Literature Review #5

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Citation:

Joann Furlow Allen. “SEEKING SAFE SISTERS: SANDRA CISNEROS’S USE OF THE SOURCE OF THE MYTH LA LLORONA AS SISTER FIGURE.” Journal of Intercultural Disciplines, vol. 7, National Association of African American Studies, 2007, p. 9–.

Summary:

Joann Furlow Allen's article "Seeking Safe Sisters" describes the overall narrative of the Latin Woman. In this article, Furlow Allen provides insight on the Mexican American writer, Sandra Cisneros in order to gain a perspective of the life of a Chicana. Within the article there is a common theme of using La Llorona as a sister that is relevant in the life of a Latin female through ideas such as "La Gritona" (a more positive interpretation of La Llorona's cry). To further positively influence La Llorona's image, there is discussion on the lack of a positive relationship between Latin women themselves.

Author: Joann Furlow Allen

Dr. Joann Furlow Allen is an English professor at Oral Roberts University who works specifically in the English and Modern Language Department. She has a background speaking at conferences and giving lectures pertaining to women of color and diversity in regards to many cultures. She acquired a PhD specifically in English Literature relating to African American and Latin-American literature. 

Link to Bio:  

Key Terms:

Sisterhood: a community of women, whether related or with a common similarity or interest. Serves as a support system.

Wail: a high pitched cry of pain or heavy emotion

Three Quotes:

"There is, therefore, a tendency for women in patriarchal cultures to internalize their oppression instead of sharing the load with other women or working together to lighten it" (Furlow Allen 9).

"Between females and males and protesting their demotion to a lesser status, their denigration. Like La Llorona, the Indian woman’s only means of protest was wailing” (Furlow Allen 15).

"Cisneros also deconstructs the patriarchal mythmaking that portrays Llorona as the quintessential vapid female by making her part of a supportive female community or sisterhood" (Furlow Allen 18).

Value:

This article has significant value to my research because we are opened to the pivotal components of the Latin Woman. Beyond the obedience the Latin woman presents to her husband/male counterpart, we are given insight to the negative relationship between women themselves. We see a first hand example of transforming La Llorona into a companion due to such reasons which ultimately further enriches the components of my paper.

Argument and CounterArgument

 

Within my overall paper, my main point revolves around the positive and negative perspectives of the folklore figure, La Llorona. My overall question revolved around how a positive transformation of La Llorona can possibly create changes within society as well as effect women. Slowly I came to the conclusion that La Llorona works as a symbolic figure for proactive action in regards to bringing down social norms when specifically relating to issues of the oppressed, specifically women. 

When it came to finding a counter argument, I had an idea that it was going to revolve around the oppressive nature of La Llorona's original reputation. However something I did not expect to find came from a dissertation by Beth Lee-Herbert titled, "The Fertile Abyss: La Llorona, La Malinche, and the Role of the Terrible Mother Archetype in Transcending Oppression". Herbert expresses an interesting concept known as Transcendent function, which expresses, "Not relieving the unbearable tension with repetitive action allows the natural capacity for healing to arise from the unconscious of the psyche"  (Lee-Herbert 33). (this concept originated from Carl Jung). Lee-Herbert uses La Llorona as an example of someone who does not let go of her guilt thus leading her to continue with her same evil actions. I find this to be significantly interesting considering the fact that throughout most of my sources, we see literary and film representations that demonstrate La Llorona actively working against oppressors. Does it all relate back to her overall negative reputation? This is relevant for future interpretations of La Llorona because there are two completely opposite spectrums.

Works Cited:

Lee-Herbert, Beth. The Fertile Abyss: La Llorona, La Malinche, and the Role of the Terrible Mother Archetype in Transcending Oppression. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2018.

Theoretical Frame

                   

Coming up with a theoretical frame for my paper took time as it was difficult to try to combine the cultural ideas of La Llorona into a specific topic. Ultimately, the key words that I narrowed down to were the words "feminism" and "transformation". Both of these words combined with helpful terms such as "control device" and "Latin Woman" come to help build the research paper on the basis that through her transformation, La Llorona has become a source of symbolism that challenges the social norm by promoting proactive changes in the perspective of individuals. This specifically correlates to the ideas that La Llorona is not just a woman who takes children. Ideas about her can start changing. I specifically include a quote from Fernando Gomez's piece to fully explore more into the act of feminism and the correlation to the Latin woman by specifically identifying that, "Tradition has written her as a destructive and malevolent ancestral figure that has transgressed the indisputable role of the Latin woman" (Gomez 111). Setting this idea off into an important basis for the paper allows me to further explore this idea of a transformation. When I further look into a piece from Larissa Mercado-Lopez "From Lost Woman to Third Space Mestiza Maternal Subject: La Llorona as a Metaphor of Transformation", I find that through the transformation of metaphors, women, are allowed to further explore their identities. These terms allow me to fully grasp on the changes of La Llorona while at the same time exploring the reasons as to why each is so important.

