The Myth Of The Latin Woman
“And God said, ‘love thy neighbor, because the two of you are more alike than you think.’” Nowadays in society, people tend to place labels not only on themselves but on others, in order to build walls to separate and divide all of humanity into classes. Sometimes these walls can grow taller than the one that Trump wants to build, but there are some things that, no matter who you are, can allow for there to be similarities among those classes. Shackling bonds present in both film and literature can serve to be examples for this idea. These examples can be found in Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez, and in Isabel Allende’s, And of Clay we are Created, and The Myth of the Latin Woman: / Just Met a Girl Named Maria written
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by Judith Ortiz Cofer. Through their literary works, all three authors suggest that through family, culture, and loyalty, one might form unbreakable bonds that shackle oneself to another.
At times, the strong bond of family can shackle some people to others emotionally, binding them in life and even death. Isabel Allende’s And of Clay We are Created implies this concept through the painful memories of its protagonist’s significant other, which are brought into light as a result of a catastrophic event. Rolf Carle, a T.V news reporter, was first on the scene to deliver live footage of the aftermath of a deadly volcanic eruption which swept a small village in 1985 Colombia. He after being present for the discovery of a thirteen-year-old girl named Azucena, who is buried up to her neck in “clay, stones, and water,” quickly finds the story which he will broadcast to the world(Allende). However, as he begins to form a connection with the young girl, memories of his past, which he had subconsciously repressed, dug their way to the surface. The death of his beloved sister had burned a void in his soul, but the love he had formed with Azucena allowed him to gain closure for his previous loss. Allende shows how strong the bond of family, even in death, might shackle one to another emotionally. The film also suggests this through the deterioration of Transito Ariza’s mental state and even her death. In the film Transito, after Florentino had been brutally rejected by Fermina, became melancholic and desperate due to her son’s laments for his crowned goddess, and she sought to ease her son’s pain by bringing a new woman into his life, a lonely and recently made widow. However, despite her hopes that he would marry this woman, he continued to mourn his rejection, and later, he resorted to sleeping with numerous women in order to forget Fermina. Moreover, his mother’s sadness grew deeper and evolved into dementia. Transito’s maternal shackles to her son served to cause her to worry immensely for his future and happiness, and as her spiral into dementia came to a close, much time had passed, and all that was left of the strong woman was a heartbroken husk of whom she once was. Nearing the end of her life, she could only see the resemblance her son had to his father who had left her decades ago, and she became upset because he had been, “gone for so long.” However, in seeing the man she loved in the face of her son, she believed he had finally come back to her allowing her acquire a small amount of closure before her death. In both the short story and the film, the bond of family shackled the discussed characters mentally, emotionally, and even physically. As shown in Judith Cofer’s The Myth of the Latin Woman, one’s culture can, at times, act as heavy chains that shackle an individual, often times of those of a minority.
In the short story, Cofer, the narrator, recalls moments in her life in which she has been stereotyped as a Maria or Evita over the top stereotypical Latina “hot tamale,” and how she dealt with those situations(Cofer). As a Latin American woman, she was brought up in a home in which the ideals and morals of “proper senoritas” was often conflicting with that which what was displayed by the older women in her life. As a young girl, she saw how the attire which was seen as formal and appropriate to most Latin women differed greatly from that of the Anglo woman, and she was conflicted because she had no one to model herself by. As she grew older, she questioned why she was expected to “ripen, not just grow into womanhood like other girls,” and later came to the conclusion that some men and even women outside of the Latin community would only see her as an object of sex, not thinking of whether or not she would be offended by their comments(Cofer). The film also demonstrates this through Fermina Daza’s father Lorenzo. Lorenzo, after forbidding his daughter from marrying the man she loved due to his low standard in society, explains to his daughter that she is simply too beautiful to go to such waste and that he has high expectations of her. He believes that she could not be so beautiful to not marry a man of wealth, and hopes only for his daughter to do so. Fermina is seen as a possession or prize, by her father, and he exploits this fact in order to marry her off to a wealthy doctor by the name of Dr. Juvenal Urbino, but not before convincing her that Florentino was a man unsuitable to even be considered as a suitor. Both the film and short story’s protagonists have experienced the weight of their shackles that their culture placed on them, however they were able to overcome them through their own
