"The Moths" by Helena Maria Viramontes

"The Moths" by Helena Maria Viramontes

Presentation by Jackie Brady

Discussion Prompts

Viramontes' Biography

"The Moths"

Literary Criticism

1. What effect does magical realism (the appearance of the moths) have in Viramontes' story? How do you react to this fantastical element?

2. Discuss Viramontes' treatment of the theme of oppression within this short story.

• The narrator of the story is a fourteen-year-old girl who is not "pretty or nice" and cannot do "girl things" on account of her large hands (Viramontes 302)
• This misfit finds her place when visiting her Abuelita (grandmother), who gives her tasks she can complete
• Abuelita's house is a sanctuary from an oppressive family and patriarchy
• In the end, the narrator attends to her grandmother's death, bathing her and grieving for her

• Literary criticism of Viramontes' work tends to emphasize her Chicana and/or feminist themes
• As a second-generation Mexican-American who grew up near the border in a home that welcomed immigrants, Viramontes had an intimate knowledge of Chicano border issues (Carballo and Giles)
• Though few articles focus exclusively on her short story "The Moths," much literary criticism of her other works explores topics relevant to this story

Helena Maria Viramontes

• Was born in 1954 in Los Angeles
• Was raised by working-class parents along with 8 siblings
• Received a B.A. in English Literature
• Attended a creative writing program at University of California, Irvine
• Teaches at Cornell University
• Is still writing today

Metamorphosis

Critical & Popular Reception

Death and Grief

Works Cited

• In an article titled "'Other Than Itself' -- Naming," Paula Smith Allen discusses metamorphosis symbolism in "The Moths"
• She argues that the narrator metamorphoses from a traditional Chicana role to "a more autonomous role apart from the tyrannous control of the Patriarchy" (Allen)
• To establish the patriarchy, Allen claims that the story focuses on hands and sewing as symbols of women's work
• The moths at the end of the story reinforce this metamorphosis motif after fluttering from the body (cocoon) of the grandmother
• Rather morbidly and cynically, Allen sees this as imparting the message that "like the moth, a woman may be able to reach her full development under conditions that are different than those imposed by the patriarchy. Optimally, the tomb will become a womb for the rebirth of the creature, woman, in a new form"

• Viramontes is well-known as a Chicana writer, though she has less widespread recognition than many of our textbook's authors and other Chicana contemporaries such as Sandra Cisneros and Gloria Anzaldua
• Her work has been received favorably by critics, winning her many awards
• In 1989, she received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts

• One of the major themes of this work is death and its attendant grief
• In the final scene, the narrator, sitting in a bathtub with her dead abuelita, weeps for her grandmother, her mother, herself
• She narrates, "for the first time in a long time I cried, rocking us, crying for her, for me, for Amá, the sobs emerging from the depths of anguish, the misery of feeling half-born, sobbing until finally the sobs rippled into circles and circles of sadness and relief" (Viramontes 305)

Allen, Paula Smith. "'Other Than Itself'--Naming." Metamorphosis and the Emergence of the

Feminine: A Motif of 'Difference' in Women's Writing. New York: Peter Lang, 1999. 37-87. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Jelena O. Krstovic. Vol. 149. Detroit: Gale, 2011. Literature Resource Center. Web. 20 Feb. 2014.

Carballo, Mirian A. and Wanda H. Giles. "Helena Maria Viramontes." Twenty-First-Century American

Novelists: Second Series. Ed. Wanda H. Giles and James R. Giles. Detroit: Gale, 2009. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 350. Literature Resource Center. Web. 20 Feb. 2014.

Pavletich, JoAnn, and Margot Gayle Backus. "With His Pistol in Her Hand: Rearticulating Corrido

Narrative in Helena María Viramontes' 'Neighbors'." Cultural Critique 27 (Spring 1994): 127-152. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 285. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Literature Resource Center. Web. 20 Feb. 2014.

Viramontes, Helena Maria. "The Moths." Literature for Composition: An Introduction to Literature.

Eds. Sylvan Barnet, Williamurto, and William E. Cain. Boston: Pearson, 2014. 302-305.

Feminism

Viramontes' Work

Oppression and Sanctuary

• The narrator suffers a number of oppressions
• She is subjected to cultural norms regarding gender roles, religious observances, and family obligations
• Her grandmother provides an escape from these pressures, where she is able to be herself

• Although their article "With His Pistol in Her Hand: Rearticulating Corrido Narrative in Helena María Viramontes' 'Neighbors'" focuses primarily on another short story in The Moths and Other Stories, JoAnn Pavletich and Margot Gayle Backus discuss the recasting of women in traditionally male roles within Viramontes' work
• They explain that Chicano culture very often emphasizes masculine corrido (ballad) heroes
• Viramontes, they say, reconfigures the hero as a heroine in many of her tales, subverting patriarchy
• It seems as though many of Viramontes' short stories take this several steps further than does the narrator in "The Moths," yet she rebels and refuses gendered norms in her own way

• Viramontes is known for writing politically-charged Chicana literature
• She frequently criticizes patriarchy and writes about women or disadvantaged persons (Carballo and Giles)
• Some of her work employs magical realism, as does the final scene in "The Moths"
• "The Moths" is one of many stories in her 1985 collection The Moths and Other Stories
• She has written other books as well, including Under the Feet of Jesus and Their Dogs Came with Them