Women often find themselves filling roles they never asked to be in. Yxta Maya Murray captures the roles that Latina women find themselves in. Murray’s novel Locas is based around the lives of two young women, Lucia and Cecilia, as they attempt to escape the roles that have been forced upon them by their gender. …
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In Denise Chávez’s Loving Pedro Infante she details the way that mass hysteria surrounding the fantasy of “celebrity” can alter reality. The protagonist of Chavez’s novel is young woman named Tere Avíla. Tere and her best friend Irma’s everyday lives are consumed by Mexican pop singer and cinematic icon Pedro Infante. This is despite the …
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In Angie Cruz’s Soledad we are asked to consider the various ways that a woman’s identity is shaped by the men in her life. We are introduced to five women and the way their lives are controlled by the circumstances laid down by the men in their lives. Donette Francis in her article entitled “Novel …
Women and religion historically have a complicated relationship. Institutionalized religion is largely responsible for the way women are viewed in today’s society. Judith Ortiz Cofer uses the chapter entitled “The Purpose of Nuns” in her novel The Latin Deli to show the separation of the female body from the female spirit. This is done so …
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In Sandra Cisneros’s novel The House on Mango Street the main character, Esperanza, struggles to define herself outside of the circumstances she was born into. Esperanza is a young, Latin American woman going through adolescence. We are shown the obstacles she is faced with during the pre-teen years of her life. One of the greatest …
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Kate's Latino/a Literature in English Blog