Literature can have a big impact on how readers interpret various character roles represented in a text. In our North American society, the way that different individuals are constructed in literature may also play a role in formulating the assumed identities of people who read the literature. This can also be said for the way that different groups in society are portrayed through media. According to the book The SAGE Handbook of Gender and Communication, by Brooks and Hebert, “how individuals construct their social identities, how they understand what it means to be male, female…is shaped by commidified texts produced by media…” (297). In other words, media and other forms of communication that consumers will revel in play a big role in how specific groups are looked at in society. In this way, then, authors play a big part in portraying social constructs, such as gender, in whatever way seems fitting to them.
The roles that women play in the literature of a specific culture is very important for determining the functions in society that women undertake. Women who read about themselves portrayed as weak and subservient may reinforce that stereotype by actually living in this manner. Women in literature who are given strong and independent roles, though, may encourage women readers to stand up for themselves. The women present in the novels required for this Latino Literature class are given various occupations and family positions, ranging from upper level government jobs to traditional domestic vocations. Despite these various positions, Latino women in these novels, whatever their role, must learn to adjust to the prevalence of machismo displayed by men.
Because many of the stories in Latino literature deal with families adjusting to the displaced feeling of living in the United States from another country, the male characters feel as if they need to exert their control over women because they feel disempowered by the Anglos in the United States culture. According to the article “Times of Conflict: Bless Me, Ultima as a Novel of Acculturation,” by Debra B. Black, men who feel this way will exert their power over women because it is the one thing left in their life over which they have control (147). This idea is especially prominent in the novels Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya, Bodega Dreams, by Ernesto Quiñonez, and Dreaming in Cuban, by Cristina Garcia, even though they are placed in different settings and life situations. However, what ties these novels all together is the emphasis women place on going against this machismo, by asserting their independence in following their personal dreams and striving to keep their family units together through the difficult process of acculturation.
The novel Bless Me, Ultima, fits perfectly into this categorization because it has the strong female character of Ultima. Ultima is a traditional curandera who comes to live with the Marez family when Antonio, the protagonist, is only seven years old. She immediately has a strong impact on Antonio, and begins to teach him some of her curing techniques. However, the strongest influence Ultima has on Antonio is giving him strength to make his own decision about his destiny. In fact, Ultima’s influence feels almost unnatural to Antonio: “I felt Ultima’s hand on my head and at the same time I felt a great force, like a whirlwind, swirl around me. I looked up in fright, thinking the wind would knock me off my knees. Ultima’s bright eyes held me still” (Anaya 58). Ultima’s power may be bizarre, but it is very effective, as she is able to vanquish evil curses, and does so with Antonio’s uncle Lucas and the Tellez family (Anaya 95, 240). However, her healing methods do not agree with everyone, especially the town drunk, Tenorio, whose daughters are known to be witches who put the curses on both Lucas and the Tellez family. Tenorio, a male, feels threatened by Ultima’s powers and the fact that she may is trying to destroy his daughters, and decides to kill her. Despite Ultima’s healing powers, then, she is still looked at as a threat by some of the males in the novel.
One of the reasons Ultima feels this tension from some of the males is because she is using her powers to “break out of traditional cultural roles assigned to women” (Black 159). Even though the curandera position is traditional in Chicano culture, because the characters in this novel are experiencing a time of crises with their acculturation, the special powers of women like Ultima could feel threatening to patriarchal order (Black 159). Before Ultima came to live with the Marez family, she was free to as she pleased, staying within the guidelines of a traditional curandera. However, with the new order in Bless Me, Ultima, Ultima finds herself contained by the head of the Marez family, Gabriel, and to a certain extent, Antonio, who accompanies her on all her assignments. Essentially, as Ultima passes her knowledge to Antonio, she loses her own past and power by giving it to him, a sign of giving up her independence to a male (Black 160).
Even though Ultima does give in to the machismo of Latino culture, one could say that she does it to keep the Marez family together. She makes an independent decision to give Antonio guidance for deciding his own fate so as to ease the tension between his mother and father. This also shows that she does not have males completely controlling her life, but instead is acting for the family. Ultima, on her deathbed, tells Antonio that she realizes her independence has cost her life: “You must understand that when anybody…curandera….or sinner, tampers with the fate of a man that sometimes a chain of events is set into motion over which no one will have ultimate control.” (Anaya 80) Ultima, then, goes against the stream of machismo sentiment in order to aid her adopted family.
Bodega Dreams is a Puerto Rican novel that takes place in a completely different timeframe and setting than Bless Me, Ultima, but still contains the same themes of women having to adjust to the accentuated machismo resulting from acculturation. However, as with the strong character of Ultima in Bless Me, Ultima, Blanca of Bodega Dreams holds onto her independent dreams and works hard to keep her family together, despite being pregnant. Bodega Dreams takes place in New York City ’s Spanish Harlem, traditionally a lower income part of the city. Many outsiders of this area look at the citizens as being delinquents or drug dealers, which penetrates to the mindset of the people who actually live there. The narrator of this novel, Chino , (Blanca’s husband) recalls his school days in Spanish Harlem, remembering that he and his classmates “were almost convinced that our race [Puerto Rican] had no culture, no smart people…” (Quiñonez 6). Because of this inherent mindset, many Puerto Rican youngsters have trouble getting out of the cycle of poverty.
Blanca, however, does not share this attitude, and she and Chino are able to get into Hunter College Chino to get good jobs and buy a nicer house where they can raise their children in a respectful, acculturated manner. Blanca also thinks like a feminist in that she wants to make decisions about the family with Chino and not just go along with what he says. However, this ideal begins to become threatened when Chino lines himself up with Willie Bodega and his dream for rebuilding the neighborhood.
