Ain Shams University

Faculty of Al-Alsun
Department of English

The Proposal

The Theatre of Empowerment in

Joséfina López’s Simply Maria (1991), Confessions of

Women from East L.A. (1996) and Real Women Have

Curves (1997)

A M.A Thesis Plan

.Under the supervision of : Dr.Samar Abd Elsalam

.Presented by: Sarah Sayed Elgazzar

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 Table of Contents

Introduction : P. 3

Chapter I (Mexicans in the United States) : P. 4 - 7

Chapter II( Simply Maria ) : P. 8 - 13

Chapter III (Confessions of Women from East L.A.): P. 14 – 20

Chapter IV (Real Women Have Curves): P. 21 - 26

Conclusion:

Works Cited: P. 27 - 29

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 Introduction

This paper examines the problems the minorities face in the American society. Those

minorities – who are identified in this paper as the Latin – Americans – are best

represented and shaped in Josefina Lopez’s plays – who is a Chicana playwright. A Chicana

is actually a Mexican – American female who is raised in the United States, and who has a

minority status in her own land. She is a woman whose life is too often faced by oppression

based on ethnicity, class, gender, race as well as immigration, entrance of a person into a

new country for a purpose of establishing permanent residence. Consequently, to restore

her identity, this woman has called for the Chicana movement, or the Chicana feminism; in

an attempt to establish social, cultural and political identity for herself.

This movement is actually a rejection of the traditional household role of a Mexican

– American women. Through this movement, Chicanas discuss the problems of gender,

ethnicity, class, race and sexuality. This is exactly what Josefina Lopez – the Chicana

playwright – wants to express in her three most famous plays: Simply Maria, Confessions

of Women from East L.A. and Real Women Have Curves. In this way, tackling Josefina

Lopez’s plays from these perspectives and some other techniqual aspects will help to

highlight the lives of those hyphenated people – Chicana⁄os all over the world to

acknowledge them and appreciate their work.

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 Chapter One: Mexicans in the United States

Immigration to the United States to pursue the American Dream is the hope of all

minorities, and especially the Mexicans. Many of these immigrants came to the United

States to escape Mexico's economic problems and to achieve a better standard of living.

The term 'Chicano' or 'Chicana' (deriving from the political movement of the 1960s that

began with the voting Rights Act) refers to Mexican American men or women who live

within what is now the United States (Christie 3). Thus, to identify as Chicano or Chicana

means being both Mexican and American. In an attempt to restore their rights in the

American society, Mexicans called for what is known as the “Chicano movement,” which

formally began in the 1970s. Ironically, as Chicanas were fighting alongside Chicanos in

their struggle to rid the United States’ political and social structure of inequalities, they

began to realize the gender inequalities, found a collective voice through the Feminism

movement and began to question machismo (sexist) attitudes. Consequently, it is

necessary here to briefly pinpoint the history of the Chicano movement, Chicana feminist

movement, and the triple oppression faced by the Mexicans - especially the Chicanas – as

represented in gender, class and race.

Chicano movement is actually the sunrise of the Mexican being. It was not until the

Chicano movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s that research by Mexican Americans

made its appearance in the newly founded Chicano journals (Corr 253). Since then there

has been a lot of scholarly works on Chicanos and a large number of studies on La Chicana.

Chicano movement was a continuation of the 1940s Mexican American Civil Rights

movement. It challenged everything in the United States; like the ethnic stereotypes,

racism, sexism, class and gender. It is comprised of many separate protests, which included

ones that sought social, educational, and political equality in the United States. Their goal

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was to fight all aspects of discrimination, and to correct education, politics, employment,

economics and housing. Therefore, this Chicano movement demanded that Mexican

American citizens enjoy the rights they were granted in the U.S. Constitution. It also

demanded the rights that were guaranteed under the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo,

signed after the war between Mexico and the United States (Saracho 263). However, the

Anglo settlers did not greet those Mexicans with open arms, but instead saw them as

outsiders who could be exploited on the labor market. Through this, Chicanas began their

transformation from traditional women controlled by their husbands to workers with a

larger degree of control in their households and society. At that time, Chicana feminism

appeared.

The Chicana feminist movement tends to fight the triple oppression Mexican women

are facing. The years between 1970 and 1980 represented a formative period in the

development of the Chicana feminist thought in the United States (Gracia 217). During this

period, Chicana feminists addressed the specific issues affecting the Chicanas as women of

color in the United States. In an article entitled 'the development of Chicana feminist

discourse', Alma M. Garcia maintains that the aim of this movement is the Chicana

feminists’ “search for ‘a room of their own’ by assessing their participation within the Chicano

movement. Their feminist consciousness emerged from a struggle for equality with Chicano men

and from a reassessment of the role of the family as a means of resistance to oppressive societal

conditions” (219).

