The Major Strength of "caramelo" by Sandra Cisneros Lies in the Author's Cultural Heritage

Cisneros is one of the few Chicana writers in mainstream literary circles and her works have played fundamental roles in the knowledge and acceptance of Mexican culture in the US.

Born in Chicago, she has taken the opposite road of immigrants, having difficulties in making Mexican culture her own. She once said: “To me, the definition of a story is something that someone wants to listen to”. And she accomplished to write an outstanding, enjoyable book which tempts us to read it out loud, as it mixes English and Spanish, imitating the colloquial oral discourse of Mexican-Americans.

“Caramelo or Puro Cuento” has allowed her to rediscover her roots, as if she were a little girl, through her protagonist. It deals with the universal themes of family, memory, heritage and gender roles, which interest all readers, regardless of their nationality.

Having read “The House on Mango Street”, I went on to read “Caramelo”, an innovative piece of work from the literary, linguistic and cultural points of view. Although it is so rich that I could go on and on writing about it, the scope of this essay forced me to narrow my focus to her use of autobiographical elements, family memories and understanding of her cultural heritage. Further studies could deepen its analysis.

I did a lot of research and found remarkable primary and secondary sources like interviews with Ms. Cisneros and valuable works from literature scholars. Presenting their views together with my personal opinion I also discuss the literary genre “Caramelo” adopts, its peculiar style and language.

Now I have a better understanding of the value of a person’s cultural heritage and its wide sphere of influence: life as long as it lasts.

Writers’ works reflect their identity. They build upon it, reconstruct or de-construct it to give testimony of their lives. The author of the book I will be dealing with understands her identity and knows that with it comes purpose. She possesses Mexican roots and is American. More specifically, she is Chicana*^[1] and is proud to be so. As such, she gives voice to Latinos, knowing what it is to be mestiza and have hard-working, immigrant parents. Her female characters, in particular, are part of the author’s life; they were inspired by those around her or by herself. Even so, her protagonists can be any woman. We can identify with and even feel like them thanks to the emotive power with which her writings are crafted. “Your story is my story”, says the protagonist of our book to her grandmother; readers across frontiers confirm the same.

The writer is Sandra Cisneros, who is also a poet and a performance artist. Born in Chicago, of course, in 1954, she is the only daughter in a family of seven of a Mexican father and a Mexican-American mother. During her childhood she often moved and spent her summers in Mexico with her paternal grandparents and her family. She began writing at a young age. She earned a BA in English from Loyola University of Chicago and a MFA from the Writers’ Workshop of the University of Iowa. In this workshop she realized, by recognizing her differences with other students, what she had to offer. From then on, she has written about her Latina experience in the USA, while working as a teacher for high-school dropouts, a college recruiter and an arts administrator. She has won the prestigious MacArthur Foundation fellowship, among others. So far, she has published various works^[2]. I will analyse her last book, published in 2002: “Caramelo* or Puro Cuento*”, which is considered her magnum opus^[3].