When Chino meets Willie Bodega through his old ‘pana’ Sapo, he realizes that he may have discovered a way to achieve upward mobility without the difficulties of attaining a college education. According to the article “On Bodega Dreams,” by Nicole P. Marwell, Bodega’s assistance appeals to Chino because it is a quick solution to his problem of getting out of Spanish Harlem (463). However, it could also be because Chino wants to show Blanca that he has control over their situation, thus revealing his masculine role in the family. Blanca, however, does not like Chino associating with Sapo and Bodega, and eventually confronts Chino after he purchases a new apartment from Bodega without telling her (Quiñonez 60).
Despite these difficulties with their marriage, Blanca continues to attend all her classes at Hunter and remains very involved in her Pentecostal church, thus retaining independence from Chino ’s machismo assertions. However, Chino continues to keep secrets from Blanca about his involvement with Bodega, so Blanca decides to leave him. By doing this, she physically defies Chino ’s machismo and does what she thinks is best for their unborn child.
The novel Dreaming in Cuban portrays yet another group of Latinos than the previously discussed texts, and also takes place in a different timeframe and setting. This novel revolves around three generations of women in the same family, showing their struggles and joys in trying to acculturate to the political conflict between Cuba and the United States . Because of the Cuban Revolution, the new Communist government creates conflict between Cubans who support the new regime and those who want democracy. This, then, is the conflict of the del Pino family, as about half of its members support the revolution, and the other half are against it.
Celia del Pino, the matriarch of the family, is the first to be introduced in the novel as an elderly woman who is grieving the death of her husband on a beach of Cuba Spain . When Gustavo left, Celia became inconsolable and seriously sick for over half a year. However, during this time Jorge, an American businessman, came to court her, and they got married. Jorge’s business trips took him to the United States often, and so he sent Celia to live with his mother and sister, who scorned her, in order to punish her for still being in love with Gustavo (Garcia 41). Celia cannot put up with her in-laws, though, and ends up going insane because of their treatment. Upon having their first child, Celia pronounces “I will not remember her name” (Garcia 43).
The treatment Celia receives from her husband was a result of the machismo inherent in Cuban culture. This machismo ruins her relationship with her daughter Lourdes , and therefore causes a divide in the family. Despite the problems Celia has with the controlling man in her life, she retains an independent spirit, and decides to support the Cuban Revolution, which her husband is against because the United States is against the dictatorship. As she grows older, she also continues to keep her family together, worrying about her poor relationship with her daughter Lourdes and the decision Felicia, her second daughter, has made to leave school (Garcia 164).
For Celia, then, the relationships she has with her daughters is very important to how she views herself her independence as a woman. According to the article “From Alienation to Reconciliation in Garcia’s Novels,” by Katherine B. Payant, because Celia gets her destiny decided for her by the men in her life, the relationships with her daughters become part of a shared history of the oppression of women, and assist her in finding self-acceptance (170). Toward the end of the novel, after Jorge has died, both Lourdes and her daughter Pilar go to visit Celia in Cuba , after they have not been there for many years (Garcia 203). Through this act, the family is again able to reunite, if only for a short time. When Lourdes and Pilar leave, though, with Celia’s only remaining Cuban family, Ivanito, she loses the purpose in her life and commits suicide in the ocean (Garcia 243). Even though Celia’s suicide is a dissonant ending to Dreaming in Cuban, it shows an ultimate assertion of independence. Celia did, in effect, also bring her family back together in having them come back to Cuba for a final time. Because of this, Celia’s goals are achieved full circle.
All in all, the strong women in these novels show command of the machismo they face by asserting their independence while also working to keep their families together. Even though Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban cultures vary extensively, the authors of these texts have portrayed the women in a positive manner, giving them will power and purpose. Female readers of these three Latino texts should be able to take heart in the women characters and find strength to emanate their purpose.
Works Cited
Anaya, Rudolfo. Bless Me, Ultima. New York City
Black, Debra B. "Times of Conflict: Bless Me, Ultima as a Novel of Acculturation." Bilingual Review 25.2 (2000): 146-61. Academic Search Premier. Web. 8 Apr. 2012.Brooks, Dwight E., and Lisa P. Hebert. Gender, Race, and Media Representation. The SAGE Handbook of Gender and Communication. By Bonnie J. Dow and Julia T. Wood. Thousand Oaks , CA
Davis, Rocio G. "Back To The Future: Mothers, Languages, And Homes In Cristina Garcia's `Dreaming In Cuban'." World Literature Today 74.1 (2000): 60. Academic Search Premier. Web. 8 Apr. 2012.
Dwyer, June. "When Willie Met Gatsby: The Critical Implications of Ernesto Quinonez's Bodega Dreams." LIT: Literature Interpretation Theory 14.2 (2003): 165-79.Academic Search Premier. Web. 8 Apr. 2012.
Garcia, Cristina. Dreaming in Cuban. New York City
Marwell, Nicole P. "On Bodega Dreams." Sociological Forum 24.2 (2009): 461-64.Academic Search Premier. Web. 8 Apr. 2012. Payant, Katherine B. "From Alienation to Reconciliation in the Novels of Cristina Garcia." Rev. of Dreaming in Cuban & The Aguero Sisters. MELUS 26.3 (2001): 163-83.Academic Search Premier. Web. 8 Apr. 2012.
Marwell, Nicole P. "On Bodega Dreams." Sociological Forum 24.2 (2009): 461-64.Academic Search Premier. Web. 8 Apr. 2012.
Quinonez, Ernesto. Bodega Dreams. New York City
