April 21 Blog Post

For this week’s blog post I want to focus on Rosario Castellanos’ observations and comments on Mexican-style marriages. What I found that stood out the most to me was that it was very similar to Betty Friedan’s Feminine Mystique.  I was not surprised by this however. It makes sense that I would make this connection. Castellanos’ accounts are dated 1964, only a year after The Feminine Mystique was published. My favorite part about Castellanos’ version of marriage was how she tells it. She is blunt and a little bit abrasive. It hurts your feelings almost to read it. In Friedan’s she is kid and on the woman’s side it feels like. She makes it seem as if women are left no other option but to walk the streets of their neighborhoods endless or take 6 hour naps to deal with “the problem with no name” that every woman struggles with. In Castellanos she tell you how it is with less pity for the women but more anger for both men and women for not realizing how it is and how it is bad. She also never tells you that anything that she writes about or that happens in a marriage is bad directly. But when you read it you know this is not right. For example, “Men stray, it’s true. But they come back. It’s natural law, as unvarying as the migration of birds. Don’t spoil his return by making a scene—with tears, jealousy, or recrimination! Instead double your sweetness and understanding; do your best to improve your appearance; find a way to make the children invisible during those brief moments when your husband is at home” (284). I mean, wow. She states this and you think yes wow that’s how it is. But are you happy with it? She phrases these truths in a way that makes you want to change. You’re embarrassed to be the woman doubling your sweetness—at least I would be.