#The Postmodern Llorona

[cityofchapin]

from: "The Postmodern Llorona" by Gloria Anzaldúa

from: "The Postmodern Llorona"The young woman is not afraid of La Lloronashe has become La LloronaHer high-pitched yell is curdling the blood of her parents,raising the hair on the back of their necks.Most days she floats through air on a natural high.If she ever remembers the machowho abandoned and betrayed herit does not render her paralyzed in susto and grief. Anzaldúa, Gloria. “The…

[gareader-blog]

Part 4

“The Postmodern Llorona” is a poem that tells us of a girl, shamed by her community and family, she has identified herself with La Llorona; a mythical feared woman from Mexican folklore. La Llorona is the “evil woman”, her story is told as a ghost story to frighten children and serves as a poster model for a sinful and hated woman. This poem's character has become La Llorona. She is ostracized, a lesbian in a Chicano community, and her appointed sinfulness as a queer woman has caused her title. She has been turned into a boogeyman. She is the postmodern Llorona, “La Macha”. She is too masculine as a woman, and as such is turned into a martyr, a walking ghost, and a warning to young girls. She is hated for her sexuality and is thus treated as a creeping outsider. Her sinful image is a symptom of Machismo, and of stereotypes of Chicanas, those who reside outside of the boundary of acceptance being made into an example of an outcast.

Artwork: Retold Story of La Llorona #4 (Shunned by her Pueblo) by Sonya Fe

[dimeji-anzaldua]

Llorona Coyolxauhqui - Part Four

Gloria Anzaldúa utilizes myths to portray her fight against the bigots who have taken over her life in an attempt to reject her queerness. It’s similar to her earlier poem about being the postmodern Llorona, she details how she embodies mythical figures to seek vengeance for the hatred she has received. She also talks about the struggle of letting her feelings loose and I think it makes a lot of sense for her to choose the figures she did because they represent unleashing anger and sadness onto the world. Gloria does this through her work instead though, it’s her safe space to cry and scream at the world without being ashamed. I’ve always found writing to be the place where I most feel comfortable expressing my thoughts so I understand her prioritizing that form of creative expression for the mythical figures. I chose an image of the Coyolxauhqui imperative to represent this piece because of Gloria’s reference to her embodying the goddess.

[corrinerayabtt]

Part 4: "Later" Writings

Entry 12: The Postmodern Llorona

I chose this passage because I have heard of La Llorona and the story of her, it has made its way to the horror industry. However, I have not the real story or how it fits into Latinx/Chicanx culture. Anzaldúa uses La Llorona as a metaphor for who she has become as a woman. Not afraid of anything, including La Llorona. A quote from the passage that I thought was interesting was,  

“She is the macha woman, the femme, 

La Llorona is a lesbian, and abandonment and betrayal 

are now mediated by both parties or in couples therapy.  

the weeping woman walks our streets, 

does her laundry at Ultramat. 

La Llorona attends UCSC, goes on picnics  

and to the movies.” (Anzaldúa 280). 

I chose this quote because it represents the postmodern Llorona, this is the weeping woman, a woman alone and outcasted by society. La Llorona can be anyone, it is a woman who walks our streets and does what we all do, but she is filled with sadness.  

[feralseraph]

The young woman is not afraid of La Llorona she has become La Llorona

Gloria Anzaldúa, excerpt from The Postmodern Llorona

[gloriaanzalduareaderblogfall2021]

“The Postmodern Llorona” by Gloria Anzaldua (Ch.4)

The postmodern Llorona by Gloria Anzaldua is Glorias reimagination of the tale and how she has now reclaimed this story relating it to her own life.  In the poem she talks about how slowly the Llorona was slowly changing and shifting into a figure of herself. The relates to tears shed by the Llorona has shed but showing how she has cried for different reasons, but the feelings are the same. Gloria shows the Llorona that she is stronger than she thinks and relates to the Llorona in trying to find part of yourself that you thought were lost. It was interesting to see at the end of the poem gloria feels she may be stuck in this perpetual nightmare; others know it is a bad dream, but she continues to live with her trauma that is very real to her. This image shows the emotion GA carries as putting her self in the place of the Llorona and the different reasons and tears she has shed in her journey. 