In terms of gender oppression, women have been portrayed as either "senioritas" or

temptresses. These two roles translate into Latino women being passive, feeble,

unintelligent and dependant. While the Mexican husband is often portrayed as an

authoritarian, patriarchal figure, who is head and master of the household and enjoys the

highest status in the family. When references to her began to emerge, they occur basically
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under the context of her role within the family. Irene Campos Corr hints to the status of the

Mexican woman in general: "men continued to expect their women to be submissive and

their daughters to remain cloistered in the home" (256). Women's area, thus, becomes the

family and the household, while the husband or the father is seen as the unquestioned

authority, the lord and master, who is free to come and go as he pleases. The relationship

here, thus, can be termed as “Master / Slave” relationship; in which the wife or the slave

has to be submissive, virginal and self sacrificing without any demands or rights.

Nevertheless, the Mexican women did not accept this degrading status. They

started to work and to teach their girls to be independent. But even at work they were

underestimated in their wages and were being regarded as the lower class. This is viewed

by Chicanas as class oppression. Though Mexican women and girls challenged their

customs and tried to overcome their low standard of living by working, Anglo employers

were partial to U.S. born individuals, claiming they were better workers. Corr hints to this

idea saying that a “study shows that Anglo males in the service industries were earning 197

percent more than Mexican females and the entire difference was estimated to be a function of

discrimination […] it could be said that the larger the number of Mexican females, the more

discrimination they encounter because they are seen as posing a threat to the dominant group”

(267).

Consequently, Chicanas face more than one oppression. In an attempt to overcome

these oppressions, they sought to raise their standard / position through education, which

was their only hope. However, they faced problems in this case too. For instance,

contemporary and educated Chicanas are limited in most cases to menial and humble

factory jobs and service work. Education – as can be predicted – is totally unallowable to

all minorities, especially Chicanas, for two main reasons. The first reason is the claim that

the educated Chicana becomes increasingly alienated from her culture. Education is viewed
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as a male prerogative since he will be the wage earner (Corr 267). while education for

Chicanas is seen as surplus as she will not use it after marriage. Chicanas just need to stay

at home, caring for their husbands and children.

The second reason notes that not only women, but all Mexicans are suffering from

low–achieving problem. Anglo studies – for instance – suggest that Mexican–American

children failed in the classroom because they – as Olivia N. Saracho once hinted in an

article – "encountered styles of language socialization that differed from those at home"

(256). In my opinion, the Anglo educators don't offer any help for the Mexicans simply

because the latter may form a threat to their employment security later on. To an extend

that "Anglos invented a myth, suggesting that Mexican – American individuals do not

value education" (Saracho 257).

Eventually, education becomes a barrier in itself. Change may occur only if educators

stop blaming Mexican students and families for their culture and their behavior. Mexicans’

only hope is wrapped in their power and their endurance till they get their rights and prove

their identity.

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 Chapter Two: Simply Maria or the American Dream

Simply Maria is an autobiographical play about a young girl trying to reconcile

traditional Mexican values with those of the United States. But, unfortunately, she faces

many problems like all those faced by women and especially immigrating Mexican women.

The main idea of this play is that it emphasizes feminism in the context of a patriarchal

family structure, as well as the Mexican – American experience in the United States. This

comedy follows the character Maria, a bright, precocious child born to Mexican

immigrants, who dreams of obtaining college degree and living life far different from that

of her parents. Her father, Ricardo, tells her that in America, with an education, she can

find the American Dream. Maria believes him and studies hard. However, when she tells

her parents she wants to go to the college, they order her to get married instead. Maria

realizes that she has to go to the college in order to be economically independent of men

and have the life she wants. Therefore, through tracing Maria's life, it is easy to discover the

dominant ideas that are prevailing in most of her plays as the American Dream, Class –

Consciousness, and the status of Mexican Women. Consequently, an analysis of these

themes together with some techniqual aspects is worth mentioning in this paper.

On the thematic level, "Simply Maria" raises complex issues of female sexuality. It

discusses the conflict between the traditional Mexican male fantasy of femininity (angelic,

virginal, submissive baby machines) and the real desires of women living in the modern

world (power and equality). It also raises some other issues like class – consciousness, and

how the American Dream represents a high level of education, attaining power and

restoring the identity.

Body consciousness is a very prevailing theme in most of Lopez's plays. However,

this theme takes different shapes in each play. In Simply Maria, what Lopez wants to clarify

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is how the Mexican society perceives and judges women. According to Mexican men,

women are created just to reproduce, serve and be an object of desire. She has to be

submissive and accept this role. Judith Green has summed this idea up in one of the

articles: (Hispanic – American Women) … "come from a patriarchal culture in which 'as

Maria repeatedly told' a woman lives for three men: her father, her husband and her son".

