Allison Amaya

21 November 2001

Gender Bias in Mexican-American Society

In Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima, a young boy named Antonio Marez is torn between choosing a destiny of his parents design or developing a future of his own. As Antonio struggles to discover his destiny, he learns about the patriarchal system of the Mexican-American society. Similarly, Esperanza in Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street dreams of living in a house of her own while constantly being reminded of the constraints placed upon a female living in a Mexican-American patriarchal social structure. Both Antonio and Esperanza learn that in this system, Mexican-American males have greater freedom to express their voices and choices while the females are virtually stripped away of their voices and choices, reducing the females to mere objects that are controlled by men. While Anaya uses the male perspective to glorify the Mexican-American patriarchal system through the use of symbolism, Cisneros uses the female perspective and symbolism to condemn living in such a constraining system.

In Bless Me, Ultima, Anaya uses nature to symbolize the patriarchal system used by Mexican-Americans, which gives men greater ability to express their voices and choices. Antonio Marez, the protagonist, is torn between the wishes of his parents concerning what he will become in the future. Gabriel Marez wants his son to follow in his foots steps and become a vaquero while Antonio’s mother wants him to become a farmer or a priest. In Antonio’s dream, the vaqueros say, " . . . man was not to be tied to the earth but free upon it" (Anaya 6). The vaqueros continue their argument saying, "His forefathers were conquistadors, men as restless as the seas they sailed and as free as the land they conquered" (6). Anaya uses nature’s images of being tied to the earth, the restless sea, and free land to symbolize the Mexican-American patriarchal system. The earth is often referred to as "Mother Earth" because people and animals are seen as her children, who she helps nurture. The earth is not only nurturing but reproductive too, symbolizing qualities women possess. To a vaquero, or a Mexican-American male, being tied to the earth is like being a woman. In a patriarchal system, it is not the man’s duty to care for children and perform domestic tasks but rather be free to perform more important duties. Furthermore, the restless seas symbolize change and constant motion, qualities men in the Mexican-American patriarchal system can identify with. Mexican-American men are free to venture out when and where they desire while Mexican-American females are expected to stay at home. Lastly, the vaqueros’ expression "free as the land they conquered" symbolizes the controlling nature of Mexican-American men. The land, like women, is seen as object to be possessed and controlled.

The fact that Antonio’s mother is the representative of the farmers, symbolizes how farmers are linked to nature and have the feminine Mexican-American characteristics of being confined to the restraints of a patriarchal system. Farmers, are nurturing because they must care for the livelihood of their crops like women care for their children. Farmers are also like Mexican-American women because they can not venture away from their duties to the crops and farm like the women can not leave their children and domestic duties. As a result, Anaya’s use of symbolism demonstrates that in the Mexican-American patriarchal system, men have the greatest opportunity to express their voices and choices because they have the most freedom to do what they desire. Because the women are acted upon and are passive, their ability to express their voices and choices is non-existent.

Anaya also uses characters in Bless Me, Ultima to symbolize the Mexican-American patriarchal system and demonstrates how the women are treated as voiceless and choiceless objects. For example, Antonio’s father, Gabriel Marez, is a vaquero, a symbol of the Mexican-American males. As Antonio notes, "Only in that wide expanse of land and sky could [the vaqueros] feel the freedom their spirits needed" (Anaya 2). The restless vaquero temperament represents the self-determination of Mexican-American males, who are free to take action and express themselves. When Gabriel Marez is persuaded by his wife to leave the llano and move to Guadalupe though, he is "forced into exile from the freedom-loving society of the llano" (Taylor 20). Antonio recalls, "The move lowered my father in the esteem of his compadres" (Anaya 2). Gabriel Marez is exiled and held in low esteem by his fellow vaqueros because he relinquishes to his wife the patriarchal right to make family decisions. The vaqueros are described as freedom-loving because the males possess the autonomy to voice and act on their decisions. In the Mexican-American patriarchal system, the women are seen as objects, which means they are acted upon and spoken for by the men. Allowing Antonio’s mother to decide that the family will move to Guadalupe gives her a voice and choice like a man. Gabriel’s friends disapprove of a man allowing a woman such freedom, which costs Gabriel his friends and pride.

