Presentation of Personal Barriers in
Being born into a Mexican-American family, Helena Maria Viramontes has been able to experience the difficulties of belonging to a minor race in the society. Living in Los Angeles, she has seen how difficult it was for her people to be fully accepted in the community. Two of the most celebrated works of Viramontes include The Moths and Neighbors. These stories both provide a distinct indication of what is being experienced by human individuals faced by oppressions and oppositions due to their race and their gender. For Viramontes, such elements are both evident; hence, oppressions become more affective especially in a personal level. One specific theme presented in both stories is that of the concept of establishing personal barriers because of the disturbing impact that social stereotyping has on the personal development of an individual.
The story of The Moths features a 14 year old young lady who has a distinct feature in her body that makes her specifically different from others of her own age. Relatively, being a teenage girl, she is expected to undergo particular changes involving her physical and her emotional capacities. However, for the case of this young girl, the pressure is given specific attention to especially that she has to deal with a distinct course of living that is dependent on how she handles her difference especially in connection to her large hands. She had to accept the fact that there are things she cannot do, there are some tasks that she cannot complete and that she cannot live life like the other normal teenage girls do. It could just be imagined how much emotional turmoil she is experiencing during the time. These situations even topped by the fact that she is being criticized by her own family especially in consideration with the value she is contributing to the family and the kind of role that she takes in relation to the responsibility she is supposed to take into account as a teenage in her community. At some point, these situations drive the young girl into realizing how much she hates herself and how much she wants to be different other than what she actually is.
Nevertheless, her grandmother [abuelita] gave her new concept on how she views herself. Her grandmother allowed her to have some worth through giving her work she could actually do. She mentions in the story that “abuelita made a balm out of dried moth wings[to] shape my hands back to size (Viramontes, 1239); in a way, the old woman helps her to realize the worth of her youth through giving her tasks that can be accomplished using her huge hands. To this she notes: I always felt her gray eyes on me. It made me feel a strange way; safe and guarded and not alone, like God was supposed to make you feel (Viramontes, 1239). She accepted the tasks and completed them with full realization of accomplishment. Somehow, this is how her grandmother’s house became the escape that she needed. She loved being there and when the death of the old woman finally arrived, she found herself lost again. To this, the young girl mentions: “dying is lonely and I wanted to go where the moths were, stay with her” (Viramontes, 1242).
In a way, this story from Viramontes presented what is meant by being different. It basically gives a strong reflective picture of what a moth-like change has been encountered by the main character as she finds a place and a person that accepts her. Every person facing such adversity is expected to become overwhelmed with the situation. It could be realized that the hardship that one has to deal with cannot be simply set aside nor ignored as it becomes a part of her life. In a way, the ‘large hands’ of the young teenager represents all the different [misfortunes] that people deal with. The said features might not be physical in form, but they are likely affective on how the society views them as individuals. Take for example the fact of belonging to a different race than what is considered common in a particular community. Given less opportunity to prove one’s capacity, such individuals are being stereotyped and are thus given specific social exceptions. This is the reason why such individuals find a distinct comfort from people who actually understand them and are ready to accept them for what they are. In the case of the young teenage girl, she found such comfort from her abuelita, she specifically feels accepted by the old woman, and her loss of the lovely woman specifically marks a new phase of her hardships.
On the other hand, the story of “Neighbors” dealt with the reasons by which people in an urban neighborhood would feel afraid. The violence that covers up the community increases the pressure of one aiming to remain in a secured sense of living. Relatively, such concept of being unsecure evolves among all the residents featured in the story of Viramontes. Herein, she puts the people in the city in a much less secure situation especially that she placed them in a neigborhood where there are no assisting police men and there are no fences to give the people a sense of protection (334).
With such situation, it could be understood that people would be less than willing to go out. The increased sense of fear shall make them more concerned about their safety which results to stereotyping the people living around them. Relatively, such stereotyping leads them towards not trusting anyone. Aura, the woman in the story, has lived her life under the concept of fear for many years. Understanding the reality of violence right in front of her eyes within her own home in the hands of someone really close to her has lead her to believe that when it comes to fear, there is no limitation (335). Putting a mark on what a person is and what his capacities are in becoming violent or having bad intentions, the residents become more concerned about their safety and thus intend to keep themselves away from their neighbors. However, for Aura, the comfort she finds in being open towards her close-door neighbor Ferrio was somewhat able to get her away from the fear she has been feeling all her life. Although they both could only look through each other’s doors, such point of closeness could be as much comforting.
In this story, Vilamontes show how much being a woman is understood by oppressors as a sense of weakness, making them easier targets for oppression and being violently treated by the people who feel that they are more superior than the female members of the society. With such concept of being stereotyped as weak ones, women become the victims of particular oppressions and violent reactions from the hands of people they specifically give their loyalty to. In cases like this, it would be hard for one to put her trust on a person. Aura found her comfort in the company of Ferrio, yet she seemingly cannot share herself fully to the man, nor can she deal with him in a much comfortable manner than simply allowing him to see through her home’s door.
The elements of fear and being different are two specific notions that make it impossible for particular individuals to become more open to people surrounding them. Perhaps facing particular issues of being stereotyped, these individuals find it hard to trust people. When they do find someone to give their trust and loyalty to, they become attached to such individuals and undergo particular hardships of not being able to go and move on from such comforting relationships. Women and other minorities in the society often feel such condition especially as they deal with the people who see them differently. Oppression and stereotyping cannot be removed in the face of human history. Being able to face this particular aspect of human culture effectively shall allow such individuals to face life in a much considerable approach that could best benefit them fully as they try to survive the oppressions that come their way. The need to see through their hardships and recognize the different sources of their problems as individuals is essential when it comes to realizing the possibilities of helping them and giving them the attention they need to assist them in their quest for survival.
Works Cited
Viramontes, H. Neighbors. https://bbhosted.cuny.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-16620530-dt-content-rid-66798804_1/courses/JJC01_LIT_375_01_1146_5W1/Neighbors%20-%20Helena%20Maria%20Viramontes.pdf. Retrieved on June 17, 2014.
Viramontes, H. The Moths. https://bbhosted.cuny.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-16620526-dt-content-rid-66798802_1/courses/JJC01_LIT_375_01_1146_5W1/The%20Moths%20-%20Helena%20Maria%20Viramontes.pdf. Retrieved on June 17, 2014.