An example from the play will be relevant in this context. Maria is repeatedly

ordered by her parents to be submissive and to accept this degrading status Mexican

women are having: "CARMEN. Maria, I ' m telling you for your own good. Women should

be pure. Men don't marry women who are not unless they have to. Quieren virgenes (they

want virgins) … Be submissive (126). According to Carmen, women should be pure – not

for themselves – but just to get married, and to be liked by men. Hence, women are created

just to please men. They are, thus, an object of desire. In another situation, Ricardo talks to

Maria ordering her to get married saying:

RICARDO. … Get married! […]

MARIA. and that's all a woman is for? To have children? Clean a house? Tend to her

husband like a slave? And heat his tortillas?

RICARDO. [….] Women have always gotten married and they have survived.

MARIA. But surviving is not living. […]

CARMEN. you are a Mexican woman, and that's that. You can't change that. You are

different from other women. Try to accept that. Women need to get married,

and they are no good without men (129,130).

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 It is very obvious from this dialogue how Mexican women are having a degrading

status. They are suffering from the oppression of a patriarchal society, and Maria becomes

the playwright's mouthpiece, when she refuses to be a submissive and a traditional woman.

On the techniqual level, Simply Maria is full of many symbols that are funny and

crucial at the same time. These symbols stand for the previously mentioned themes. For

instance, GIRL 1, GIRL 2, and GIRL 3 are all symbols for Maria's struggling selves. Girl 1

symbolizes Maria's Mexican self who wants her to be submissive and accept her condition.

Girl 2 symbolizes Maria's confusing mind. Girl 3 symbolizes Maria's revolutionary

American self. It is as Dr.Samar Abdelsalam once hints: "Maria's unconscious, acted out by

the three girls, connects her to all the potential selves she could be, and enacts the various

possibilities her life could experience". In many situations, Girl 1 is repeatedly telling Maria

that she is not having any value but to serve her husband: " GIRL 1. your goal is to reproduce"

(119). And in another context: " GIRL 1. Never shame your society " (125). Later on she says:

"GIRL 1. Maria, stop questioning and just accept. GIRL 3. No, Maria! God gave you a brain to

think and question. Use it" (126).

In another context, in scene 8, a very brilliant and considerable example must be

mentioned. In Maria's dream, she was about to get married, so the stage notes: "The couple

kneels and a wedding lasso is put around them" (132). Later on, the stage also notes: José –

Maria's husband – "takes out a golden dog collar" (132), instead of the ring, to put it around

Maria's neck, as a symbol for marriage bond. Moreover, at the end of the scene, L ópez

describes the holly event of marriage as follows:

They place the dog collar around MARIA’s neck. Then they get the wedding lasso and

tie it around her to make the collar seem and work like a leash. PRIEST speaks to

JOSE.) You may pet the bride. The lasso is given to JOSE. He pulls MARIA, who gets

on her hands and knees. They walk down the aisle like dog and master (133).
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 It is important to notice here Lopez's chosen words. The words she uses are symbols

of the way Maria is going to be treated by her husband after marriage – an animal, which is

used only to serve. This is actually the humiliating and dishonorable status of Mexican

women Lopez wants to highlight in her plays.

Another symbol in the same scene is very much related to the theme of 'body

consciousness'. This example is shown in what the priest says when he addresses Maria:

PRIEST. […] María, do you accept José Juan Gonzalez García López as your

lawfully wedded husband to love cherish, serve, cook for, clean for, sacrifice

for, have his children, keep house, love him, even if he beats you, commits

adultery, gets drunk, rapes you, lawfully, denies your identity, money, and in

return ask for nothing? (MARIA thinks about it and then turns to her parents

who mouth to her “I do.”)

MARIA. I do.

PRIEST. Very good. Now, José. Do you accept María García Gonzalez López as

your lawfully wedded wife to support? (132).

This example is extremely important, because the action of the priest is a symbol of

the exploitation of women in a patriarchal society. Woman has no right to revolt, even if

she is being humiliated, raped, or beat, while the man has the full right to do whatever he

wants without any kind of punishment on account of his sins and faults. The priest himself

is actually a symbol of the patriarchal system, who takes control of Maria's life. For

instance, at the beginning of the play, it was the priest who created Maria: " PRIEST. [...]