Even though Antonio’s mother is allowed to express her voice and choice once in the novel, Anaya uses her character to represent the typical woman in the Mexican-American patriarchal system, who is treated as an object. The fact that she is referred to mainly as "my mother" and rarely is called by her name, Maria, reinforces the concept that Mexican-American women are seen as objects. By constantly citing her as "my mother," Maria is reduced to being a possession of her son, which demonstrates that Antonio has learned the patriarchal system. He does not see his mother as an individual but rather an object that is acted upon. For instance, at the end of the novel, Antonio gives orders to his mother without hesitation:

‘Take them to their room,’ I said to my mother. It was the first time I had spoken to my mother as a man; she nodded and obeyed (Anaya 259)

Even though her son is only eight years old, Maria allows this young male to reduce her to an object, without a voice or choice. Furthermore, Antonio’s mother symbolizes Mexican-American women living in a patriarchal society because she is mainly seen in the kitchen, cooking and tending to her family’s needs. Also, the few times she is out of the house is when she is going to church or visiting her family. Antonio’s mother demonstrates that a woman’s main priority is domestic duties and is expected to stay home. As a result, women lose their freedom to express their voices and choices and become just another fixture in the home.

On the other hand, Anaya uses Ultima to symbolize women who rebel against the Mexican-American patriarchal system and suffer serious consequences as a result. Ultima is a unique character, and "her name tells us what she symbolizes" (Testa 77). In Webster’s Spanish and English Dictionary, ultima is defined as: latest, final; excellent; superior. Ultima then symbolizes the latest version of the Mexican-American female who is far more superior than her female predecessors. Ultima is superior because she does not allow herself to be treated as an object but rather is active in being expressive and self-determined. For example, when Ultima confronts Tenorio in his saloon, the confrontation symbolizes a woman who rejects the Mexican-American patriarchal system. First, Ultima refuses to be escorted by two men, which represents her rejections of being a passive women who is spoken for by men. Next, Ultima confronts Tenorio without fear of hesitation:

‘I seek Tenorio!’ Ultima announced. Her voice was strong and confident. She stood tall, with a nobleness to her stature that I had often seen when we walked on the llano. She was not afraid . . . (Anaya 93)

The fact that Ultima’s voice was strong and confident symbolizes how she is the subject, active in using her voice, and not a passive object. Ultima also stands nobly before Tenorio, signifying her refusal to be subservient to a male. Ultima’s rebellion against the patriarchal system results in serious consequences though. Tenorio symbolizes Mexican-American males who refuse to give up their patriarchal system, and his determination to prove that Ultima is a witch represents a battle against women who rebel against the system. When Tenorio agrees to the witch test of having Ultima walk through a door marked with the sign of Christ, the test also represents whether women who reject the patriarchal system will be accepted by society. Ultima does walk through the door, but Antonio finds the needles that had formed the cross on the ground. "Whether someone had broken the cross they made, or whether they had fallen" implies the uncertain acceptance of women who freely express their voices and choices (Anaya 135). Perhaps the final answer from the male perspective is that a woman like Ultima will never be accepted by Mexican-American males. Tenorio ultimately succeeds in destroying Ultima, which alludes to the rejection of self-determined Mexican-American females.

While Anaya presents the Mexican-American patriarchal social structure as inescapable for the women, Sandra Cisneros uses symbolism in The House On Mango Street to argue that women must fight against such a constraining system. For example, Cisneros uses nature to symbolize the determination for women to stand their ground and obtain an active voice. Esperanza, the heroine of the novel, identifies with four skinny trees that are planted near her home. Esperanza comments on how the trees obtain their strength, which symbolizes how women must discover their power to be self-expressive:

Their strength is secret. They send ferocious roots beneath the ground. They grow up and they grow down and grab the earth between their hairy toes and bite the sky with violent teeth and never quit their anger. This is how they keep (Cisneros 74)

The ferocious roots beneath the ground represents burying in the past women who are treated as voiceless objects. By grabbing the earth with hairy toes, the trees allude to women who must take a firm stand against the Mexican-American patriarchal system. By biting the sky and never abating their anger, the trees symbolize the need for women to rebel against their passive role and become stronger, independent women. As critic Valdes states, "There is a secret to survival that the trees make manifest -- an unconquerable will to fight without respite in order to survive . . ." (58) The need for Mexican-American women to fight against being a voiceless object is also symbolized by the trees not forgetting their "reason for being, [or] they’d all droop like tulips in a glass, each with their arms around the other" (Cisneros 75). If the women forget their reason for being is to have an active voice and choice, then, like the tulips, they would be reduced to a passive role with only the consolations of other women to understand their constraints.

Cisneros also uses images of women sitting at windows and standing in doorways to symbolize the constraints placed on women living in the Mexican-American patriarchal system. For instance, Esperanza’s great-grandmother "looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow" (Cisneros 11). Esperanza’s great-grandmother was forced into marriage and was never able to "be all the things she wanted to be" (11). As a result, she was confined to the home and domestic duties. looking out the window her entire life symbolizes how she is restricted in her choices in a patriarchal system. While the world continued to thrive and grow outside her window, Esperanza’s great-grandmother could only watch in sadness because she never had the freedom to be self-determining. Furthermore, Esperanza’s great-grandfather forced her great-grandmother into marriage by throwing a sack over her head and carrying her off "as if she were a fancy chandelier" (11). The chandelier symbolizes how the great-grandmother is seen as an object that is acted upon. Consequently, the great-grandmother sat at the window sadly waiting for her voiceless and choiceless life to change.

