Alan Ruff - Percieved Paternalism in Caramelo

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           "Caramelo” by Sandra Cisneros is the story of the Reyes family over three generations and the duality that exists within their lives and between the borders of the United States and Mexico.  Cisneros uses the youngest daughter of the family, Celaya, to tell the stories of her family mostly through her point of view.  This is done very effectively in Part One of the novel as we learn about each of the different family members through Cisneros’ great use of description.  Through Celaya, Cisneros brings us into the lives of the major characters.  She draws a stark contrast between the two worlds that she moves through each of them.  When all three of the brothers and their families are traveling to Mexico together, Celaya embraces each of the five senses to bring the reader into this new and unfamiliar setting.  Cisneros’ use of descriptive language reads as poetry in some places in the novel.  My favorite example of this is when Soledad remembers her first kiss with Narciso on page 107.  “… like a sunflower following the sun, her body instinctively turned itself toward his. …  Oh, the body, that tattler, revealed itself in all its honesty.  Hers, a hunger.  His a hunger too … but of another kind.’
                Cisneros weaves the theme of Paternalism throughout Celaya’s tale and parallels it with the Mexican culture of yesterday, and overall society of today as well.  Women’s strength and importance are diminished throughout the story.  As Celaya tells her story, we learn of the oppression that all of the female role models in her life have experienced.  We see this first when Celaya is forbidden by Awful Grandmother to play with the Indian girl with the caramel skin.  Later we learn that the Awful Grandmother was treated similarly by her future Mother-in-law.  This theme of paternalism is summed up in the sentence, “There is nothing Mexican men revere more than their mamas; they are the most devoted of sons, perhaps because their mamas are the most devoted of mamas … when it comes to their boys.”

                However, this begs the question of who is really in control of the families?  We are told that it is the men, and specifically the fathers who are in charge.  But it is the female characters throughout the story who control and dominate everyone, especially the men, around them.  Regina is the “breadwinner” of her house and even gains a role of greater influence within her community because of her skills while Eleuterio is portrayed as submissive and eventually silenced by his medical condition.  Part one of the story ends with Celaya’s father being forced to choose between his wife and his mother.  But we assume his position of power because he gets to choose.  What he is actually choosing is which woman he will allow himself to be domineered by.  Each of the three sons of Awful Grandmother have married women whom they love, admire, and devote themselves to.  Cisneros would argue that the women are respected because of their role of motherhood and that once their usefulness in this role has diminished, so does their power.  An example of this is in chapter 70, “Men no longer looked at her, society no longer gave her much importance after her role of mothering was over (pg 347).”  I question which action is the initial cause and which is the consequence?

Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 28, 2016 at 12:39 AM

    I've never thought of Incencio having to choose between his mother and wife as being based on domineering; although I can see why you say that because the roles in this novel are somewhat reversed and so is what we expect from the characters.

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