(The PRIEST takes the baby from CARMEN and sprinkles holy water on the baby.) Under the

Catholic Church, in the holy house of God, this child shall be known as Maria" (118). Later on, in

scene 8, it was the priest also who married Maria to José, giving him all his rights, and

depriving Maria from all her rights. Finally, in scene 11 the stage notes: "Judge will be done
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by the same actor who does priest" (138). Therefore, her destiny becomes clear and known.

The priest gives her life, obliges her to be married, and finally ends her life in prison. He,

thus, controls her life completely, asking her to be submissive and accept this. These

symbols are, thus, very effective in their context.

Another technique is used by Lopez here is the non – verbal implicit figural

technique of characterization, namely props. At the end of the play in scene eleven, there is

a very brilliant example of the usage of the props. Lopez describes Marìa in the stage notes:

" MARIA gets the laundry and begins to fold it quickly, but nicely and carefully. Suddenly,

the clothes begin to take on a life of their own. There is a giant coat, and a pair of pants

surrounding MARIA. They start pushing her around, then her wedding dress appears and

heads for MARIA’s neck. They wrestle on the ground" (137). These props Lopez uses, like

the coat and those pair of pants which surround Marìa, and push her around signify that

she cannot tolerate being a housewife. Besides, her wedding dress's choking act signifies

that Marìa's marriageable life is suffocating her. She no longer wants to be such a

submissive wife, only cooking food, washing and folding clothes. Lopez uses another prop

in her words: " MARIA manages to get away, and runs upstage. As she is running, a giant

tortilla with the Aztec Calendar emblem falls on her, smashing her to the ground

[…]MARIA manages to get out from under the giant tortilla. As she escapes, she is attacked

by a storm of plates" (137). This giant tortilla and these plates are props used effectively in

an attempt to stand for her detestable life she can no longer endure.

It can be said that most of the themes and ideas are revolving around one idea; which

is how Mexican immigrants can adapt themselves to the American society and its values.

But the question raises itself: will Maria's American Dream be fulfilled? Josefina Lopez

gives the reader a simple answer at the end of the play in Maria's last words:

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 I want to create a world of my own. One that combines the best of me. I won’t forget

the values of my roots, but I want to get the best of this land of opportunities. I am

going to college—and I will struggle to do something with my life (140).

These words also are considered a self commentary explicit figural technique in which

Maria tries to tell the whole world that any woman must have the chance to prove her power and to

be independent of men, keeping her legacy and her traditions along with her. The message is that

women can create their own lives without men; women are no longer an object of desire, or

reproducing machines. They can, thus, create their lives.

The play Simply Maria is actually a very rich play. It is full of ideas, symbols,

techniques, and points of view. Simply Maria is in fact a simple play leaving the reader with

a quest: Are we really living in a dream? Lopez astonishes the reader at the end of the play

when it is discovered that all that happened to Maria is a dream. Lopez, thus, provides the

reader with an answer; it is your decision, make a choice, whether you want to live in this

American dream or not. Truly, Simply Maria is simply perfect and perfectly simple.

Chapter Three : Confessions of Women from East L.A.

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 Josefina López writes Confessions of Women from East L.A. as a powerful voice for

women and immigrants in Mexico and the United States. "Confessions" is about liberation

from stereotypes, from machismo, from the confines of cultural expectations. Josefina

Lopez uses this play to highlight social injustices and to invite her audiences into the lives

of her characters. Through this play, Lopez tries by all means – thematically and techniqual

– to discuss problems she faced in her life; like the struggle with her Mexican and

American cultural identity; the oppression Mexican women have due to the U.S culture of

the ideal thin body type which affected her sense of self worth; the status of the

undocumented immigrants in the U.S; and class – consciousness. Thus, it can be said that

Lopez's nine character play Confessions of Women from East L.A gathers all the themes,

ideas and problems López is in need to clarify. Therefore, every character in this play

symbolizes a certain theme or a certain problem. Consequently, a brief analysis of one or

two characters, together with some techniqual aspects will help to shed light on one of the

problems that is common in a Mexican – American society.

Confessions of Women from East L.A is about the stereotypes of Latinas as "virgins,

mothers and whores" as Lopez puts it in her production notes, with voices of women from

East L.A. telling their stories. Marquez – Bernstein, Ph.D. is a 35 years old energetic Latina

feminist, who encourages Latinas to marry Jewish men in her "How to Be A Super Latina"

seminar. While Dona Consepcion is a 55 grandmother, who after her husband's death is

forced to come in terms with her homosexuality when she discovers her husband gave her

