The "Dual"-ing Images of la Malinche and la Virgen de Guadalupe in Cisneros's The House on Mango Street

Abstract

In Some More, a story from Sandra Cisneros's The House on Mango Street, two young girls discuss nature of snow: There ain't thirty different kinds of snow, Lucy said. There are two kinds. The kind and dirty kind, and dirty. Only two. There are a million zillion kinds, says Nenny. No two exactly alike. Only how do you remember which one is which? (35) At first glance, girls' conversation appears to be a bit of childish nonsense, and, on a surface level, is. Read in a broader context, however, Nenny and Lucy's debate highlights a conflict that is at heart of Cisneros's work: insistence on culturally defining world by a rigid set of black/white, good/bad, clean/dirty dualities, versus reality of individuality, uniqueness, and infinite differentiation. Cisneros comments on difficulties inherent in this clear-cut dichotomy, and she relates this binary specifically to Mexican influences in her life and writing: Certainly that black-white issue, good-bad, it's very prevalent in my work and in other Latinas. We're raised with a Mexican culture that has two role models: La Malinche y la Virgen de Guadalupe. And you know that's a hard route to go, one or other, there's no in-betweens. (Rodriguez-Aranda 65) According to Cisneros, then, females, like snow, are not seen in Latino culture as unique individuals but are labeled as either good women or bad women, as clean or dirty, as virgins or malinches. Cisneros is not first writer to acknowledge difficulties in dealing with this duality nor cultural archetypes upon which is based. As Luis Leal observes, the characterization of women throughout Mexican literature has been profoundly influenced by two archetypes present in Mexican psyche: that of woman who has kept her virginity and that of one who has lost it (227).(1) These archetypes, embodied in stories of la Malinche, violated woman, and la Virgen de Guadalupe, holy Mother, sharply define female roles in Mexican culture based on physical sexuality; however, as historical and mythical figures, these two archetypes take on both political and social significance that also influence perceptions of femininity in Latin American world. As Mexican manifestation of Virgin Mary, la Virgen de Guadalupe is religious icon around which Mexican Catholicism centers. Consequently, versions of her historic origin are prevalent throughout national literature. Although several variations of story of Virgin's initial apparitions exist, Stafford Poole identifies version published in 1649 by Vicar of Guadalupe, a priest named Luis Laso de la Vega, as definitive source (26). According to Poole's translation of de la Vega,(2) la Virgen de Guadalupe originally appeared to a converted Indian, Juan Diego, in 1531, on hill of Tepeyac, identifying herself as mother of great true deity God (27). The Virgin tells Juan Diego that she ardently wish[es] and greatly desire[s] that they build my temple for me here, where I will reveal ... all my love, my compassion, my aid, and my protection (27). Diego immediately proceeds to bishop in Mexico City, but he is greeted with disbelief. On his second visit, bishop asks Diego for proof of apparition. The Virgin sends Diego to top of hill, where he gathers every kind of precious Spanish flower, despite fact that these flowers are out of season and do not grow on that hill, and Virgin places them in his cloak (27). When Diego visits bishop, bishop's servants try to take some of blossoms, but they turn into painted flowers. Finally, when Diego sees bishop and opens his cloak, flowers fall out, and an imprint of Virgin is left on lining of cloak. The bishop becomes a believer, begs for forgiveness, and erects shrine to la Virgen de Guadalupe on hill of Tepeyac. …