Amphibian

Amphibian

  • Submitted By: huyma0053
  • Date Submitted: 10/08/2009 7:16 PM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 710
  • Page: 3
  • Views: 491

In Sandra Cisneros's "Never Marry a Mexican," the narrator, Clemencia, says "I'm amphibious. I'm a person who doesn't belong to any class". Indeed, throughout the story Clemencia always stands on the border of two sides, does not belong to any one. She does not belong to any class, either rich or poor. She never marries a Mexican, but never be married by a white man. She causes the pain of other women by sleeping with their men, but she also is a miserable victim in this cheating game.

Clemencia describes herself as an amphibian and she really means it. She has the knowledge of the high class, the rich want her to be around like a decoration while the poor don’t mind if she is in their neighborhood. So, she stands on the line between rich and poor, and doesn’t feel uncomfortable about this. Earning money for living on day and painting at night, that is what she wants, that is her life. In her voice, she shows the proud of the ability of dealing with people in any rank. However, it also sounds a bit of lonely. She seems like a lonely queen in her own empire, the empire in which she is the only people.

When her mother tells her to "never marry a Mexican," she means to tell her daughter not to marry a man who grew up in Mexico. She wishes for her daughter to marry someone more Americanized, someone who would offer her more freedom and be less traditional with regards to the "woman's place" in a marriage and home. However, this loaded statement takes on a different context and meaning for Clemencia, and comes back to haunt her throughout her life. She rejects Latino men and sleeps with married white men. By rejecting any idea of being with a man of color, she appears to be taking her mother's advice. But by sleeping with only married men, she takes her mother's statement and not only directs it towards herself, but she puts herself in positions where she will not have an opportunity to marry.
Clemencia also stands on the border between victory and defeat,...

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