The Moths And Other Short Stories By Helena Maria Viramontes
Velasco, Jonathan
ENGL 375
Ethnic Writers
March 9, 2015
Writing Response #1 In the novel The Moths And Other Short Stories, Helena Maria Viramontes writes the life’s struggles of what Latinas in Los Angeles, and maybe around the world, may have to experience through the different Latina characters in the novel. Each chapter represents a different experience these Latinas may face as they become adolescents and enter adulthood. The characters in the novel cover different aspects of a Latina’s life as they experience abortion, religion, family culture and even death. These experiences are told by Viramontes, who herself is Latina and grew up in Los Angeles, where the novel’s setting takes place. Although it is not confirmed that these experiences …show more content…
In Black Matters, Morrison writes, “It is an investigation into the ways in which a nonwhite, African-like (or Africanist) presence or persona was constructed in the United States, and the imaginative uses of this fabricated presence” (Morrison 6). The idea of an “African-life presence or persona" can also be applied to Mexican-Americans and various characters from the film A Day Without A Mexican as a result of stereotyping Mexicans. In the film, Mexicans are portrayed as gangsters who commit crimes and run from the police, hobbyists who take a 1964 Chevrolet and add a hydraulics system to make the car jump and workers who stand on a street corner waiting to be chosen for a manual labor job but being paid less than minimum wage. The stereotypes presented in the film create the perception that all Mexicans and Mexican-Americans have these characteristics when in reality, they may not have these characteristics. These stereotypes are created from what society perceives Mexicans to be. Imagination is what fuels these stereotypes and these stereotypes may lead to the realm of racism as they begin to become extreme in their ideology. A culture’s history may also add the list of stereotypes of a Mexican or Mexican-American. Growing up in high school, I went to a predominately Mexican-American and African-American school. Contrary to popular belief, a lot of my friend’s parents were not gardeners; their family members were not illegal immigrants; and none of them owned low riders that jumped 10 feet into the air. The only stereotype that I may see my friends fit into is the family culture of a Mexican-American family. Just as in The Moths And Other Short Stories, in particular “The Moths,”
ENGL 375
Ethnic Writers
March 9, 2015
Writing Response #1 In the novel The Moths And Other Short Stories, Helena Maria Viramontes writes the life’s struggles of what Latinas in Los Angeles, and maybe around the world, may have to experience through the different Latina characters in the novel. Each chapter represents a different experience these Latinas may face as they become adolescents and enter adulthood. The characters in the novel cover different aspects of a Latina’s life as they experience abortion, religion, family culture and even death. These experiences are told by Viramontes, who herself is Latina and grew up in Los Angeles, where the novel’s setting takes place. Although it is not confirmed that these experiences …show more content…
In Black Matters, Morrison writes, “It is an investigation into the ways in which a nonwhite, African-like (or Africanist) presence or persona was constructed in the United States, and the imaginative uses of this fabricated presence” (Morrison 6). The idea of an “African-life presence or persona" can also be applied to Mexican-Americans and various characters from the film A Day Without A Mexican as a result of stereotyping Mexicans. In the film, Mexicans are portrayed as gangsters who commit crimes and run from the police, hobbyists who take a 1964 Chevrolet and add a hydraulics system to make the car jump and workers who stand on a street corner waiting to be chosen for a manual labor job but being paid less than minimum wage. The stereotypes presented in the film create the perception that all Mexicans and Mexican-Americans have these characteristics when in reality, they may not have these characteristics. These stereotypes are created from what society perceives Mexicans to be. Imagination is what fuels these stereotypes and these stereotypes may lead to the realm of racism as they begin to become extreme in their ideology. A culture’s history may also add the list of stereotypes of a Mexican or Mexican-American. Growing up in high school, I went to a predominately Mexican-American and African-American school. Contrary to popular belief, a lot of my friend’s parents were not gardeners; their family members were not illegal immigrants; and none of them owned low riders that jumped 10 feet into the air. The only stereotype that I may see my friends fit into is the family culture of a Mexican-American family. Just as in The Moths And Other Short Stories, in particular “The Moths,”