Chicanex individuals were denied the same resources as their illegal peers, and had to fight against white men for the jobs they deserved.

3) How does Gloria Anzaldúa’s work challenge the gendered colonized experience of Chicanas living in the U.S.?
Gloria Anzaldúa defies her border culture’s female gender standards by using her native male gendered language to speak out against her border culture’s beliefs and encouraging other Chicanas to embrace what the American culture has to offer. Border cultures are formed when two very different cultures inhabit the same space. For many individuals living in a border culture, language is a key aspect that not only defines the culture you originate from, but also dictates the standards that society holds you to. Anzaldúa is fluent in a total of 7 languages, all varying in forms of Spanish and English. Due to a majority of her native tongue being Spanish, she was held to beliefs supported by her indigenous culture. Beliefs such as, to be indigenous is to be vulnerable, a woman must be silent in the presence of men and the belief that a woman is not worthy of an education. Anzaldúa defies the beliefs of her border culture when she uses both the English and indigenous languages to share her lived experiences of leaving Mexico and getting an education in the
U.S.