[etst254]

Gloria Anzaldua- Pt4-“The Postmodern Llorona”

Gloria poem of “The Postmodern Llorona” was one that was really interesting to read she gave the story of the Llorona a modern twist and incorporated herself into the story in place of the Llorona. As we know the foklord of the Llorona is prominent in Mexican and Chicanx culture and the story of a women who was seduce and abandon by a man who kills her children and she is forced to roam the river to find her children. And Gloria adds the twist of describing herself of the Llorona being a Lesbian and that her abandonment  and a is through mediation and couples therapy. Adding that the Llorona is a an average women doing laundry, walking down the street and goes to the movies. I took this as that although La Llorona is a legend we can see that women of everyday can be the Llorona, having the abuse of a man and having a mental impact on them that they are able to hide in simply becoming the Llorona. This is what I took away from the reading and wanted to connect it to a piece of art since, as said La Llorona is a prominent piece of our culture that has impacted many artists to draw her and inspire them. 

[gloria-anzaldua]

Part Four-The Postmodern Llorona

In Part four GA has a piece called The Postmodern Llorona which I was really interested in reading. The story of La llorona is incredibly well known and although there are many versions to the story the point is that the story remains alive for interpretation. In GA’s piece she speaks of la llorona as a regular woman roaming around with her pain of betrayal. The llorona is not described as the weeping long haired woman we always hear about but instead was described as a woman with spiked hair wearing a sweater and high tops. The imagery that GA puts into her writing is very inspiring and truly gives her readers  a vivid picture of what she is trying to get across. I think that the description of this llorona is very unique because it creates a new perspective and way to view her instead of the negativity and sadness that we all know the llorona for.

[thegloriaanzalduareaderblog]

“The Postmodern Llorona” by Gloria Anzaldua  (Ch.4) Part 4- Final Post

Gloria’s take on La Llorona was very interesting to see. In my own childhood I grew up around people mocking you for your tears and using the term La Llorona as an insult. I interpret this poem as coming from the perspective of Gloria herself, she is La Llorona. This modern take on a traditional tale is really important to hear, it is an act of rebellion just to accept and own that term. I saw a lot of the themes she discussed in previous poems in this poem in a summary. I think this poem is Gloria looking internally and being proud of everything that makes her, her. She talks about how normal she is yet she stands out. She is trying to reclaim all of the parts of herself that she once rejected or avoided, “she seeks the parts of herself that she’s lost along the way”. The image I chose for this post is an art piece that was made by Ed Sandoval representing La Llorona.

[gloriaanzalduaa]

GA Part 4: "The Postmodern Llorona"

· This piece is profound. The concept behind La Llorona, as always been a negative connotation. I enjoy how Anzaldua makes the negative connotation of Llorona an applicable experience for women impacted by the violence of machismo behavior. Anzaldua writes, "La Llorona is a lesbian, and abandonment and betrayal arena meditated by both parties...The weeping woman walks our streets, does her laundry at Ultramat"(280). Patriarchy is a violent system that continues to disenfranchise many BIPOC women today, and we live amongst this violence. The way she uses La Llorona to describe the experience of being a woman with feelings of betrayal and pain is moving. Many times people believe a woman’s feelings are a weapon to our being. However, feelings can catalyze more that meets the eye and Anzaldua is showing us with this poem.

[dimeji-anzaldua]

The Postmodern Llorona - Part Four

Gloria’s version of the La Llorona story speaks to how the queer experience shapes her livelihood and how things that are essential to her culture can be reshaped to fit her lifestyle. La Llorona is imagined as a modern lesbian woman who haunts because of the bigotry she has faced from people who she viewed as family. La Llorona drowned her children but this Llorona haunts the people who are ashamed of her and despises the act of abandonment by those who are supposed to love infinitely. I love how Gloria reshapes the narrative because it’s definitely a dream for many queer creatives to get some type of karma for how they were handled by people they were once close to. Family trauma is one that is damning and torturous but Gloria placing the power of Llorona in a lesbian living in the modern world shows that she possesses the ability to channel that power into her creativity. The image is of a La Llorona statue that is in Mexico.

