The Republic of East L.A. is a collection of twelve short stories by Luis J. Rodriguez, which details stories of lower income, and gang-affiliated people living in poor neighborhoods of Los Angeles. The stories painted a realistic picture of Chicano culture in the Eastern part of L.A. Each story opens a window to an important aspect of Chicano life. In the story “Las Chicas Chuecas” the author relays through story the unique struggles of Latina women in this machismo environments. Setting is crucial to understanding the unique nature for women in these conditions. An analysis of this theme makes setting relevant for the cultural realities that Rodrigues explores through his characters.
Chueca is a Spanish slang term that in Latin American and Chicano Spanish means, “bent” or “twisted.” So the title of the story already gives what that the “chicas” discussed in the story are not innocent. Far from it, “bent girls” are girls who are members of an all-female gang. These girls are young. One of them, Noemi, drinks too much at a party and then is raped by members of a different gang. The setting of the party is crucial to this happening. If it were outside in a public context, or in a party in a richer neighborhood, something like this occurring would be out of place.
This is one example of what seems to be the story of Noemi’s life, things that happen that are beyond her control. Because of her setting—a poor neighborhood in East Los Angeles, she does not have a standard of comparison to compare her situation to. She assumes that this setting is normal and tries to get on the best that she can.
James A. Garfield High School is one of the most important settings of this story. The narrator says that, “Noemi was one of the “troubled girls” that Ms. Mastuda was hired to help at Garfield High School.” A high school plays a formative role on any student’s life. People spend as much time in high school as they do working a full-time job. Garfield is a poor neighborhood, where poor kids from the low-income Maravilla barrios housing project. The narrator mentions the weak academic performance of this high school.
The setting of Noemi’s home life, where she lived with her mother on Ditman Avenue was, like the setting of the rest of her life, also a difficult place to live. Her mother has substance abuse problems. Her sister is a gang member. Amidst all this, Noemi wants to overcome her station. She wants to go on to become a counselor to help others young girls in similar struggles.
If Noemi is going to achieve her goal and become a counselor, she has a lot of obstacles to overcome because of her environment—which is the setting in the story. She is poor, a female in a sexist culture, and a minority. She goes to a poor high school and she lives in a poor neighborhood. Her mother was not able to overcome this setting, and became a drug addict. But despite the difficult circumstances of her setting, Noemi’s resolve may be what is required for her to change her situation and life in a setting, which is not so damaging. This is the hope the reader has for her when the story ends.
Work Cited:
Rodriguez, Luis J. The Republic of East L.A.: Stories. New York: Rayo, 2002. Print.