AIDS. While Dolores or Lolita Corazon is another 25 years old character, who teases and

punishes men with her powerful sexuality. She is actually a symbol for the body image or

body consciousness theme. Calletana – on the other side – is a 40 years old street vendor,

who sells corn and challenges City hall for her right to earn a living. Yoko Martinez is a 28

years old Latina, who is trying to pass for Japanese. Yoko is a very complicated character.
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Josefina Lopez uses this character to show how talented this young woman is, but how

much she underestimates herself. Roxie is a 30 years old Latina, who works as a self

defense instructor. She accidently attacks a man who is merely going to ask her for the

time. Tiffany is a 20 years old valley girl and a Chicana activist, who tries to defend the

rights of Frida Kahlo's paintings. Dona Florinda is another 45 years old Latina. She is a

soap opera addict in recovery. And finally Valentina is a 26 years old Chicana, who is trying

to organize her people to fight racism and proposition 187. She is a symbol for the

revolutionary Latina who aims at restoring her identity back and obliging people to respect

her body and thought. Thus, it is clear now how these 9 characters reveal weighty moments

and problems in the lives of Mexican – American women. However, it is necessarily in this

context to state some examples through tracing one of those characters.

Yoko is one of the prominent and brilliant characters in Confessions of Women from

East L.A. Actually, she is a symbol for many themes and issues that are tackled in most of

Lopez's plays. That's why she is an important character. She is also a difficult character to

be performed. "It's a real challenge" – as Josefina Lopez puts it – "to switch from acting

Japanese to returning to Latina and then go into Japanese and then into French and

Italian. It's a killer monologue to perform" (e-mail). Lopez wants, by portraying this

character, to show how talented this young woman is, but how much she underestimates

herself. Lopez also wants to show how many Latinas are suffering from low self esteem that

they don't strive for better. Therefore, Yoko is a symbol for ideas like low self esteem, body

consciousness and class consciousness.

As far as low self esteem theme is concerned, Yoko reveals most of the Latina's inner

strength. She is more powerful and beautiful than what she really thinks she is. In one of

the dialogues, Yoko was trying to prove to Mrs. Ito that the former is really a hard worker,

15
and that she can learn Japanese in a very short time. While listing the names of all the fish

used in Japanese, Yoko forgets one kind. Listing many kinds as she did was a great effort.

But Yoko believes that in forgetting one kind, she may lose her job. She, thus, tries to beg

Mrs. Ito to forgive her and give her another chance. This is what Lopez calls low self

esteem. Yoko does not know that she is a very powerful and highly educated Latina. She

can speak English, Japanese and Spanish:

YOKO. (Yoko runs to Mrs. Ito 2) […] what did you say Mrs. Ito? […] You want me to list

the names of all the fish used in sushi, in Japanese? Sure! Hai! Maguro, Toro, Katsuo,

Saba, Shake, Tai, Hirame, Tako, Suzuki, Ebi, Uni, Hamachi, to…to…ah… ah…ah.…

(YOKO has difficulty remembering the rest. She tries to remember, but can’t. She

breaks out of character.) […](YOKO runs to MRS. ITO #3.) Wait, wait, I can learn

this language! Please give me one more chance to prove to you I can do it, Mrs. Ito.

Please, really, really, onegaishimasu!…(YOKO bows very low in front of MRS. ITO

#3. Beat.) You see, you see. I do know Japanese (17).

This action is a very clear proof of how Yoko is suffering from low-self esteem. She is

beseeching Mrs. Ito to give her the job, though she has many good qualifications that can

allow her to work in any other place. Lopez chooses her verbs to stress the idea of self –

underestimation. In one of the articles, written by Pat Jacoby, it was quoted some of

Lopez's words: "I firmly believe that Latinos and other minorities are never going to be given

equal status in this country. They have to create it for themselves".

Yoko also is a representation for those women who want to raise their standard of

living, and change their lives to a better one. In one of her best dialogues in which she

comments on her status in an explicit figural technique, she says:

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 YOKO. Okay, okay. I don’t actually need this job. I just want it to increase my chances

of meeting Japanese men. You see, I’ve been working in Mexican restaurants too long

and all I meet are Mariachis, day laborers, soccer players, busboys, dishwashers,

relatives of all of the above, and I just don’t want to end up marrying […] a Latino

man […] I want a man who is gentle, kind, who doesn’t scream (18).

Again though Yoko is still underestimating herself. It is clear in her words how she

wants a different life. She does not want to marry any one, just for the purpose of getting

married, but she wants her life to be changed. She wants her marriage to add something

new to her life.

