Oppression in Sandra Cisneros's Writing - Research Paper Example

? Oppression in Sandra Cisneros’s Writing Word Count 856 I. Introduction Rituals and beliefs associated with indigenous religions still are a central part of life in the Americas (both North, South, and Central)—which flow through the writings of poet and novelist Sandra Cisneros. These respective spiritual practices and cosmologies are so important to the way the universe unfolds—as told from the perspective of peoples who have made such incredible contributions to society, even as modernity encroaches upon their ways of living. However, the issues of imperialism and colonization, capitalism and property rights, and a host of ideologies (including materialism, pragmatism, anthropocentrism, and logocentrism) only reinforce the idea that with these rituals and beliefs are actually being found and practiced instead of being lost and neglected forever. In her prefatory poem to My Wicked, Wicked Ways, Sandra Cisneros asks, ‘What does a woman [like me] inherit that tells her how to go?’”1 Throughout Sandra Cisneros’ numerous publications of poetry and fiction, she addresses patriarchal systems, cultural suppression, poverty, and construction of feminist Latina identity, all which allude to oppression.  The sometimes venomous language she uses reflects her strong feelings about these topics.  Cisneros’ constant references to oppression are used not only to provide a familiar reference point for the reader, but to speak to both Latino and white communities.  Cisneros’ writing continually shows how complex the search for identity is when faced with two cultures; that of ethic tradition and that of the dominant white American youth culture. The topics being addressed in this paper are: 1) patriarchal systems and cultural suppression; 2) poverty; and 3) the construction of feminist Latina identity, all of which are seen in Sandra Cisneros's writing. II. Patriarchal systems and Cultural Suppression Imperialism and colonization have signified total domination and victory for the oppressors, who were mainly Europeans wanting to impose their own rituals and beliefs upon the native peoples of North, South, and Central America. Especially, the cosmology among indigenous women of North America—particularly Mexico—highlight an internal struggle between the oppressors (the Spanish) and the oppressed (the native peoples of Mexico). Indigenous spirituality is something that cannot be taken for granted in Cisneros’s work. She combines New Mexico Native American bohemian lifestyle with curanderismo logic, Spanish folk healing, energies, auras, and any other religious platforms that seem to fit in with the cosmology that Cisneros provides in her books. Marcos states, “[I]ndigenous spirituality [and] influences of feminist and Latin American ecofeminist liberation theologies [highlight] women in Mexico's indigenous worlds …emerg[ing] from a[n] indigenous cosmovision and cosmology. [N]ative women's fight for social justice [equals] a ‘de-colonial’ effort [where] indigenous women…recaptur[e] ancestral spiritualities[, discarding] the mantle of colonial religion, gender oppression, and elitism.”2 In other words, it was not only the native womens’ movement which inspired Cisneros, but it is Cisneros who gives a view into the native womens’ movement as it stood—for better or for worse. It was not too long ago that criollos used to be in charge of haciendas where the indigenous women would be subservient. With the advent of political and social advancements, these indigenous women have been able to keep their own traditional beliefs and rituals—oftentimes either masking them with Catholic symbols and imagery in order to resolve the difference between their own native, innate religious beliefs and practices versus the religion which was imposed upon them by the oppressors who invaded Mexico. III. Poverty Speaking of that political power which, for so long eluded the indigenous peoples of the Americas—they are only just now starting to be able to gain their rights. Central to Sandra Cisneros’s writing is the damning perplexity that her characters face because they are in poor socioeconomic conditions. Whether we read one of Sandra’s novels or some of her poignant poetry, the rawness of poverty has etched an indelibly rough quality in Sandra’s work. Meanwhile, native women have gone about defending themselves in other ways. Usually this happens through peaceful, nonviolent protests and coordination with local leaders and religious lobbyists. According to Micon, “[W]ell-paid lobbyists who develop good working relationships with legislators and mobilize their constituents are the key to religious political action organization’s impact on state government. [R]eligious political action organization[s may attempt to get more] visibility, but it jeopardizes [their plight]. [This helps them]…achiev[e] their goals and objectives of social change.”3 However, what Sandra Cisneros lacks in her political motivations and dealings, she more than makes up for as becoming a vocal voice in the movement to give equality to women—especially native women. Her voice far outshines many of those who tread in her wake, due to the enormity of what she does. And, what she does is try to encourage other people to take the same viewpoint as herself by arguing what indigenous women have known for years—that they too, have value and deserve to be compensated for their time, talents, and resources used in contributing to the work of caring for the earth. IV. The Construction of Feminist Latina Identity Cisneros’s struggle was born out of lack of materialism. Her main character in The House on Mango Street emphasizes this fact. Esperanza explains, "I knew then I had to have a house. A real house. One I could point to. But this isn't it. The house on Mango Street isn't it. For the time being, Mama says. Temporary, says Papa. But I know how those things go."4 Of course, her life, like the house, is filled with broken promises. Materialism has often been the center of so many attitudes that comprise the crux of Western culture. It is this Western civilization and its new ideas against which many indigenous peoples revolt. Pragmatism, or common sense, is often stressed in relation to beliefs and practices in Western culture, so much so that indigenous rituals may seem unusual to outsiders. Additionally, anthropocentrism, or the idea that “the world revolves around oneself,” is also a foreign concept to indigenous peoples—who are usually focused upon the community and what is good for everyone together. This is contrary to the Western