“Nobody told me”: Chicana Women’s Madness and Mourning in Sandra Cisneros’s Have You Seen Marie?

Abstract

“‘Nobody told me’: Chicana Women’s Madness and Mourning in Sandra Cisneros’s Have You Seen Marie?” employs interdisciplinary research to understand Sandra Cisneros’ tale of women’s mental illness in Have You Seen Marie?. Building on Marta Caminero-Santangelo’s critique of the inequitable treatment of mental illness in literary criticism of women’s writing, I argue that Cisneros draws awareness to the distinct challenges that Chicanas face while struggling with mental illness. Contextualizing Cisneros’ representation of the grief a Catholic Chicana woman experiences after losing her mother, I draw on the work of scholars from theology, psychology, sociology, critical race theory, postcolonial theory, and disability studies to further understand the impact of colonization on familial gender roles, the importance of la Virgen de Guadalupe, and representations of mental illness.