Elizabeth Salas’s piece Soldaderas in the Mexican Military is a historical nonfiction work which addresses the role of the soldadera in Mexican warfare. Written from a modern perspective, the piece intends to expose the true lives of the soldaderas and dispel preconceived notions that many incorrectly hold regarding these women. Thus, Salas writes in an argumentative and persuasive manner in order to propagate her claim that the soldaderas played a more imperative role than what history gives them credit for. Her writing is intended for those who have no background knowledge on the soldaderas or those who hold incorrect preconceived notions about them. Myths that surround the soldaderas stem largely from an era in which the only people who …show more content…
Near the end, her writing breaks away from chronological order to discuss a specific set of female soldiers and chronicle each of their diverse narratives. Salas examines the lives of nine soldaderas in order to underscore the diversity between all of them and emphasize the idea that not all lived “miserable lives with little knowledge of themselves or the world around them” (Salas 81). Analyzing their roles in this manner allows her to evade the historical perspective tainted by the male narrative of the era. Rather than relying on historical facts written by upperclass men to define the role of the soldadera, Salas recounts the lives of soldaderas through their own perspective to create a more authentic image of them and the role they …show more content…
This woman, Macias, defines the two by claiming that true women soldiers “took on ‘male qualities’ such as decisiveness, domination and courage,” while correspondingly describing the true soldadera as those who “stayed behind the lines, cooking and caring for their husbands or lovers” (Salas 73). This raises an issue that harks back to the origin of the word soldadera itself- soldada, which means payment. Though this is never distinctly argued in the text, Salas seems to suggest that the name soldadera is demeaning to the female warrior as she is grouped with those whose name is synonymous with the reason that they joined the military- for pay. However, this raises the question of whether or not those women in the military who acted as camp followers or, essentially, prostitutes and those who were female warriors should fall under the same umbrella term of the soldadera. Personally, this was the most resonating aspect of the text because it goes beyond simply trying to dispel the myths surrounding the soldadera, but almost arguing for an inherent shift in how we differentiate between females in the Mexican military. Contradictorily, I felt that the section that discussed how the revolutionary army was held in a camp in the United States did not impact the argument as the rest did. I felt that this section was fairly confusing and also
De Leon is attempting to demonstrate that Mexican Americans, during the World War I years and the 1920s, expected to become more socially integrated, accepted, and acculturated into American Society, especially Texas, where there were large numbers of Mexican Americans, and an age of modernity was taking place. De Leon, highlights the endeavour that Mexican Americans took to display their patriotism by helping the United States defeat the axis powers during World War I, in order to become more accepted and experience less stifling social conditions in Texas, and also becoming involved and represented in politics and the workplace. De Leon emphasized how Texas Mexicans contributed to the war effort as combatants, by volunteering in the armed
Women roles have drastically changed the Mexican revolution history where women have never before fight in a war. Fighting represents power in terms of the new ideology of women that later came along with the new identities. For example, a new role was being solders. Fighting in the Revolution war gave Las Soldaderas a completely new dramatic role where they gained power. This role consisted of joined in the side of those who were opposed the dictatorship, including the armies of Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata, and Venustiano Carranza (Fernández).
In his work “The Underdogs”, Mariano Azuela is able to master the spirit of villismo regarding both its theoretic, underlying principles as well as the movement’s subsequent physical manifestations. Though significant characters conduct themselves in a manner consistent with the humble agrarian spirit central to villismo’s origin, characters in this text also exhibit the disruptive, callous behavior that is more characteristic of the federalist forces and dictatorships they aimed to unseat. Moreover, Demetrio’s degenerating understanding of the reason he’s fighting, coupled with his few instances of immorality, symbolizes the collapse of villismo morality into its culminating bandit-ridden reality. Cowboys, farmers, and other agrarian people suffering from land and labor oppression united together as the diverse “pieces of a great social movement [to] exalt their motherland” . Demetrio and Solis embody this original character of villismo revolution, as they maintain a moral, humanitarian compass throughout the novel.
Introduction The American Revolution was a very long and extensive war that lasted from 1775 until 1783, and as a result America gained its independence. It is very imperative to highlight the significant role that women played during the American Revolution. During this era a woman was often portrayed as illiterate, child-bearing mother, and a homemaker.
Even some women would go so far to gather money to put clothes on the soldier’s back or sew their clothes. Others would travel with the men, whether it is camp followers, who were women who washed, cooked, nursed, sew, gather supplies, and even in some cases be sex partners or spies. Women dressed up as men and changed their name to fight as a soldier, or General’s wives who just wanted to be with their husbands like Martha Washington or Caty Greene. Not only do we see the point of the war through the women’s eyes that resisted British rule, but also from the eyes of Frederika von Residesel whose husband, Fritz Residesel, who fought for Britain. Indian women also felt the effects of the war, because they thought that “if America won their social roles would be changed and their power within their communities diminished” (Berkin.107).
