The moment when Rosalia and two other girls, find themselves in a motel room with two older men. Sharing a bed with the two other girls, Rosalia choosing the bed's edge, refusing to move when they girls had asked her to. Rosalia slipped out under the covers only to test the men, with no intent to escape as where would she go? She reached out for the door and unlocked it, once the men awake from their sleep. They were assertive and very cautious of her leaving, as she was their property and paid good money for her. As one of the men raised his hand up to strike Rosalia, “Not on the face!” the other man shouted. At this moment they men knew that Rosalia knew what was happening. She knew that would not be working in a ‘factory’ but in a ‘brothel’ sold as a prostitute was her fate. [ PAGE 76 – 77] …show more content…
After the incident of Rosalia testing the men in the motel room leads to a man striking er in the stomach, falling to her knees while her face is pushed into the dirty motel carpet. Rosalia did not cry, and got onto to her feet , back into bed pulling the covers up to her chin. They men take off her shoes assuming that with the lack of shoes/ footwear would stop her from running away. Rosalia smiles on the inside knowing that the men are underestimating for what Rosalia had got in her. Rosalia testing the men to see how they would react was a very intellectual choice even though she had to suffer the consequences, she had found out
Nevertheless, her attempts are futile as he dismisses her once more, putting his supposed medical opinion above his wife’s feelings. The story takes a shocking turn as she finally discerns what that figure is: a woman. As the story progresses, she believes the sole reason for her recovery is the wallpaper. She tells no one of this because she foresees they may be incredulous, so she again feels the need to repress her thoughts and feelings. On the last night of their stay, she is determined to free the woman trapped behind bars.
Phaidon Press Limited). 1975), 35. 31. What is the difference between a'smar Cook, 219, 249. Bibliography Commager, Henry Steele, and Richard B. Morris. The Spirit of ‘Seventy Six’.
Living in a dangerous era, Maria Teresa’s cautiousness further develops as Trujillo’s reign strengthens. Growing up, Maria Teresa is very cautious about her actions and people. After watching her sisters and mother struggle with their relationships with men, she grows cautious and careful of men. She admits in her diary on January 10th, 1954, “ I know I’m taking a very good look around before I close my eyes and fall in true love” (Alvarez 123). Afraid of being hurt, Maria Teresa refuses to devote herself to a man before she is certain that she will be free from danger. Later in her life, she applies this philosophy to the revolution and Trujillo. While in prison, she only writes in her diary at certain times to ensure her safety from the prison guards and SIM. She shares in her diary on April 2nd, 1960, “As a consequence, there have been extra guards patrolling the hall outside out cell, so I didn’t dare write until tonight” (Alvarez 237). Maria Teresa is not only concerned about her own safety, but she is careful not to act out upon Trujillo’s enforcers. She is fully aware that any mistake she ma...
Rafaela is married to an older man and “gets locked indoors because her husband is afraid Rafaela will run away since she is too beautiful to look at” (79). The narrator Esperanza notes that because Rafaela is locked in the house she gives the passing kids money to run to the store to bring her back juice. Esperanza states that “Rafaela who drinks and drinks coconut and papaya juice on Tuesdays and wishes there were sweeter drinks, not bitter like an empty room, but sweet sweet like the island, like the dance hall down the street where women much older than her throw green eyes easily like dice and open homes with keys. And always there is someone offering sweeter drinks, someone promising to keep them on a silver string” (81). Esperanza is being to notice a common occurrence in the treatment of women on Mango Street. Rafaela is locked away by her husband as he wants to keep her from running off. This mirrors the relationship between Earl and his wife. Rafaela is described in more detail however allowing readers a deeper connection to her experience in her marriage. Esperanza witnesses Rafaela’s confinement in the house each time she passes by with friends and Rafaela sends them down money to buy her a drink from the store since she is unable to go herself. There is also an interesting comparison in which the confined room is compared to being bitter whereas the sweet drink is compared to being the
Cleófilas looks over her shoulder at every turn, terrified that “Juan Pero might appear in a doorway. On the street” (Cisneros, 55), until she meets Felice, her liberator, and all her fears melt away. “Everything about this woman, this Felice, amazed Cleófilas, the fact that she drove a pickup. A pickup, mind you, but when Cleófilas asked if it was her husband’s, she said she didn’t have a husband. The pickup was hers. She had chosen it. She herself was paying for it” (Cisneros, 55). Seeing the way Felice provides for herself, doesn’t need a rich husband take care of her physically or emotionally, and most importantly, the freedom that comes with being self-sufficient, is a turning point for Cleófilas. It is through Felice’s “holler” while crossing the creek of the “weeping woman” that Cisneros paints a picture that is symbolic, not only of Cleófilas's transformation from a self-pitying and oppressed to reborn, newly confident and freedom-seeking woman, but also of a transformation that any “weeping woman” can bring about in herself, if she takes that first step towards freeing herself. Through this striking symbolism, Cisneros redefines the “weeping woman” stereotype as a new, confident, and independent “hollering woman”. Although the ending is somewhat ambiguous, the last sentence brings a bit of closure. “Then Felice began laughing again, but it
2nd ed. of the book.
...the story concludes with the woman "crouched," still naked, "in the underbrush" below her house and marveling how strange it is to be seeing her husband at last after "having wanted so desperately to get home," and yet now feeling "no emotion" at what she saw. (138)
And readers are thus exposed to the exploitation and extortion that goes on in this cycle of sympathizers. While the gathering of the women is supposed to be a period of preparing the widows for their confinement, it turns to a period of financial exploitation of the widows. Ramatoulaye succinctly expresses her displeasure,
Although prostitution may be one of the world’s oldest professions to this day it is seen as a degrading and disrespectful career especially when regarding female prostitutes. In Chronicle of a Death Foretold, the town is very critical and strict about chastity and premarital sex. Maria Alejandrina Cervantes is the town madam which by society’s standards makes her to most marginalized, but ironically she is not brought down by her society’s rules. Gabriel Garcia Marquez uses characterization and irony to demonstrate Maria Alejandrina Cervantes’s contradictory role and to develop the theme of going against society in Chronicle of a Death Foretold.
When so... ... middle of paper ... ... Vol. VI: books 21-24.