perception that everyone is an individual, to be heard. Logocentristic ideas, that speech is very important and one of the highest forms of communication, is also a Western idea contrary to the indigeous notion that there is power and communicative ability in silence. Indigenous beliefs, therefore, won’t always make sense to Westerners. However, Cisneros makes it clear that she blends the best of both worlds—the visual, indigenous ways and the logocentristic, written elements that come from the West—overall producing a product of writing which not only creates the visual, mental image in one’s head about what is going on, but one that also communicates effectively with language to be able to cause the reader to emote. If Cisneros can make someone imagine what a rainbow looks like when there is not a rainbow present, that’s a sign of a good writer. This is using the rainbow as a metaphor. Cisneros is not actually making us see the rainbow, but she can definitely help us picture what her cosmology is like from having discussed with us what her views on justice are. The stories and poems of Woman Hollering Creek are evocative of that type of justice, whether Cisneros talks about the full purple lips of her lover or the way she prays to saints and emulates and epitomizes La Llorona.5 V. Conclusion Sandra Cisneros’s writing, both her poetry and her novels—inspire us to be better people. She makes it clear through her writings that native women are every bit just as important as others who daily try to survive to make ends meet. In that regard, Cisneros captures entire generations of native women whose lives are spent on the brink of falling into worse and worse poverty and poverty-induced situations. She lets us know the pain of suffering loves lost, of the pain of having loved, and how that translates into bigger problems that can lie down the road. Reading Sandra Cisneros’s novels and poems make us realize the essence of the element that makes us all human, and she is writing with a hunger inside of her that belies food. Yes, she may be writing hungry, but she is doing so from a place of having seen what it is like to be fed well. Now that she can look back upon her suffering and trials as a native woman, she relaxes in the comfort in which she now finds herself as a successful Latina writer. However, what gives Cisneros’s writing an “edge” that is so cutting-edge, is that she never loses the flavor of her writing even after having survived the Latino version of the ghetto growing up in Chicago in a less-than-stellar neighborhood. “Each [woman author like Sandra] encourages us, in spite of the ?mixture of despair and triumph that we are likely to experience as we face the ?deep-rooted sources of our own oppression. Reading their works, we feel that ?although reencountering our matrices may be bittersweet, the claiming of ?them is necessary and potentially empowering.”6 Cisneros uses her social currency as a hard-bitten city girl in the husky voice in which one imagines her speaking, in her streetwise business acumen and mental wit and cunning. Sandra invites us to a world of delight, which was built on years of scars, true pain, and suffering through the really hard times in life—when bread… both food and money—were hard to come by. Certainly, these experiences have not totally made Ms. Cisneros entirely bitter, but they have embittered her up to a point where she just wants to be left alone. She doesn’t go to church to judge but simply to sit on the porch steps and think. She uses her faith but only in insular ways which cannot be brought back to haunt her, or her past as a native woman—her people having to originally have been forced to use Catholicism or die at the hands of the Spaniards who intruded upon her native peoples’ land and livelihoods. Although those initial pains or hurts may never go away—both the ancestral pain of her people having been subjugated to oppression time and again through various methods, and also the pains of having lived through life—Cisneros still maintains a positive outlook with the intent to live another day to write another book. She maintains a peaceful kind of solace in the wreckage and aftermath of colonialization with a knowing and mature air about her. Undoubtedly, indigenous rituals and beliefs were openly practiced long before the advent of Western civilization. How these manifestations of faith in various world religions—especially in the Americas as evidenced through Sandra Cisneros’s writing—demonstrate the way that the following elements have had an effect on indigenous beliefs: imperialism and colonialism; capitalism and property rights; and, of course, a myriad of attitudes which reflect Western beliefs contrary to indigenous beliefs, such as materialism, pragmatism, anthropocentrism, and logocentrism, all ways in which opression is manifested in the lives of ordinary people. It is hoped, in the future, both the indigenous and Western civilizations will learn to share and appreciate beliefs. WORKS CITED Brown, Julie. “Resistance and Reinvention in Sandra Cisneros’s Woman Hollering Creek.” Ethnicity and the American Short Story. US: Taylor & Francis, 1997. Pp. 85. Carter, Nancy Corson. “Claiming the Bittersweet Matrix: Alice Walker, Sandra Cisneros, and Adrienne Rich.” Critique 35.4 (1994): 195. Print. Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. US: Vintage Books, 1991. Cisneros, Sandra. Woman Hollering Creek. US: Demco Media, 2002. Marcos, S. “Mesoamerican Women’s Indigenous Spirituality: Decolonizing Religious Beliefs.” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, 25 (2): 25-45, 2009. Micon J. “Limestone prophets: gauging the effectiveness of religious political action organizations that lobby state legislatures,” from the 2007 Paul Hanly Furfey Lecture. Sociology of Religion, 69 (4): 397-413, 2008. BIBLIOGRAPHY Maitino, John R., et. al. Teaching American Ethnic Literatures: Nineteen Essays. Albuquerque, N.M.: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. Mermann-Jozwiak, Elisabeth. Gritos Desde la Frontera: Ana Castillo, Sandra Cisneros, and Postmodernism. MELUS 25 (2): Latino/a Identities. Pp. 101-118. Summer, 2000. Published by The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States (MELUS). Available: . Olmos, Margarite Fernandez, et. al. U.S. Latino Literature: A Critical Guide for Students and Teachers. “Female Voices in Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street.” Connecticut, London: Greenwood Press, 2000. Zuercher, Nancy. "Reading the Neighborhood: Community as Text in The House on Mango Street." WILLA 6 (1997): 29-32. Read More