Womanhood of “Never Marry a Mexican” Womanhood is not designed by physical appearance on the outside; it is distinguished by characteristics and qualities on the inside. In the short story “Never Marry a Mexican” by Sandra Cisneros there are several types of womanhood to explore. Three characters of the short story that exhibit three different type’s womanhood are Clemencia, the mother, and Megan, the wife of Drew. There are varying concepts of womanhood represented in Sandra Cisneros’s “Never Marry a Mexican” that lead to conflicts among perceptions of females with consequences for the characters. Clemencia is a typical representation of the temptress type of womanhood. A temptress is a woman who uses men and leads them on in a seductive
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Her mother is a “traitorous mother” (Fitts). She is a traitor to her own culture, herself, her husband and her children. She is very selfish woman who is dependent upon a man. Clemencia’s mother wanted to be able to live her life without being tied down to children once her father had passed away. She neglected her children to be with the white man. Clemencia states, “Once Daddy was gone, it was like my ma didn’t exist, like if she had died too” (Cisneros 112). Clemencia states that “Ma always sick and too busy to worry about her own life, she would have sold us to the Devil if she could” (Cisneros 112-113). She was a traitor to herself because she married too young stating “I never had a chance to be young” (Cisneros 113). She is a traitor to her husband because she was seeing another man “even while my (Clemencia) father was sick” (Cisneros 113). She is a traitor to her own culture because she wants to teach Clemencia to “never marry a Mexican” (Cisneros 109). She was teaching her children this even though she had married a Mexican man. She felt terrible about her culture and did not want her children to experience these things. Clemencia states that “I guess she did it to spare me and Ximena the pain she went through. Having married a Mexican man at seventeen.” (Cisneros …show more content…
Clemencia’s mother left her feeling like she did not belong anywhere and was not worthy of anyone’s love. It is not only her advice that has damaged Clemencia but her mother is very negative about their culture. Clemencia has seen her mother live an awful life of marring too young to a Mexican man and raising his children. The experiences of Clemencia’s childhood and being neglected by her mother have led Clemencia to be a lonely woman who does not know how to love or be loved. She falls in love with an unavailable man at nineteen and spends the remainder of her life pining for a relationship that never existed. Clemencia feels like an outsider. She does not feel like she fits among her neighbors because of the nice things she owns and she does not fit among the upper class because of her socioeconomic status. The rejection from her mother has left Clemencia feeling like an unworthy
Her mother is a “traitorous mother” (Fitts). She is a traitor to her own culture, herself, her husband and her children. She is very selfish woman who is dependent upon a man. Clemencia’s mother wanted to be able to live her life without being tied down to children once her father had passed away. She neglected her children to be with the white man. Clemencia states, “Once Daddy was gone, it was like my ma didn’t exist, like if she had died too” (Cisneros 112). Clemencia states that “Ma always sick and too busy to worry about her own life, she would have sold us to the Devil if she could” (Cisneros 112-113). She was a traitor to herself because she married too young stating “I never had a chance to be young” (Cisneros 113). She is a traitor to her husband because she was seeing another man “even while my (Clemencia) father was sick” (Cisneros 113). She is a traitor to her own culture because she wants to teach Clemencia to “never marry a Mexican” (Cisneros 109). She was teaching her children this even though she had married a Mexican man. She felt terrible about her culture and did not want her children to experience these things. Clemencia states that “I guess she did it to spare me and Ximena the pain she went through. Having married a Mexican man at seventeen.” (Cisneros …show more content…
Clemencia’s mother left her feeling like she did not belong anywhere and was not worthy of anyone’s love. It is not only her advice that has damaged Clemencia but her mother is very negative about their culture. Clemencia has seen her mother live an awful life of marring too young to a Mexican man and raising his children. The experiences of Clemencia’s childhood and being neglected by her mother have led Clemencia to be a lonely woman who does not know how to love or be loved. She falls in love with an unavailable man at nineteen and spends the remainder of her life pining for a relationship that never existed. Clemencia feels like an outsider. She does not feel like she fits among her neighbors because of the nice things she owns and she does not fit among the upper class because of her socioeconomic status. The rejection from her mother has left Clemencia feeling like an unworthy