What Makes a Latina Writer and Sandra Cisneros

Another assignment post that I think is relevant to this blog because it focuses on literature and is related to my writings on Latin American writers.  Enjoy!!!

What is the definition of a Latina writer? How is it different from being a Latino writer? In my Week Two response of what is a Latino writer, I had concluded that “besides the author that wrote it, it must be a piece that Latin-Americans can relate to, like history or experience.” I still stand by that principle with a Latina writer, like Sandra Cisneros. Why would our publishing want to distinguish Latina writer from Latino writers, just because of the gender? Do they thing this will make it easier to sell a book just because an author like Cisneros is a woman and cannot be in the same category as Junot Diaz and Roberto Bolano? Just because the gender of the author changes does not mean she is less of a writer than a Latino writer.

Unlike Bolano and Diaz, who were born outside the United States, Cisneros was born in Chicago to a Chicano-American family in 1954. Other than that fact, Cisneros's stories touch on what it is like to grow up in the United States as a young Latin-American woman. The story of “Barbie-Q” tells the story of a young poor Latina girl who is having to buy second-hand Barbies from clearance sales that nobody else wants because of the minor damage to the dolls. There is also the story of “My Name”, which reflects on a young girl from a Mexican family who is ridiculed because her name is funny to the other children, “Esperanza” and wishes it was different. These are stories that touch those who are Latin-American and can relate to the narratives of what it is like being Latin-American. These are no different from Bolano's “Clara” or Diaz's “The Pura Principle”, because Latinos, Latinas and Latin-Americans can relate to Cisneros as an author for writing about the Latin experience. Her experiences are no more or less Latin than either Diaz or Bolano.

The only thing that distinguishes Cisneros from these male authors is that she has a first hand account of being a Chicano-American living in an American city like Chicago. Bolano's experiences were from Spain and other Latin-American countries and Diaz's original country was the Dominican Republic before coming to the United States. However, just because Cisneros has more experience living in America than either of these authors also does not make her more of less Latin than them. The only obvious difference is that she is a woman and they are men, but still has a story to say about being Latin-American.