Sandra Cisneros’s Caramelo (2002): Translating Gender and Genealogy Across the U.S./Mexico Borderlands

Abstract

Since the publication of The House on Mango Street (1984, 1994a) and Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories (1991), Chicana author Sandra Cisneros has captured and won the hearts of readers of all ages around the world.1 In 2002, the critically acclaimed MacArthur-winning Cisneros published Caramelo or Puro Cuento, a semiautobiographical novel that depicts a family history of continuous migrations between the closest neighbor in Latin America, Mexico, and the United States over a hundred-year period. While Cisneros focuses on the U.S./Mexico borderlands, she also alludes to global travels that have affected Mexico since precolonial times. By expanding on her previous works, The House on Mango Street and Woman Hollering Creek, Cisneros examines the transnational migrations of Chicanos/as and Mexicans who travel consistently between Mexico and the United States in Caramelo. 2 In being mindful of both Chicano and Mexican cultures and histories in Caramelo, I suggest that Cisneros, as a transnational ambassador living in the U.S./Mexico borderlands, represents a genealogy that engages the politics of gender and race in Mexican and Mexican American relationships to understand the consequences of globalization. Similar to Denise Chavez, Cisneros dialogues directly with Mexican cultural and literary discourses, both at the official and popular culture levels.3