Everyone knows what the Alamo is and most know the story of it, how the Texans, led by William Travis, James Bowie, and Davie Crocket, had to try and fend off the Mexican soldiers led by Santa Anna. Being outnumbered all the Texans rebels had to fight for was for the pride of Texas and that is what they did and from that some famous myths about certain things were created during the fight like Travis’s line in the sand or Davie Crockets willingness to fight to the death. Randy Roberts and James S. Olson are able to relate the well-known story of the Alamo to the readers and really get into both the Mexican and American perspectives. In “A Line in the Sand the Alamo in Blood and Memory”, Roberts and Olson are able to separate what really happened
In the book Revolutionary Mothers, author Carol Berkin discusses women’s roles in the American Revolution. She separates out the chapters so that she can discuss the different experiences and roles of women during the period. She utilizes primary and secondary sources to talk about how women stepped into their husband’s shoes and maintained their livelihoods and how they furthered the war effort on both sides, as well as how classes and race effected each woman’s experience. Berkin’s main goal was for the reader to understand that although women’s roles aren’t traditionally discussed when talking about the American Revolution, nevertheless, they played a major part in it.
The Broken Spears, by Miguel Leon-Portilla, is an all-inclusive and compelling account of the Spanish conquest, told by the Aztecs also known as the conquered. Leon Portilla’s choice of events depicted in this book collides together giving the reader a broad view of the Spanish conquest. This book gives a history of emotional and spiritual human experiences, allowing the readers to comprehend, and relate to the Aztecs as they went through terror and faced their fears. This book provides an extensive amount of details concerning lack of leadership, bias and technological hardship that led to the Aztec defeat. After reading this book the reader will start to understand how and why the Aztecs suffered .
Unlike DBC Pierre, Clendinnen has a more rigid contextual application to her history, having studied Anthropology and therefore approaching the Aztecs through the intensely human aspect, in the manner of history from below. In dealing with the reasons for defeat of the Aztec Empire, Clendinnen focuses on the intensely intimate and brutal cultural practices of battle and further war. She focuses intensely on the cultural forces, as defined by humans, in losing the war - and she raises the question of the adaptability of the Aztec Empire to the Spanish terms of engagement. She provides interesting insight into the inability for both the Spanish or the Aztecs to understand one another; clearly influenced by her background in Anthropology. Undoubtedly, her contextualisation of the downfall through the insuperable cultural clash and demands of ritual, that is hand to hand combat only and the criminal death system in battle is reflective of her familiarity with Anthropology - certainly her character dissection of Cortes is done in an intense, anthropological detail.
Since the release of the Spanish Conquistador’s misinforming documents, the public has consistently villainised the Mexica, disrespecting their culture and failing to properly acknowledge their genuine history, often being compared to the Nazis. This view of the Mexicas provided by the public supplies key insight into the misinterpretation of the Mexica culture, though Richard A. Koenigsberg would disagree otherwise arguing that in comparison to the Western world who “frames war to establish that its ideas and beliefs are “real and true”” , the Mexicas acknowledged that sacrifice was for the “purpose of war” endorsing the humanity behind the Mexica’s rituals in contrast to the Western war. The Western perspective in regarding the Mexicas as mass murders is ironic as the Mexica’s are moreover commonly acknowledged as victims of genocide caused by nonother than their colonisers, the Spanish Conquistadors themselves. Additionally, another piece of evidence in the misrepresentation of the Mexica’s span from the name change from ‘Aztec’s’ as well. In the period of 1780, Francisco Javier Clavijero Echegaray published his work, La Historia Antigua de México, evidentially altering the Mexica’s name to the ‘Aztecan’s’, spurring the name ‘Aztec’ to spread throughout Western culture.
Situated near the U.S.-Mexico border during the early twentieth century is the fictional setting of Fort Jones, the outskirts of which is where Americo Paredes’ short story “Macaria’s Daughter” takes place. Emblematic of the disappropriation of Mexican land, as well as the increased marginalization of the Mexican people, the overbearing presence of Fort Jones reveals the struggle for preservation that characterizes the Mexican-American community of the story. “Macaria’s Daughter” is the tragic account of what happens in a small community when the upholding of Mexican values and institutions, and opposition to Anglo-American culture, become more important than a young woman’s life. In this essay, I will argue that “Macaria’s Daughter” is a text
She poses more questions and introduces more concepts which leave the reader with this bittersweet feeling of nostalgia. In part three she touches on the subjects of genealogy as it pertains to desire. She extrapolates form the ideas of Sigmund Freud’s theory of the Psyche to argue how the Oedipus complex has left its imprint on Chicano/a cultures. She juxtaposes four “cultural bodies”, Selena, La Malinche, Delgadina, and Silent Tongue, which if read from a third space feminist interpretation shifts the perspective to unveil women’s desires through their own agency. She analyses the Oedipus complex and introduce the Oedipal conquest triangle.
THE FATHER, THE SON, AND LA CHINGADA: THE TRINITY OF THE CONQUEST ‘Lo Mexicano’ is a phrase-turned-concept in 20th century Mexican philosophy. The term literally translates to “the Mexican,” however, it is also used to superficially describe the identity of the Mexican individual. The notion came about after the revolution; the phrase was meant to emphasize and unite Mexico as an independent people. Today, the phrase is understood as an all encompassing term for “mexicanness,” or that which makes someone a true mexican.