Resources
"Gendered Spaces..."
Credit to Jennifer A. Colón
"The Moths" Discussion Guide
Credit to Christina Guillen
This video features Mercedez Holtry from Albuquerque, New Mexico. In addition to being a slam poet, she is also a student, mentor, and a writer. Holtry identifies herself as a Chicana, more importantly a Chicana Feminist. Her roots, family, and experiences as woman of color have allowed her to transcend herself into someone who is accepting of who she is as a woman. From this self-acceptance she hopes to influence acceptance of her, her experiences, and her people from others as well. Most importantly, she hopes to enlighten all people of both the beauty and the ongoing struggle, of what it means to be a woman.
The video to the right is credited to Poetry Slam Inc. Warning: This video contains mature language.
Although they do so separately, both Viramontes and Holtry are a voice to the voiceless. Both women are giving a voice to all women. Additionaly, men may dare say that they are not able to relate to these stereotypes; however, how many of them have actually put women in the room Holtry speaks of? The ideals both of these women present through their voices (characters, poetry, personal experiences, etc.) represent the universality people fail to see within ethnic literature.
Although this is not Viramontes speaking, Viramontes portrays the same ideals in her collection of short stories. The young women in her stories are filled with various forms of internal battles through the lens of patriarchy: puberty, abortion, taking on the role of a house-wife, and being labeled negatively for embracing her sexuality, are battles various of her characters face. In "The Moths" the young female narrator struggles with her families ideals of who it is she is supposed to become, and who she is. As a fourteen-year-old girl she is coming into herself: in the eyes of her father she is now a woman, and therefore must act as such. In this story her internal battle of becoming a woman and filling those shoes are portrayed through her unwomanly features and her rebellion. Towards the end of the story however, the young woman seems to transform into the reslient woman her mom and abuelita seemed to be.
The video to the right is credited to Blue Number Media.
The video to the right is credited to Mil Cascaras.
Useful Tools: Discussion Guide, Story, & Articles
To the right is a small number of links. Within these links is "The Moths" short story; a discussion guide made by the author of this website: it focuses on various ideals of the stories context, and a few literary articles focusing on "The Moths" contextualized cultural and gender subject matters.