Yoko offers the audience another techniqual aspect through her gestures and the

words used to describe her character:

YOKO.[…] (Yoko runs to Mrs. Ito 1 fanning herself) […] (Yoko runs to Mrs. Ito 3 fanning

herself) […] (Yoko runs to Mrs. Ito 2 fanning herself) […] You want me to list the

names of all the fish used in sushi, in Japanese? Sure! Hai! Maguro, Toro, Katsuo,

Saba, Shake, Tai, Hirame, Tako, Suzuki, Ebi, Uni, Hamachi, to…to…ah… ah…ah.…

(YOKO has difficulty remembering the rest. She tries to remember, but can’t. She

breaks out of character.) […] I forgot! What’s it called? I know, I know, I was

supposed to have learned all my Japanese lingo by now, but it’s hard remembering all

those “K” sounds […] (Yoko runs to Mrs. Ito 2 and bows) […] (Yoko runs to Mrs. Ito 3)

Wait, Wait, I can learn this language (17).

In this monologue, Lopez uses many a verbal and non – verbal techniques to show

how Yoko is really underestimating herself. Lopez uses a non – verbal implicit figural

technique, namely gestures, along with a self-commentary explicit figural technique,

namely soliloquy. Lopez repeats the verb (runs) 13 times. This is very significant in this

context. This repetition symbolizes how hard Yoko is striving to get this job. She is running,
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running, bowing and begging – all these gestures to get that job. She does not have any

kind of trust in herself. She is repeating many words like (I know, I know) and (Wait, wait);

all these repetitions are to show how she does not have any confidence in herself. At the

end of her monologue, she gets the job. That's the message Josefina Lopez wants the reader

to get. It is that Mexican women should really work hard; they should know that now it's

their time to restore their identity and be respected by all the Americans. It does not matter

how many obstacles they will face. What really matters is how they will reach their goal.

She sums up her ideas in a symbolic technique, using Valentina's last words:

Our Raza needs your help. Times are getting scarier and dangerous for us. If you

don’t believe me, just open your eyes. […]I want you to stand up and turn to one

another […] So what if she’s speaking to you in Japanese…Turn to one another and

hug each other…Because today the revolution begins […] This is no longer a “white

America,” and that is why there is a backlash against us. The closer we get to reaching

our goals to liberate ourselves, the more afraid people in the establishment get […]

With Proposition 187 everybody is a suspect … What will it take for the sleeping giant

to awaken […] awake! Awake, raza!! ( 27, 28).

This monologue is actually a symbol of all the incidents that are going in a Mexican –

American society. It's a symbol for all the problems and dilemmas Mexicans are facing.

López makes it her mission – as Valentina did – to help Latinas find their power through

their own voice and their own story. And she ends the play by showing to the audience how

this can be done, as the stage notes: "In the darkness VALENTINA circles the stage in the

air and passes it on. Each woman does the same and lights fade out" (28). Circling the

stage symbolizes gathering all her views and opinions in one circle and passing them on to

the audience to adhere and adopt.

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 Finally, Yoko grants us another theme through her words. It is the body – image

theme. Yoko presents the main problem most Mexican women are facing; which is how

women are valued. Having big sexy bodies, Mexican women are facing problems. In this

context, Yoko is facing a terrible problem. She can't get the job because she is having large

breasts and huge hips, comparing to the Japanese bodies:

YOKO. I know that by the very fact that I have large breasts practically disqualifies me

from passing for Japanese, but I’ll tie them up; no one will know I’m a 36D, I swear!

[…] Look Mrs. Ito. I’m Mexican, and aside from having large breasts I’ve also got

huge hips and sometimes I wish I were Japanese so I’d eat a lot of fish and rice and

not have to worry about my weight. I mean, I’m on a diet right now, but I’m Mexican,

so that’s impossible […] You see, that’s another reason I want this job. So I can go on

a diet, eat lots of fish, and get down to a marriageable size (18).

Yoko here comments on herself and on all Chicanas in her dialogue with Mr.Ito, in

which she describes what all Mexican women are suffering from in an American society –

their bodies. Their sexual bodies can be their way to be valued and heard by all people, or it

can be an obstacle and can hinder them from attaining any kind of progress. Even Lopez in

one of her interviews once said:

I have had soo many barriers that there has been time I just cried and stayed in bed.

The biggest one is the assumption that is made about me being inferior for having

breasts and having Lopez as a last name … my recommendation is that Latinas

realize that self – confidence is not about anything external, it's about saying "I

matter because I say so".

It is evident here that both Lopez and Yoko are facing the same dilemma. Yet the

only difference between them lies in how Lopez fights and challenges this situation till she

proves that the true power of Mexican women lies in their minds, not in their shapes. It is
19
now somehow plain how Yoko becomes an essential character, as she gathers most of the

themes that are displayed in Confessions of Women from East L.A. and most of Lopez's

plays.

Through Confessions of Women from East L.A., Josefina López creates a play with

which people may intellectually disagree, but spiritually and emotionally they are united.

