Latino Literature: Opposing Traditional Values Course Extractions

There are several different facets of Latino literature that I am familiar with today that I was previously unaware of. Most of these are related to the variety of themes that recur in various manifestations throughout this genre of literature. The most fundamental aspect of learning that I have come away from this course with is that in this particular type of literature, themes and subject matter are not always what they appear as.

Even a cursory examination of the authors read in this course and some of the works of literature they produced confirm this thesis statement. There is a palpable subversion of traditional gender roles and conceptions in the works of Junot Diaz, who authored "Drown and "Aguantando," as well as in those of Sandra Cisneros, whose "Bien Pretty" exemplifies this characteristic. The works of Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortaza, and Horacio Quiroga all readily confirm the fact that perspectives, viewpoints, and even the entire subject matter of a story is mutable and prone to sudden,...

The works of Cisneros and Diaz suitably demonstrate this fact largely by subverting traditional gender roles. The homosexual interaction of a street drug dealer added a fair amount of complexity and flair to Diaz's "Drown" (Diaz, p. 104, 1997), while Cisenros' "Bien Pretty" effectively objectifies its male character and assigns traditional male virtues of power and decision-making to the female protagonist (Cisneros, p. 153, 1992). Doing so provides a depth of dimension that is practically overlooked when tales merely follow gender stereotypes in terms of characterization.
The second thing of importance I learned from this course is primarily attributed to the works of Cortazar, who is a master of the transformative aspect of…