Chicano Literature Analysis - Essay Example

This paper thematically focuses on reading and analyzing Chicano literary works with a specific focus on female identity, and comparisons of the dissimilar ways in, which they are portrayed in the fiction. To achieve this, this paper presents how Irene Ruiz’s article “Crossing Borderlands: The Face of Chicana Border Literature” is not adequate to understand Cisneros’ fiction, “Eleven”, which is a narrative from Cisneros’ “Wondering Hollering Creek”.

In “Crossing Borderlands: The Face of Chicana Border Literature”, Ruiz cites the literary works of some Chicana authors such as Sandra Cisneros, Denise Chavez and Maria Amparo to describe the various challenges that Chicana women face at the borderlands. The borderland she presents, in her article, is non-physical, and it represents issues and challenges that Chicana women must face while growing up (Ruiz). She argues that this borderland creates the identity of many Chicanas, and it is a mixture of American and Mexican cultures that form into one (Ruiz). Ruiz identifies racism as one of the challenges Chicana women face while crossing the borderland. She cites Cisneros’ narrative “Eleven” to justify her arguments. In “Eleven” Cisneros uses her character, Rachel, to describe an unpleasant experience she had on her eleventh birthday.

Mrs Price, Rachel’s teacher, insisted that an ugly red sweater that was lying on the classroom’s floor belonged to Rachel. Nobody in the class, including Rachel, refused to accept the ownership of that sweater. Cisneros uses this ugly red sweater to symbolize the poverty associated with Chicanas. Mrs Price and other pupils assumed that the condition of that sweater must have suited the Mexican girl (Ruiz). Rachel being of Mexican origin was unable to defend herself and prove that the sweater was not hers. In this context, Ruiz has sufficiently proved that racism was the main factor that made Mrs Price and other students associate the ugly sweater with Rachel since they were white and Rachael was Mexican. However, the traditional Chicano literature values that Ruiz utilizes to analyze Cisneros’ narrative do not conform with Cisneros's representation of Chicana women, but to that of earlier Chicana authors like Escandon Maria Amparo.

Like Escandon, Ruiz argues that the traditional Mexican society was perceived as patriarchal in the scheme of social roles. The traditional gender-based norms asserted that men had authority over women, and the father had the ultimate authority over the whole family issue (Ruiz). This was not only in the context of wife-husband relationships, but it extended even to brothers to sisters relationships. Ruiz depicts a traditional Mexican family as strictly hierarchical, in structure, and asymmetrical in gender and social relations. Women were portrayed as subjects to race, class discrimination, sex and all sorts of ill-treatments, while in the context of their surrounding they remained ignorant and isolated (Ruiz). Additionally, Ruiz presents the Chicana woman as a submissive and passive woman under the Chicano traditional norms. This is the reason why she argues that Rachael could not defend herself because of the traditional Chicano cultural value, which demanded that young people should respect adults. She further argues that the teacher placed the blame on Rachael because she is a Mexican, and they are perceived to be dirty and poor (Ruiz).

The literary perception of Chicana literature is progressively developing and changing by the transforming attitudes of society towards women. To contradict the portrayal of women in society as presented in the Anglo-American literary works, the early Chicano authors were categorized by their traditional roles, which created the idealized symbol of womanhood.  Contemporary Chicano writers, like Sandra Cisneros, portray the characters of Chicano women, in complex relationships, to present their roles in the context of contemporary society. In “Eleven”, Cisneros's main aim is to present the difficulty of growing up with adult correctness. She employs this feminine perspective to change the stereotypical image of Chicana, especially by developing their female protagonists (Cisneros, 7). Unlike Ruiz, who interprets Rachel’s respect for her teacher as a result of traditional Chicana values, Cisneros argues that traditional Chicana values are no longer taboos. For instance, in the case of the teacher and Rachel, he prefers that Rachel should have stood strong and defended herself against Mrs Price’s claims (Cisneros, 7).  In “Eleven” and other literary works, Cisneros constantly cites the “La Mala Mujer woman”, which symbolizes an archetype of a “bad woman”, who does not abide by the traditional norms and embraces male attributes such as financial independence (Ruiz, 7).

In conclusion, certainly, Ruiz’s piece is not valid enough for understanding Cisneros’ narrative “Eleven” because Ruiz bases her arguments on the ideas represented by earlier Chicana writers such as Escandon. Unlike Ruiz’s understanding, Cisneros’ narrative presents the roles of Chicano women in the context of contemporary society.  She talks about “La Mala Mujer woman”, who has assumed most of the male attitudes, and believes that they can also achieve what their male counterparts can. According to her wish, she suggests that Rachel, like a “La Mala Mujer” should have stood strong and defended Mrs Price's claims. This is contrary to Ruiz's analysis that Rachel was helpless to defend herself because of the traditional Chicana values, which asserted that children should not argue with adults.