Josie Mendez-Negrete’s novel, Las Hijas de Juan: Daughters Betrayed, is a very disturbing tale about brutal domestic abuse and incest. Negrete’s novel is an autobiography regarding experiences of incest in a working-class Mexican American family. It is Josie Mendez-Negrete’s story of how she, her siblings, and her mother survived years of violence and sexual abuse at the hands of her father. “Las Hijas de Juan" is told chronologically, from the time Mendez-Negrete was a child until she was a young adult trying, along with the rest of her family, to come to terms with her father 's brutal legacy. It is a upsetting story of abuse and shame compounded by cultural and linguistic isolation and a system of patriarchy that devalues the experiences of women and girls. At the same time, "Las Hijas de Juan" is an inspirational tale, filled with strong women and hard-won solace found in traditional Mexican cooking, songs, and storytelling.…
Ernesto was a little kid who only spoke Spanish and can't trust others, then he came across the principle is the only person Ernesto can trust. He moved from Mexico to America. He was scared and he couldn't trust other people. He also met other kids that moved from different parts of the world. Ernesto has met the principal name Miss Nettie Hopley. She was the only person Ernesto trusted in the whole entire school. There were Italian, Portuguese, Korean, and Polish first graders. As you can see this was the life of Ernesto Galarza.…
Enrique’s story follows a young boy from Honduras life and journey to America. The author Sonia Nazario goal was to convey the truth about migrating and the horrors of coming to the US. After speaking with her maid carmen and Carmen’s son Minor she realized that the journey was very common and man single mothers left their children in central America to pursue income to send back to their homeland to take care of their families. Enrique’s mother Lourdes is an example of a single mother like carmen coming to America to help support he family.…
Mixing locations and time periods allowed Díaz to create a novel with high political and cultural significance. The characters challenge the social norms of their place and time, for example Lola presenting herself as a “Banshees-loving punk chick” to the dismay of her mother, and in a completely different time period Lola’s grandfather doing the unspeakable and challenging the rule of the Dominican dictator (54). For characters like Beli and Abelard, Oscar and Lola’s grandfather, their storylines draw on the impact that the government, especially the ruthless ruler, Trujillo, has on their lives. Further down the line though Oscar, Lola and Yunior do not have to live under a harsh dictatorship in the Dominican Republic, they do have to cope with the always-increasing social pressures of growing up in America as Hispanic immigrants, exhibiting the deviations in social and cultural aspects of life as time…
Esperanza has to learn how sweep, care for babies, and take care for her mom that has valley fever who need to go to the hospital. She is having a hard time to adjust having living a life envied by princesses to a life that is hard not to pity upon, her bratty side is shown. Unlike Esperanza who deals with cleaning Diego escapes from prison with only one objective find his daughter, but his got sidetracked only to find a man who he help back in the days when he was Zorro named Alejandro. As Hollywood would have it this man’s brother was murdered and now he is plotting to avenge him. So Diego takes him in and trains him to become a new Zorro. While training Diego makes Alejandro go to a ball and tells him to spy on Don Rafael who stole Diego’s daughter and basically killed his wife.…
Juana looks to her father with pride, as Miguel is shown to be a pillar that his family has come to lean on. Miguel works hard as a campesino in a cornfield…
The characters within this play are Margarita(the swimmer) Simon(the brother), Aida(the mother), Eduardo(the father), and Abeula(the grandmother). Margarita Suarez, a nineteen year old girl has entered a contest to swim from San Pedro to Santa Catalina. The relationship between this family is vital to the play. Milcha Sanchez-Scott uses drama and humor to shape this play whilst the help of language, ethnicity, and her ability to capture the audience's attention at the right time. Sanchez-Scott also uses frequent references towards religion which is a link between her personal life and her work. While Margarita is swimming through the Pacific Ocean, her family is trailing behind her in a boat. During the beginning part of the play everything is calm and the audience begins to get to know a little about the family. The language the characters speak plays an incredible role within the play because it's mostly in English and Spanish, which gives the audience a sense of who the Suarez family really is. The language signifies that the characters are Cuban whilst providing the reader with enough information to understand the Eduardo and Aida Suarez's(Margarita's mother and father) daily life struggle and their stories of traveling to America. They fled Cuba to come to America for what most would call, the American dream.…
