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What Is The Narration Of Helena Maria Viramontes 'The Moths'

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Everyone has a favorite piece of literature they have read in school; whether it is a poem from a man who is too afraid to be himself or a story on the difficulty of finding good men. “The Moths” by Helena Maria Viramontes tells the story of a young girl who has been bullied relentlessly by her family except her grandmother who takes care of her. Viramontes’ “The Moths” has been the most memorable text I have read because it is a narrative focusing on the detrimental effects of tradition and the oppression of women by providing a protagonist who is not afraid to rebel against tradition or those who hold her down. The text creates recognizable emotions in my heart due to the fact that the protagonist feels safe around a certain person in her life. Viramontes uses, “I always felt her gray eye on me. It made me feel, in a strange sort of way, safe and guarded and not alone. Like God was supposed to make you feel,” to express the strong connection between Abuelita and the narrator. Like the narrator, I didn’t have the best relationship with my siblings when we were younger. We would constantly argue and fight but no matter what I knew my mom was there. Although showing emotion was difficult because my mom never cried. She would hide hints of sadness and never cried. For me, I could never show emotion because either way I would end up being …show more content…

“I wasn’t even pretty or nice like my older sisters and I just couldn’t do the girl things they could do” (Viramontes), is a phrase used by the narrator to express how she feels compared to her sisters. Many girls in the world have been compared to those around them, whether they are fantastic at sports but aren’t ‘feminine enough’ or the most intelligent but can’t cook. In society, women are made to be housewives and have to look and act a certain way: well dressed, no questioning anything, and obedient. Taylor Swift once said, “They'd say I

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