López tries to shock people with humor, make them laugh and cry at the same time, and

then show them their ridiculousness of their societal mask.

Chapter Four: Real Women Have Curves

Real women Have Curves is an outstanding play, written by the Chicana playwright

Josefina Lopez, in an attempt to foreground the complexity of the lives of the Mexican

American women belonging to the working class, and to show how those women together

20
can challenge the society they live in and become able to gain power and restore their

identities. This two-act autobiographical play features a character named Ana, who

temporarily works in her sister Estela's tiny sewing factory with three women: Pancha,

Rosali, and Ana's mother Carmen. Throughout the whole play, Josefina Lopez displays

what is really happening to those Mexican women in the American society. She tackles the

ethnic dimensions of these women's gender oppression and the way their class position is

impacted by their immigrant status. Hence, this chapter analyzes the main themes in the

play and explores the techniques used to highlight Lopez’s viewpoint within the framework

of the Chicanas’ struggle for empowerment.

On the thematic level, Josefina Lopez examines in her play – Real Women Have

Curves – many ideas, or obstacles that are faced by almost all Chicanas. She discusses

themes like body consciousness, working class exploitation, class mobility, women's

devaluation at work, and the American Dream. All these themes revolve around one

character; namely Ana. Ana and the three other women with whom she works are

described as being more or less overweight. The factory is the sole setting, and the action

takes place across one week of work in September, from Monday to Friday, during which

time the five women struggle to complete an order of one hundred dresses. They need to

finish the order because Estela must submit the finished dresses to the manufacturer so

that she may get paid, pay her workers, and catch up on the loan she took to purchase the

sewing equipment. Through their work, they exchange dialogue with one another about the

problems they face. The women talk about the standard of beauty, body image, domestic

violence, sexuality, marriage, motherhood and exploitation in work – problems that arise

after their immigration. Nevertheless, they overcome all these oppressions, and are able to

submit the dresses at the exact time, in a way to prove their ability to be powerful.

21
 Ana is the main character in the play, as she represents the voice of feminism and

that of the playwright. Through Ana most of the themes are clarified. One of the most

prominent themes is class–mobility or class consciousness. It is in Estela's factory that real

women can think and affect one another. The play also clarifies how the tradition–oriented

Latinas that Ana works with can influence her. Stuck with ironing the garments, Ana is

brought face to face with the hard conditions Estela, Carmen and their co-workers endure

to make a living. Long ago, she did not want to work with her sister. She scorns the back–

breaking labour her mother and sister perform in a sewing factory, and is determined to

escape that destiny herself. She wants to go to college. However, she has to wait till she

becomes eligible for financial aid. Ana is a feminist, and her desire to achieve class mobility

via education is tied to her rejection of the traditional gender roles for women in the

Mexican–American working class community.

Though the play opens with Ana expressing her resentment at having to work in her

sister's factory, by the end of the play, both Ana and the other women are changed by their

experience of working together to meet their deadline. The play concludes with Ana

becoming a writer and achieving her dream. She successfully makes an upward mobility to

change her class. Moreover, the other women opened a designer boutique specialized in

plus–sized clothing for women. Ana's words sum up this idea:

I always took their work for granted, to be simple and unimportant. I was not

proud to be working there at the beginning. I was only glad to know that

because I was educated, I wasn't going to end up like them. I was going to be

better than them. And I wanted to show them how much smarter and liberated

I was. I was going to teach them about the women's liberation movement,

about sexual liberation and all the things a so-called educated American

22
 woman knows [. . .] Perhaps the greatest thing I learned from them is that

women are powerful, especially when working together. "Real Women Have

Curves" (291).

It is in this closing monologue that the text takes a marked turn. Ana and the women

she is working with are able to achieve class–mobility. In this way, Lopez creates a play

about community and solidarity among women workers, who are able to realize their

American Dream of moving upward even if not all their American dreams come true.

Josefina Lopez resorts to a variety of techniques in Real Women Have Curves to

crystallize significant issues. One of those techniques Lopez uses is the technique of

characterization. In this technique Lopez employs a non – verbal implicit figural

technique, which is props, in her text. The props play a very crucial part in this play, where

Lopez uses them to highlight some themes, like class consciousness and body

consciousness theme. The first prop used by Lopez are a notebook and a pen. From the

beginning of the play the heroine of the play – Ana – tends to use a notebook and pen to

record every single detail in her life, and sometimes to record her revolt too. Lopez hints at

the beginning of the play to this: "she sticks her hand behind the toilet seat and gets out a

notebook and a pen" (257). Again in the middle of the play in Act I, Scene III, Lopez

repeats the same sentence: "Ana goes to the bathroom and sits on the toilet and begins to

write" (272). These notebook and pen Ana uses present Ana before the audience as an

intellectual girl, very different from the rest. She is the only one who uses those props. This

creates an atmosphere of uniqueness, intellectuality, and power surrounding Ana. Ana

herself admits the advantage of writing: "I'm keeping a journal so when I become rich and

famous, I can write my autobiography" (272). Being illiterate, the other women exclude

23
Ana from their area. Thus putting her in a circle for intellectuals and for those who want to

change their lives and their standards into better ones.