Esperanza has just gotten her first job and her first kiss, not the way she probably wanted. She grew up a little wanting to help her parents pay for her public school. In Esperanza’s growing up it showed that she is a maturing in a good way that will help her in the long…
The characters in the novel are Tita, the youngest daughter prohibited of loving a man since she will never marry as her life purpose is to care for her mother. Pedro Muzquiz, Tita's forbidden lover. Elena de la Garza, Tita's controlling mother who prohibits the marriage between Tita and Pedro. Rosaura, Tita's older sister which marries Pedro by suggestion of Mama Elena. Gertudis, The oldest sister which is later revealed in the novel of being the love child of Mama Elena's true love which was also forbidden being a mulato there was no way that their love would have been accepted during those times. Nacha, the family cook that taught Tita everything she knew in the kitchen. Nacha cared for Tita since she was a baby and was more of a mother figure than her mother…
Fulgencio, el fotógrapho, roams the Mexican countryside, taking pictures. He misses the bus because he’d spent too much time cajoling doña Elvira Cantos. Yesterday, he’d photographed the famed masked wrestler El Santo without his mask, and plans to sell the photos to La Tribuna and become famous. He goes into a cantina for a drink when a hippie gringo, Jaime, offers him a ride. They leave in his Ford station wagon, filled with merchandise. Fulgencio offers to…
He is a sharp, cruel, and deadly military officer trained in only killing and has been hunting Alejandro ever since his brothers’ death. Another Devil Figure is Don Rafael, Captain Love’s Commander, and Diego’s nemesis. Rafael took away Diego’s wife, Esperanza de la Vega, and his daughter to raise as his own, Elena de la Vega. With Diego losing everything he held so dear to him, he has the motivation to train Alejandro, because they both understand what it is to lose everything. You see the battle between Good Versus Evil and Heaven Versus Hell between the Mentor and the Hero against the evil and corruption that has taken away their…
Contrary to his belief or “version” of masculinity holding the key to his dreams, it was his genuine personality and gentle character that attracted his crush Blanca Saldivia. Blanca, a Pentecostal girl who was praised by all those who knew her due to the pureness and beauty she possessed, was captivated by Julio’s non-violent nature. It separated Chino from the rest of the young hooligans like his best friend or “pana” Sapo. His dream of…
• Juana: A 12 years old girl with black hair, she was thin, very innocent, poor, aggressive and honest. She had a hard life and always felt guilty of the death of her little sister. Her purpose was to find her father in “El otro Lado”. She is the main character of this book and she will live the hardest times of her life trying to find her missing father.…
In his book, “Bless Me, Ultima”, author Rudolfo Anaya documents through a fictional novel, the life experiences of a child, Antonio, who is deeply conflicted by his cultural and religious identity, he describes the struggles, the tragedies, and the dilemmas that this young boy has to endure and witness throughout his life. The book takes place in different cities throughout New Mexico. Divided into 22 different chapters the author records the predicaments that Antonio experiments as he struggles to find his moral independence. Rudolfo Anaya supports his text with very detailed stories that bring the characters to life for the reader. For the purpose of this book review, the reader will discuss how a conflicted boy in search for his true identity…
Following a horrific shooting of the towns sheriff by Lupito, a damaged and disturbed returning Mexican G.I. – Antonio witnesses Lupito’s own murder on the river by his father, and a group of towns men seeking vengeance for the senseless murder of the sheriff by Lupito. Here, Antonio sees how Narciso, the town drunk is kinder even than his own father, as Narciso tries to prevent the group of men from killing Lupito – but fails.…