Throughout the history, woman have been viewed as a companion and complement of the male figure, but also, as individuals without rights. Women had always been discriminated, humiliated, and relegated only to the role of wives and mothers.
Therefore, it not unusual that in the middle of 19th. Century, Mexican women in California have been seen as “bad girls”. The truth is that women have never had the real place they deserved in world society.
In the Essay, “Anglo American Stereotypes of Californianas”, by Antonia Castañeda, woman is portrayed in wide opposite different ways. Sometimes they are seen as purely sexual objects, other instead, as pure, innocent, and delicate individuals. Castañeda used different author’s books in her essay. …show more content…
Thomas Jefferson Farnham, as well, described California’s people based on their racial backgrounds, criticizing Indian’s heritages. He described Californians as, “imbecile, pusillanimous race of men…the ladies, dear creatures, I wish they were whiter” (p. 163). Unfortunately, Dana and Farnham, were mere visitors in California and didn’t have the opportunity to create a relationship with these people. Dana based his arguments based on Californianas’ fashion and appearance, as she states, “Nothing is more common than to see a woman living in a house of only two rooms, with the ground for a floor, dressed in spangled satin shoes, silk gown, high comb, gilt if not gold, earring and necklace” (p.162). Both authors, based their opinions on insignificant things like fashion, or on …show more content…
We should not forget that before the conquest, California was part of Mexico, thus, Californiana had mestizo racial origins. Then the Mexican woman image portrayed in the literature of the gold rush, not only denigrates its gender, but also denies its mixed racial backgrounds. However, as Castañeda clearly states, “The Mexican prostitute and the Spanish Californiana are totally unrelated by race, culture, class, history or circumstance” (p. 166). The representation was made according to the time in which the authors Dana, Fernham, and Robinson, visited or lived in California; that means before or after the conquest. Unfortunately, “these dual images have become the standard view of Californianas for the entire nineteenth century in the historical, as well as the novelist, poetic, and popular literature” (p. 167). In reality, these dual images emerged on the same Californianas, but with different citizenship. In other words, before the conquest of California by the United States, Californianas were Mexican, hence they were prostitutes; but, after the conquest, Californianas were Americans, therefore they were no longer
Therefore, it not unusual that in the middle of 19th. Century, Mexican women in California have been seen as “bad girls”. The truth is that women have never had the real place they deserved in world society.
In the Essay, “Anglo American Stereotypes of Californianas”, by Antonia Castañeda, woman is portrayed in wide opposite different ways. Sometimes they are seen as purely sexual objects, other instead, as pure, innocent, and delicate individuals. Castañeda used different author’s books in her essay. …show more content…
Thomas Jefferson Farnham, as well, described California’s people based on their racial backgrounds, criticizing Indian’s heritages. He described Californians as, “imbecile, pusillanimous race of men…the ladies, dear creatures, I wish they were whiter” (p. 163). Unfortunately, Dana and Farnham, were mere visitors in California and didn’t have the opportunity to create a relationship with these people. Dana based his arguments based on Californianas’ fashion and appearance, as she states, “Nothing is more common than to see a woman living in a house of only two rooms, with the ground for a floor, dressed in spangled satin shoes, silk gown, high comb, gilt if not gold, earring and necklace” (p.162). Both authors, based their opinions on insignificant things like fashion, or on …show more content…
We should not forget that before the conquest, California was part of Mexico, thus, Californiana had mestizo racial origins. Then the Mexican woman image portrayed in the literature of the gold rush, not only denigrates its gender, but also denies its mixed racial backgrounds. However, as Castañeda clearly states, “The Mexican prostitute and the Spanish Californiana are totally unrelated by race, culture, class, history or circumstance” (p. 166). The representation was made according to the time in which the authors Dana, Fernham, and Robinson, visited or lived in California; that means before or after the conquest. Unfortunately, “these dual images have become the standard view of Californianas for the entire nineteenth century in the historical, as well as the novelist, poetic, and popular literature” (p. 167). In reality, these dual images emerged on the same Californianas, but with different citizenship. In other words, before the conquest of California by the United States, Californianas were Mexican, hence they were prostitutes; but, after the conquest, Californianas were Americans, therefore they were no longer