Lopez uses another technique to highlight the theme of class consciousness and to

pin point the fact that most Chicanas are suffering from a very low standard of living.

Lopez uses in Real Women Have Curves an explicit figural technique of characterization,

which is soliloquy. In her soliloquy, Ana attempts to comments on her status in this factory

she is working and living in :

such is the life of a Chicana in the garment industry. Cheap labor […]I've been

trying to hint to my sister for a raise, but she says I don't work fast enough for

her to pay me minimum wage […]the weeks get longer and I can't believe I've

ended up here. I just graduated from high school […]most of my friends are in

college. It's as if I'm going backwards. I'm doing the work that mostly illegal

aliens do (257).

Her soliloquy reveals her revolt against her life. She does not want to end up like any

illegal Chicana in the United States. Consequently, her soliloquy reveals her inner urge to

improve her class. This is very much related to class consciousness theme.

Another important theme in this play is the women's American dream of becoming

thin and rich - body consciousness. Ana is repeatedly reminded that her body is a barrier to

landing a husband. Though Ana does not see herself as having overweight problem, she

wishes to be slim. Dresses become representative of Ana's American dream to be thin and

rich – an idea that Josefina Lopez terms “the feminist and class consciousness.” In Act I,

Scene I, Rosali admires the dresses that the women are sewing: "Que bonito. How I would

like to wear a dress like that?" to which Pancha replies, "But first you have to turn into a stick to

24
wear something like that"(264). The dresses, therefore, represent the normative ideal of a

slender body which none of the women has achieved. Consequently, the dresses are a

catalyst for raising their class consciousness and feminist consciousness.

Lopez uses also in this play some other techniques to highlight this theme too. The

first technique is symbols. One of the significant scenes in Real Women Have Curves is

called the stripping scene, which symbolizes construing the American Dream in terms of

beauty and body standards of main stream Anglo–America. A desire for the dream means

adopting the beauty and body standards of Anglo–America, and critique of the dream

means being resistant to those standards. The climax of the play occurs after the women

have worked for over 24 hours straight, and they come to take pride in both their work and

their bodies. Fed up with the heat, Ana strips off her blouse and continues to iron in her

bra. This act lets the other women shed their clothes to display their hips, their stomachs,

their stretch marks and their scars, in a way to show whose body is fatter. At this moment,

Estela asks: "so this is how we look without clothes?" to which Carmen replies, "Just as fat and

beautiful"(286). The stage notes say: "they all hug in a semi – circle laughing triumphantly"(287).

This action functions as a symbol of their liberation from all that oppresses them. It is as

Maria Figueroa puts it: "This action communally liberates the women from the same garments

that oppress them and enables the women to expose their large bodies intimately and publicly"

(280).

Other techniques used by Lopez are the non – verbal implicit figural techniques of

characterization, namely locale and props. In her production notes, Lopez gives the reader a brief

description about the place the Chicanas are working and living in: "there is also a trailor's

mannequin (size seven). Up stage, on the right, are two dress racks. On one is a pink evening dress

that resembles a ballerina dress" (291). And in another part she says: "on the left wall are

fashionable illustrations and magazine cut – ups of many slim models" (292). These two

25
quotations serve to highlight the body consciousness theme, illustrated previously. Lopez means

by these words to assure how those women are suffering from the norm of having a slim body.

Even the place in which they live is full of slim models, mannequins and ballerina dresses. Thus,

this locale creates in them the feeling that this place is just for those who have slim bodies.

Real Women Have Curves is a prominent play that was an "immediate hit" to the

audience, as Lopez puts it in her production notes. It confuses the audience because it talks

about many different issues the Mexican women deal with. In Real Women Have Curves

Josefina Lopez portrays a vivid picture of the lives of the Mexican women and what they

face after immigration. She intended to let the audience compare their legal rich lives with

the Latinas' illegal, poor lives. She succeeds in drawing attention to the lives of the other

world. Real Women Have Curves can be best represented in Margo Milletet's words that

the setting of the play in Estela's factory is a "classroom where Mexican cultural values are

examined in the light of feminist writing and feminist writing is questioned by Mexican working

women."

The conclusion shall follow …………………….

26
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