Mexican Heaven and On My Mom’s 50th Birthday Compare and Contrast
When it comes to literature, it comes to endless types of interesting topics and entertaining plots and literary elements. They can come as fiction, non-fiction, fantasies or any other types. However, even though they can be different genres, some stories can be similar despite of their characters, setting and genre. Mexican Heaven, by Jose Olivares, Author Citizen Illegal, explains how Mexican women seem to be more independent compared to men, and On My Mom’s 50th Birthday by Jose Olivares, the poem of how her Mexican mom thinks just to herself and does not worry about anyone during her 50th birthday, have a lot of similarities despite being two different scenarios. If we think about it this way, both poems are focused on Mexican women and their characteristic of being independent. These are some of the similarities and characteristics of these Mexican women.
A Mexican Women’s Dream of Heaven
In Mexican Heaven by Jose Olivares, it is a very short poem that describes how most of the Mexican women are in regards to cleaning and taking care of the family. In this case, the Mexican woman does not seem to care about cleaning and maintaining his husband and the house. You can tell that the husband or the house is not well cleaned and taken care when it says on line 1, “All Mexican women refuse to cook or clean”. This is evidence that the Mexican women in particular do not like chores or maintain a family. However, as the poem goes on, we can tell that Mexican Women are described as lazy since they not only like to work as housewives, but also as a service job. This is evident on line 2 when it states that women refuse to, “…pay bills..” It also talks about how they are not interested in raising kids and rather just be “ …watch their novelas…” (Olivares 22). However, what if this poem was meant to misrepresent Mexican Women and make them feel unheard and that they are not enough? This can be due to lots of marital issues as well as other problems.
An Article from The Atlantic Explaining the Factors of a good v. bad Marriage
In On My Mom’s 50th Birthday, It is a poem from Jose Olivares, Author from Citizen Illegal, It mentions how a Mexican Mom is getting ready to spend her day being the fact that it is her 50th Birthday. “my mom puts on makeup & she is not my mom, not a mom at all…” (Lines 1–2). She dedicates her time on her own putting herself makeup and her red lipstick that attracts other men. “ she is admiring how good the red lipstick looks on her lips..” (Lines 2–3). As I read through the poem, I noticed that she was also focusing more on herself and not her chores, or family, just herself. “tonight, my mom is not my mom, nor does she know any children…” ( Lines 8–9). Even when it is her 50th Birthday, she ignores the fact that she has a husband and kids to take care of. As she leaves the house, hours pass on and the narrator has to cook for his little brothers and his dad. “ tonight i watch my little brothers & make dinner for my dad…” ( Lines 13–14) These lines and evidence gathered after examining and reading the poem made me realize that the narrator’s mom has a narcissistic personality, meaning that she is only focusing on her success, looks and her time she will spend to make others feel attracted towards her, knowing that she has a husband and she could have spent time with her family and have a good family and marital relationship.
the way that she also treats her husband as “… a stain on a collar”, ( Olivares Line 13) also shows her lack of love towards her husband and is seeking for other men to be attracted to her. We can also tell that her mother also supports the narrator stating, “tonight her mom still nags her about finding a man…” (Olivares lines 11–12). After she is gone from her house, however, the narrator acknowledges that his presence and his family’s will not be on his mother’s mind, “all she will have to worry about his the color of her lips and the handsome men admiring them” (Olivares lines 23–24). It is very common for mother’s to celebrate their 50th Birthday and have parties, however, in this case on Jose Olivarez’s poem On My Mom’s 50th Birthday, we can tell that she is very careless and as I mentioned earlier, she is focused mostly on her self and will spend the day as she pleases.
Article explaining the possible reasons why women do not focus on family nor the duties as a housewife.
Independent Figure
In Mexican Heaven, the independent figure is women in general as claimed by the narrator. Mexican women in this poem are considered careless and only think on themselves. “All the Mexican women refuse to cook or clean” (Olivarez line 1) That is why in Mexican Heaven, the Mexican women are considered independent in this poem. However, when it comes to being independent when having a family, it is not the best option. Another example would be refusing to “..raise the kids or pay bills or make the bed..” (Olivarez line 2) Not only does Mexican women give a bad impression on this poem, which makes them look careless, but also gives them a negative image. This includes, “..to work or do anything except watch their novelas…” (Olivarez lines 3–4) Another way this poem gives imagery in this poem towards their husbands is when it states, “the rats are fat as roosters & the men die of starvation” (Olivarez lines 4–5) This is how the gender roles are not balanced and there is really no healthy and marital independence.
An article explaining Marriage equality and the roles between men and women
However, in On My Mom’s 50th Birthday, We mentioned that she is going to spend the day off on her own in her cincuentanera, instead of spending it with her family. “ My mom is not my mom,..” (Olivarez line 8) However as the
poem goes on, we start to realize that she is not worried about his children and giving them the food, which the narrator them decides to maintain his brothers and his dad. This gives the poem a theme of learning to be independent and help your family no matter the circumstances/scenario. “ So for the next few hours she will not worry about me & my brothers…” (Olivarez lines 21–22) This poem also gives imagery when the narrator describes how red the lips are and that its the main point in attracting others. It also gives us an epiphany from the Mom which is like mentioned, independence.
Setting
the setting for these two poems are not as obvious since it is talking about Mexican women and their behaviors. However, it does give some clues that give the poems a specific setting. Also I would take in mind that the setting from these two poems are meant as in general setting. In On My Mom’s 50th Birthday, we can have clues to what the setting could take place on. For example, “i watch my little brothers &make dinner for my dad”. (Olivarez 13–14). This does not directly state where the Mexican women from the poem is taking place, but it does give clues that it is not taking place at home, rather at some party place where it is populated. We can tell when the narrator says “All she will have to worry about is the color of her lips and her handsome men admiring them” (Olivarez 23–24).
In Mexican Heaven, the clues here are a bit more direct and also give us imagery as well. “All the Mexican women refuse to cook or clean or raise the kids or pay the bills..” (Olivarez lines 1–2) This gives us some clues of where the situation is taking place, which we can have a better understanding where it takes place when the narrator says “ …except watch their novelas..” (Olivarez line 4). this was more clear for the reader that the setting is taking place at home. By comparing these two poems, we can tell that they are different settings and their motive is different.
After comparing the two poems however, it does make the two settings similar in some parts of the poems. in On My Mom’s 50th Birthday, the beginning of the poem took place at home when the narrator states “ She is in the ugly bathroom with the rust faucet that spits cold water..” (Olivarez lines 3–4). This setting is also the same on Mexican Heaven. We could also tell that these two poems are based on imagery and also give us a point of view towards the Mexican Women. However, even though these two poems give us a bad impression in regards to the Mexican women mentioned on the two stories, is this just a point of view that the narrator wants us to experience, when in reality all Mexican women want is to have some free time on their own and be ready for all the upcoming roles as a housewives' or employees?
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