Redefining the Chicana Woman
Sandra Cisneros sheds new light on the gender roles, expectations, and stereotypes imposed on chicana women in her collection of short stories, Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories. From elementary school to womanhood, through various perspectives, Cisneros describes the struggles of a chicana woman living in a border town, torn between staying true to her culture and staying true to herself. Every culture has unreasonable expectations for its people, especially women. Realistically, however, not everyone fits inside that perfect tiny box of standards. Mexican culture is no different. Therefore, in many of these short stories, this is the conflict that these women are faced with. The problem of how to reject …show more content…
The term was coined by Sigmund Freud and refers to a common male view of women in which they are considered to be either a “virgin/madonna” or a “whore”, but nothing in between. The virgin figure is sometimes, but not always, a literal virgin, she is the woman who is faithful to her man, and has wifely and motherly qualities such as being submissive, passive, compassionate and caring. This is the kind of woman that a man sees as fit for marriage and a lifetime commitment, however, she is of no interest to him sexually. Inversely, the whore figure holds great sexual value to a man because of her experience and mysteriousness. However, she is also considered dirty, impure, and unfit for marriage. She is too used and worn to be considered a good wife, and there is a higher chance that she could be disloyal. In Freud’s own words, “Where such men love they have no desire and where they desire they cannot love” (Freud, 1912). In the eyes of a man suffering from this complex a woman could potentially go from virgin to whore as she becomes less desirable to him, explaining one of the many reasons that men are unfaithful. When the two first meet, the woman is sexually appealing because there is conquest and a prize, but after she has sex with him, her value actually decreases because she is considered dirty and used. Therefore, a double standard is presented as women are expected to be madonna or whore, …show more content…
Right off the bat, the main character, Clemencia, makes it clear that she is not interested in marrying any man, much less a Mexican, when she says, “ I’ve never married and I never will. Not because I couldn’t, but because I’m too romantic for marriage. Marriage has failed me, you could say. Not a man exists who hasn’t disappointed me....better not to marry than live a lie” (Cisneros, 69). She has been disappointed more than once, by her parents’ marriage, by her sister’s marriage, and presumably by past relationships. She has decided that marriage is simply not for her. This, however, does not stop her from fulfilling her sexual needs, hence, she becomes a textbook “whore”, or so it seems at first. “I’m vindictive and cruel, and I’m capable of anything” (Cisneros, 68). She admits that she is guilty of destroying lives, yet she is thrilled by the power it gives
Sandra Cisneros sheds new light on the gender roles, expectations, and stereotypes imposed on chicana women in her collection of short stories, Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories. From elementary school to womanhood, through various perspectives, Cisneros describes the struggles of a chicana woman living in a border town, torn between staying true to her culture and staying true to herself. Every culture has unreasonable expectations for its people, especially women. Realistically, however, not everyone fits inside that perfect tiny box of standards. Mexican culture is no different. Therefore, in many of these short stories, this is the conflict that these women are faced with. The problem of how to reject …show more content…
The term was coined by Sigmund Freud and refers to a common male view of women in which they are considered to be either a “virgin/madonna” or a “whore”, but nothing in between. The virgin figure is sometimes, but not always, a literal virgin, she is the woman who is faithful to her man, and has wifely and motherly qualities such as being submissive, passive, compassionate and caring. This is the kind of woman that a man sees as fit for marriage and a lifetime commitment, however, she is of no interest to him sexually. Inversely, the whore figure holds great sexual value to a man because of her experience and mysteriousness. However, she is also considered dirty, impure, and unfit for marriage. She is too used and worn to be considered a good wife, and there is a higher chance that she could be disloyal. In Freud’s own words, “Where such men love they have no desire and where they desire they cannot love” (Freud, 1912). In the eyes of a man suffering from this complex a woman could potentially go from virgin to whore as she becomes less desirable to him, explaining one of the many reasons that men are unfaithful. When the two first meet, the woman is sexually appealing because there is conquest and a prize, but after she has sex with him, her value actually decreases because she is considered dirty and used. Therefore, a double standard is presented as women are expected to be madonna or whore, …show more content…
Right off the bat, the main character, Clemencia, makes it clear that she is not interested in marrying any man, much less a Mexican, when she says, “ I’ve never married and I never will. Not because I couldn’t, but because I’m too romantic for marriage. Marriage has failed me, you could say. Not a man exists who hasn’t disappointed me....better not to marry than live a lie” (Cisneros, 69). She has been disappointed more than once, by her parents’ marriage, by her sister’s marriage, and presumably by past relationships. She has decided that marriage is simply not for her. This, however, does not stop her from fulfilling her sexual needs, hence, she becomes a textbook “whore”, or so it seems at first. “I’m vindictive and cruel, and I’m capable of anything” (Cisneros, 68). She admits that she is guilty of destroying lives, yet she is thrilled by the power it gives