Literature Review #4

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Author: Larissa Mercado-Lopez

Citation:

C. Herrera, L.M. Mercado-Lopez (eds.), (Re)mapping the Latina/o Literary Landscape, DOI 10.1057 / 978-1-349-94901-4_13

Summary:

Larissa Mercado-Lopez's piece "From Lost Woman to Third Space Mestiza Maternal Subject: La Llorona as a Metaphor of Transformation" discusses the importance of metaphors in regards to La Llorona through the use of Gloria Anzaldua's interpretations of the figure. Within the piece, Mercado-Lopez discusses the use of finding female identities. Specifically there is a discussion on the Latina mother as we come to learn more about the negative interpretations La Llorona encourages in regards to overall patriarchal ideals.

Author:

Larissa Mercado-Lopez is an Associates Professor at the University of California in Fresno. She is a professor of Women's Studies. She teaches a variety of topics ranging from immigration to Latina Health, and included within the topics she teaches, is the topic of Latina Feminism. In regards to her research, Chicana Feminism is a significant topic she focuses on. Dr. Mercado-Lopez has a PhD in English and Latina Literature.

Link to Full Bio: Larissa Mercado-Lopez

Key Terms:

Metaphors: a comparison of an object that is symbolic of something else/ has different meanings, while still being unrelated to the original object of comparison.

Motherhood: the lifestyle women take part in that particularly includes taking care of children. (Usually has a traditional role)

Three Quotes:

"The language of invasion, conquest, and violence clearly attempts to vilify Mexican women, their sexuality, their wombs, and even their children" (Mercado-Lopez 214).

"La Llorona was re-envisioned by Anzaldua as a figure that compelled Chicanas to find voice through writing and theorizing" (Mercado-Lopez 218).

“Metaphors in Chicana studies also function as linguistic spaces in which decolonizing theories, methodologies, and paradigms can be produced” (Mercado-Lopez 210)

Value:

This article is of significant value for my paper because here is where we get significant interpretations of the word " transformation" in order to describe La Llorona. Within this article we not only dive into the literary implications of metaphors and how important La Llorona truly is as a symbol, but we also see talks of indigenous concerns which overall comes to not only highlight the typical "Latin Woman" more. It also highlights the negative outcomes of what a negative interpretation of La Llorona could entail. 

Case: La Llorona (2020 Film)

 

For my case, I decided to utilize Guatemalan film maker Jayro Bustamante's 2020 film "La Llorona". The film of La Llorona tells the story of a Guatemalan general who is under trail for a mass genocide of Guatemala's citizens, more specifically Indigenous groups. La Llorona comes to be our unexpected hero as we see her(represented through one of the general's maids), work her way into haunting the general for his evil doings while at the same time, working to garner sympathy from the General's family whom of which have yet to admit their family member's wrong doings. This film is based off of true events in the 1980s with the villainous General named Enrique Monteverde being based off of the real dictator Efrain Rios Montt. 

What made this film significant for my paper was the fact that we had the opportunity to see La Llorona in a heroine role, regardless of her unfortunate background. This film in regards towards feminism and indigenous culture provides details based on the actions of La Llorona herself. Jaryo Bustamante describes his intentions, "I wanted to transform La Llorona's sexist leanings and remove the idea that she weeps because a man left her" (La Llorona is more Horrifying than Ever in Jayro Bustamante's Subversive Retelling). Bustamante enthralls viewers to such ideas, with La Llornoa's powerful connection to the General's wife through the form of dreams. The General's wife becomes a visible representation of the traditional "Latin Woman", while at the same time, she becomes the woman who breaks the mold. 

Works Cited:

La Llorona. Dir. Jayro Bustamante.La Casa de las Producciones, 2020. Shutter. Web. 28 March 2021. Watch La Llorona | Prime Video (amazon.com)

Burstein, Sergio. “'La Llorona' Is More Horrifying than Ever in Jayro Bustamante's Subversive Retelling.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 10 Mar. 2021, www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2021-03-09/la-llorona-jayro-bustamante-subversive-retelling.

Visual

 

This is an image included in my presentation that in fact, I specifically chose for the cover of the presentation. Overall, the major issue that I have been trying to discuss within my overall paper is the negative interpretations of La Llorona as a myth within society and the negative effects such an interpretation tells. Considering I have been trying to talk about the importance of a positive interpretation of La Llorona, something that I found significant about this image is the fact that even though we see La Llorona in her usual negative visualization, in this image we see her holding a baby. She is not taking the baby, she is cradling the baby. Throughout my presentation, I made it a point to emphasize the negative images about her because it shows first hand how La Llorona is interpreted. Having her in this image with a baby, while it may be reminiscent of the children she killed, it also opens her to womanhood as a mother, which then allows me to further discuss the value La Llorona has within feminism.