[toyav]

Reflections on The Postmodern Llorona (part four)

Through this class alone La Llorona has taken on a new image. Her story being told beyond the tale meant to scare children into behaving. Learning the history behind the story. The pain of betrayal.

They way you illustrate Postmodern Llorona with words is in what maybe society considers to be unladylike like. You describe someone who is young and not fulfilling those expectations of Chicana culture, supported by the often accompanied Catholic teachings. She bears no children, she in fact is just a very normal woman who just chooses to not conform to these expectations.

She is educated and she enjoys her life without remorse for going against the grain. She want's to learn and grow and mold herself rather than be molded. She is proud and she speaks up. This poem is taking back the identity of La Llorona and acknowledging the parts our culture has chosen to ignore for so long and is making her someone we hurt for, someone we can all in someway see ourselves. Weather we are choosing to act on it or not.

There is a mural in San Fransico by Juana Alicia titled La Llorona. This is another representation of what it is to recreate, make our new metaphors of the stories we've been told.

[gloriaanzalduareader2021]

Part 4 The Postmodern Llorona by Gloria Anzaldúa

Once again Gloria Anzaldúa has given us an empowering piece to read. The conventional story of La Llorona, a woman who was left by her husband, who then drowns her children. She spends the rest of eternity crying and screaming for her children. GA reimagines a traditional tale that shows a woman in pieces. There are many variations to this story and in many that I have heard the woman kills her children herself and is used as a ghost tale. Nonetheless, of course in the Mexican folklore the woman is helpless, shattered, crazy etc. In GA’s postmodern Llorona she becomes the “Macha woman, the femme”(280). La llorona no longer wallows in sadness because of the man that left her, she is empowered. She does not long and seek for her children because she doesn’t have any. She longs and seeks for self discoverance. Anzaldúa depicted La Llorona to no longer be afraid but as powerful. The poem reminded me of Juana Alicia’s La Llorona's Sacred Waters. In the mural she also depicts the powerful and sacredness women hold in her depiction of La Llorona.

[zomeirrr]

The Postmodern Llorona - Part 4

La Llorona is a story about a woman who is betrayed by a man when he seduces her and then kills her children. She wanders in search of her children, crying for their return. Anzaldua changes this, describing her as a masc woman, a lesbian. She describes La Llorona as being within all Chicana lesbians, because their experiences are different, but inherently the same. She is not worried about children, but the pieces of herself that are missing, whether that be family, identities, or relationships. She recognizes women using therapy to cope, but not always speaking the truth out of fear of not being welcomed anymore. A sheltering of self, a transition into La Llorona. She rises above the hurt La Llorona feels, but experiences this in a different way, in a way that strays her from her true self.

[moraima]

Part Four- The Postmodern Llorona

In this piece Gloria Anzaldua repaints the traditional image of the urban legend La Llorona. She sheds her of her mythical white dress and gives her a pair of blue jeans and high-top sneakers. These efforts aim to re-invent this tragedy and give La Llorona back power. Anzaldua further adds, “The young woman is not afraid of La Llorona she has become La Llorona.”.This is a powerful message and entails that self-growth and positive change are always attainable no matter the story attached to your past lived experiences. As well, this entry goes on to describe La Llorona as a college student who likes picnics and writes poems. I found myself sharing a lot of similarities with her character and came to realize our most prominent similarity was the fact that along the way we have lost parts of ourselves that we still aim to search for.

[gloriaanzalduareader-blog]

Part Four: Postmodern La Llorona

La Llorona is a cultural icon who is sometimes referred to as the Weeping Woman and in this piece Gloria Anzaldua paints a beautiful picture of her with words. She walks through the night and is seduced and abandoned and killed her children, She outlines a modern version of this figure and depicts her in modern clothing with the words Serpent Woman written across the front. She describes that this woman is not only not afraid of La Llorona but that she has become her, and she yells through the night. She is queer and does her laundry where everyone else does, she goes to college and goes on picnics. This poem demystifies this icon and helps to humanize her and create sympathy around the pain that La Llorona feels and extend it to people who are in pains that differ from the original myth. She has no children but she feels pain, through this distinction Anzaldua affirms the pain that queer people feel.