Rafaela is another woman who sits at a window, symbolizing the lack of voice and choice of Mexican-American women. She is "still young but getting old from leaning out the window so much" (Cisneros 79). Rafaela is literally locked in her house while her husband is out playing dominoes. She symbolizes how women in the Mexican-American patriarchal system lack the freedom to go where they want like men. Rafaela sits at the window and wishes she could be like the women at the dance hall who "open homes with keys" (80). For Rafaela, these women represent freedom because they have the keys to the house, not a man. Their keys not only open doors but opportunities to make their own decisions. Such opportunities allow these women to rebel against the social constraints of living in a patriarchal society.

Sally also symbolizes the tragedy of living in an oppressive social structure. Unlike the previously mentioned women, Sally is not even permitted to look out the window. Also, she is "afraid to go outside without [her husband’s] permission" (Cisneros 102). So, Sally contents herself by admiring all the things they own. Sally is so suppressed by her husband that she lives in fear of him. Like the other women, she symbolizes how the patriarchal system has stripped women of their voices and choices. In addition, Sally is like Esperanza’s great-grandmother because they are both seen as additional ornaments to the house. As a result, Sally is not only voiceless and choiceless but is also seen as a mere object that is acted upon.

Finally, Marin, who always stands in the doorway, symbolizes women who are searching for a better life than the one available in a patriarchal system. Marin cannot go outside because she is always baby-sitting her cousins. The fact that she can not go beyond the doorway represents how the woman’s role is to be at home caring for the children. The doorway is like a portal for Marin because it can take her to a new world where she would not live with patriarchal constraints. Because she is waiting for someone to help her through the doorway though, Marin continues to be a passive person who is unable to make her own choices.

Cisneros uses the main character, Esperanza, to symbolize a heroine because Esperanza is aware of the oppressive constraints of the Mexican-American patriarchal social structure and succeeds in obtaining a voice of her own. Esperanza is aware that Mexican-American men "don't like their women strong" (Cisneros 10). This does not keep Esperanza from rejecting the constraints of the patriarchal system though. Esperanza wants her freedom. As critic Valdes states, "Her freedom is the fundamental freedom to be herself and she cannot be herself if she is entrapped in patriarchal narrativity" (72). As a result, Esperanza quietly battles against the system:

I have begun my own quiet war. Simple. Sure. I am one who leaves the table like a man, without putting back the chair or picking up the plate (Cisneros 89)

By not putting back the chair and not picking up the plate, Esperanza silently and effectively rejects the domestic duties women are expected to do in the Mexican-American patriarchal system. Without saying a word, she has gained a voice and made an active choice to be an individual. Furthermore, when Esperanza obtains a house of her own and becomes a writer, she does not forget her promise to the three sisters to come back for the others. The sisters tell her, "You can’t erase what you know. You can’t forget who you are" (105). The sisters are referring to Esperanza’s knowledge that the patriarchal system is unfair to women, and she know how to overcome the patriarchal constraints. In addition, Esperanza cannot forget who she is because she would be denying her cultural heritage. As a result, Esperanza heroically comes back to save those who are left behind in the oppressive Mexican-American patriarchal system. She comes back for those who "cannot out."

Perhaps Ultima best summarizes the conflict between the power dominating Mexican-American males and the passive Mexican-American females with her allusion to the sea and river. She explains neither could exist without the aid of the other. By seeing the sea and river as parts, a person cannot look "beyond into the great cycle that binds us all" (Anaya 121). The great cycle is humanity and for the cycle to continue in harmony, the value of having a voice and choice must be appreciated by both sexes.

Works Cited

Anaya, Rudolfo. Bless Me, Ultima. New York: Warner Books, 1972.

Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. New York: Vintage Contemporaries, 1984.

Taylor, Paul. "The Chicano Translation of Troy: Epic Topoi in the Novels of Rudolfo A. Anaya." Melus Fall 1994: 19-35.

Testa, Daniel. "Extensive/Intensive Dimensionally in Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima." Latin American Literary Review Spring-Summer 1978: 70-78.

"Ultima." Webster’s Spanish and English Dictionary. 1980.

Valdes, Maria. "In Search of Identity in Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street." The Canadian Review of American Studies Fall 1992: 55-72.