will. In Allende’s And of Clay We Are Created, loyalty inspired by love is depicted through Rolf Carle and his devotion to the young girl he desperately attempted to save. This same sense of loyalty shows how a person can be shackled and forever bound to another through love. In the work, after filming the discovery of Azucena, Carle vows to never leave her side and promises that he would bring her out to safety, as a result of his determination to “snatch her from death” (Allende). He is shown going to great lengths in his attempts at rescuing her, however none of them prevailed. Unfortunately, after two whole exhausting nights in icy water, clay, and debris, Azucena had lost her battle and passed away like a “flower in mud,” into the night of third day (Allende). Because Carle had grown to love the girl, he remained a loyal and devoted friend till the bittersweet end, forever keeping her in his heart. The film parallels the concept of loyalty through Florentino’s devotion and almost obsession with Fermina. Throughout the years that proceed Fermina’s betrayal to him, Florentino, despite his numerous affairs, always kept Fermina in his heart. Though it brought him pain and sorrow to see her in the arms of another man, he never wavered in his spiritual virtue and continued to preserve his love only for her. His loyalty is finally rewarded after more than fifty years when Fermina’s husband dies, and he is able to once again outwardly pursue her. Florentino ignored his own misery and despair and remained ever faithful to his “crowned goddess,” due to the love he held for her. The concept of loyalty is carried through the short story and the film by the dramatis personae that were discussed and present in both works. Through their love, they formed unbreakable bonds of loyalty, that shackled them to their loved ones. Through these works of art, their artists have implied that the invisible shackles of family, culture, and loyalty can effect a person mentally and even physically. In both Marquez’s film and Allende’s work, the characters discussed were familiarly bound to others, and as a result they were emotionally shackled, however through those on the other end of those shackles, they were both able to resolve their own internally repressed issues. As shown in the film and in Cofer’s short story, culture can at times bind Latin women through stereotyping and gender roles. And finally, Allende’s short story and in Marquez’s film suggest that through loyalty, unwavering devotion can form everlasting shackles that bind them to those they care for. Despite all, these impenetrable bonds that can act as heavy chains can also act as our validation of our own humanity. It is only human for us to make connections and assumptions on the people and environment that surrounds us. Despite our differences as individuals, each of us can create a familiar bond, whether it is through the love given to us by our parents or even the lack thereof it. Each of us can be chained through our culture, and the length of that chain is determined by our race, ethnicity, or nationality. And each of us can create a bond through loyalty whether it is through love, or devotion, or any other factor. Whether it is where we come from, the color of our skin, our appearance, what language we speak, our gender, or who we choose to love, all of these are dependents that allow us to differentiate from one another, yet we as humans have more things in common then we allow ourselves to believe.
by Judith Ortiz Cofer. Through their literary works, all three authors suggest that through family, culture, and loyalty, one might form unbreakable bonds that shackle oneself to another.
At times, the strong bond of family can shackle some people to others emotionally, binding them in life and even death. Isabel Allende’s And of Clay We are Created implies this concept through the painful memories of its protagonist’s significant other, which are brought into light as a result of a catastrophic event. Rolf Carle, a T.V news reporter, was first on the scene to deliver live footage of the aftermath of a deadly volcanic eruption which swept a small village in 1985 Colombia. He after being present for the discovery of a thirteen-year-old girl named Azucena, who is buried up to her neck in “clay, stones, and water,” quickly finds the story which he will broadcast to the world(Allende). However, as he begins to form a connection with the young girl, memories of his past, which he had subconsciously repressed, dug their way to the surface. The death of his beloved sister had burned a void in his soul, but the love he had formed with Azucena allowed him to gain closure for his previous loss. Allende shows how strong the bond of family, even in death, might shackle one to another emotionally. The film also suggests this through the deterioration of Transito Ariza’s mental state and even her death. In the film Transito, after Florentino had been brutally rejected by Fermina, became melancholic and desperate due to her son’s laments for his crowned goddess, and she sought to ease her son’s pain by bringing a new woman into his life, a lonely and recently made widow. However, despite her hopes that he would marry this woman, he continued to mourn his rejection, and later, he resorted to sleeping with numerous women in order to forget Fermina. Moreover, his mother’s sadness grew deeper and evolved into dementia. Transito’s maternal shackles to her son served to cause her to worry immensely for his future and happiness, and as her spiral into dementia came to a close, much time had passed, and all that was left of the strong woman was a heartbroken husk of whom she once was. Nearing the end of her life, she could only see the resemblance her son had to his father who had left her decades ago, and she became upset because he had been, “gone for so long.” However, in seeing the man she loved in the face of her son, she believed he had finally come back to her allowing her acquire a small amount of closure before her death. In both the short story and the film, the bond of family shackled the discussed characters mentally, emotionally, and even physically. As shown in Judith Cofer’s The Myth of the Latin Woman, one’s culture can, at times, act as heavy chains that shackle an individual, often times of those of a minority.
