Authors

TZU-LING YEN

Type

Text

Type

Thesis

Advisor

Calvin, Ritch | Forbis, Melissa | Tan, E.K..

Date

2014-12-01

Keywords

Latin American literature | Chicana/o, economic violence, racial and sexual violence, religious violence

Department

Department of Comparative Literature.

Language

en_US

Source

This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree.

Identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/11401/77220

Publisher

The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.

Format

application/pdf

Abstract

In the mid-twentieth to late-twentieth century, a number of Mexican laborers came to the United States to search for more working opportunities. After settling in the U.S. | they had to adjust to the harsh environment, poor working conditions, and multiple discrimination in Anglo-American society. Also, many Chicanas suffered from religious and patriarchal violence inside their community. This thesis examines different types of violence against Chicana/o migrants in the U.S. from 1950 to 2000, including economic violence, religious violence, racial discrimination, and sexual violence. In both Chicana/o community and white society, Chicanas/os have to deal with different kinds of violence against them. Here, I focus on three novels--Helena María Viramontes's Under the Feet of Jesus, Ana Castillo's So Far from God, and Emma Pérez's Gulf Dreams--and analyze different kinds of violence against Chicana/o migrants respectively. I argue that how multiple discrimination intersect to result in the inferiority and marginalization of Chicana/o migrants. Furthermore, I investigate the protagonists' response to the violence in the novels and how they subvert established racial, sexual, and classist ideologies in the male-dominated community and U.S. white society. | In the mid-twentieth to late-twentieth century, a number of Mexican laborers came to the United States to search for more working opportunities. After settling in the U.S. | they had to adjust to the harsh environment, poor working conditions, and multiple discrimination in Anglo-American society. Also, many Chicanas suffered from religious and patriarchal violence inside their community. This thesis examines different types of violence against Chicana/o migrants in the U.S. from 1950 to 2000, including economic violence, religious violence, racial discrimination, and sexual violence. In both Chicana/o community and white society, Chicanas/os have to deal with different kinds of violence against them. Here, I focus on three novels--Helena María Viramontes's Under the Feet of Jesus, Ana Castillo's So Far from God, and Emma Pérez's Gulf Dreams--and analyze different kinds of violence against Chicana/o migrants respectively. I argue that how multiple discrimination intersect to result in the inferiority and marginalization of Chicana/o migrants. Furthermore, I investigate the protagonists' response to the violence in the novels and how they subvert established racial, sexual, and classist ideologies in the male-dominated community and U.S. white society. | 120 pages

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