Don t Be Afraid Gringo - 1148 Words

In almost every culture, machismo (or patriarchy) exists. Women are considered to be inferior and are treated as if they were objects. It is fair to assume that all women have or will face abuse or oppression for the mere fact that they are women. In Honduras, machismo is the backbone of society. In the book Don t Be Afraid Gringo, Elvia Alvarado tells the story of the life of the Honduran campesinos (peasants) in the context of the military government of Osvaldo Là ³pez Arellano and the installation of counterrevolutionary military bases between 1972 and 1975. The campesina women are expected to be servants for the men and provide for all of their children. If women dare to break away from these norms, they are denounced as a whore and†¦show more content†¦The leader begins speaking of her personal life, describing her father and her mother. She speaks of her eagerness to learn, but due to the lack of education in her community, Elvia had to learn things the hard way. The first time that Elvia got pregnant was at the age of 15—she did not know how to prevent pregnancy. Once her older brother found out, he was Infuriated and threatened to take her life away. Thus, she ran away to the capital (Tegucigalpa). Since it was her first time leaving the village, she spent the whole afternoon and the next day sitting in the pew, afraid. She eventually managed to get a temporary job as a domestic assistant. Elvia has six children in total, three of them with the same father, the other part of two men. All the of their fathers fled, forcing Elvia to provide for all of her children on her own. Her narrative then continues with the delimitation of spaces: men exist. Usually out of the house, meanwhile, women work at home. However, she notes that for the peasants, the situation is even worse because some men do not help the family economically or collaborate with them. That is, they control the family economy without publicly acknowledging it, but as victim s of machismo. In this sense, men and women are responsible for social change. The respective context of life experiences reflects that even when there is a specificity with respect to each geographical area, the consequences of neoliberal policiesShow MoreRelatedDescriptive Essay About My Memories1367 Words   |  6 Pagesgetting ripped out. Monse, my old sister, she didn t like dresses that s why she was wearing her pajamas, same as my older brother, Tiger. And Papi, he wasn t here. We haven t seen him for almost two months by now, we miss him, Mami is the one who misses him the most. She always cries at night when I go to see her because of my nightmares. Mami?, I said. I hear her cry, but she stops when she hears me. Are you okay? I asked again. I couldn t see her, it was too dark, but I could imagine herRead MoreThe House On Mango Street1802 Words   |  8 Pagesshows the readers that living on Mango Street is perceived as a terrible area, if one were looking from the outside in. But those that live there feel that they live in fair living conditions. The fact is most of the people who live on Mango Street don t know what it s like to live outside of mango street. In the story, they show a lifestyle that most Hispanic people deal with especially the ones that come to America and have to figure out how to make ends meet. In The House on Mango Street, the