In the short story, Cofer, the narrator, recalls moments in her life in which she has been stereotyped as a Maria or Evita over the top stereotypical Latina “hot tamale,” and how she dealt with those situations(Cofer). As a Latin American woman, she was brought up in a home in which the ideals and morals of “proper senoritas” was often conflicting with that which what was displayed by the older women in her life. As a young girl, she saw how the attire which was seen as formal and appropriate to most Latin women differed greatly from that of the Anglo woman, and she was conflicted because she had no one to model herself by. As she grew older, she questioned why she was expected to “ripen, not just grow into womanhood like other girls,” and later came to the conclusion that some men and even women outside of the Latin community would only see her as an object of sex, not thinking of whether or not she would be offended by their comments(Cofer). The film also demonstrates this through Fermina Daza’s father Lorenzo. Lorenzo, after forbidding his daughter from marrying the man she loved due to his low standard in society, explains to his daughter that she is simply too beautiful to go to such waste and that he has high expectations of her. He believes that she could not be so beautiful to not marry a man of wealth, and hopes only for his daughter to do so. Fermina is seen as a possession or prize, by her father, and he exploits this fact in order to marry her off to a wealthy doctor by the name of Dr. Juvenal Urbino, but not before convincing her that Florentino was a man unsuitable to even be considered as a suitor. Both the film and short story’s protagonists have experienced the weight of their shackles that their culture placed on them, however they were able to overcome them through their own
will. In Allende’s And of Clay We Are Created, loyalty inspired by love is depicted through Rolf Carle and his devotion to the young girl he desperately attempted to save. This same sense of loyalty shows how a person can be shackled and forever bound to another through love. In the work, after filming the discovery of Azucena, Carle vows to never leave her side and promises that he would bring her out to safety, as a result of his determination to “snatch her from death” (Allende). He is shown going to great lengths in his attempts at rescuing her, however none of them prevailed. Unfortunately, after two whole exhausting nights in icy water, clay, and debris, Azucena had lost her battle and passed away like a “flower in mud,” into the night of third day (Allende). Because Carle had grown to love the girl, he remained a loyal and devoted friend till the bittersweet end, forever keeping her in his heart. The film parallels the concept of loyalty through Florentino’s devotion and almost obsession with Fermina. Throughout the years that proceed Fermina’s betrayal to him, Florentino, despite his numerous affairs, always kept Fermina in his heart. Though it brought him pain and sorrow to see her in the arms of another man, he never wavered in his spiritual virtue and continued to preserve his love only for her. His loyalty is finally rewarded after more than fifty years when Fermina’s husband dies, and he is able to once again outwardly pursue her. Florentino ignored his own misery and despair and remained ever faithful to his “crowned goddess,” due to the love he held for her. The concept of loyalty is carried through the short story and the film by the dramatis personae that were discussed and present in both works. Through their love, they formed unbreakable bonds of loyalty, that shackled them to their loved ones. Through these works of art, their artists have implied that the invisible shackles of family, culture, and loyalty can effect a person mentally and even physically. In both Marquez’s film and Allende’s work, the characters discussed were familiarly bound to others, and as a result they were emotionally shackled, however through those on the other end of those shackles, they were both able to resolve their own internally repressed issues. As shown in the film and in Cofer’s short story, culture can at times bind Latin women through stereotyping and gender roles. And finally, Allende’s short story and in Marquez’s film suggest that through loyalty, unwavering devotion can form everlasting shackles that bind them to those they care for. Despite all, these impenetrable bonds that can act as heavy chains can also act as our validation of our own humanity. It is only human for us to make connections and assumptions on the people and environment that surrounds us. Despite our differences as individuals, each of us can create a familiar bond, whether it is through the love given to us by our parents or even the lack thereof it. Each of us can be chained through our culture, and the length of that chain is determined by our race, ethnicity, or nationality. And each of us can create a bond through loyalty whether it is through love, or devotion, or any other factor. Whether it is where we come from, the color of our skin, our appearance, what language we speak, our gender, or who we choose to love, all of these are dependents that allow us to differentiate from one another, yet we as humans have more things in common then we allow ourselves to believe.