Sandra Cisneros in the Story

Sandra Cisneros

In the story "Never Marry a Mexican," writer Sandra Cisneros delved into the issue of acculturation of the minority into the mainstream or American culture. The protagonist, Clemencia, was characterized as a woman who was averse to the idea that she would lose her 'Latin identity,' as she witnessed her mother re-marrying to an American. Fleeing her home and establishing her life in a barrio was Clemencia's attempt to re-discover and re-affirm her identity as a 'pure' Latino. However, it was also remarkable how, in her attempt to preserve her cultural identity, she involved herself in a relationship with an American. This action contradicted her feelings of loathing when her mother decided to marry an American: "...she knew as well as I did that there was no home to go home to. Not with out mother. Not with that man she married...When she married the white man...it was as if she stopped being my mother..." Though Clemencia rationalized that involving herself in a relationship with a married American was her way of showing how different she is from her lover's wife, who is an American. Thus, Clemencia stood for everything the American's wife is not, and that included being a Latino. It became evident in the story, however, that despite her insistence that she was influencing and reinforcing her identity to her lover, she did not realize that she is rapidly becoming part of the culture she tried to avoid in her home. Her cruel and insensitivity as a married man's lover opposed the moral values and beliefs that Clemencia's Latino culture considered essential and foundation of Latino identity. In her attempt to become a truly authentic, 'untainted' Latino, she was actually being acculturated gradually by her lover to the American culture as she becomes centered on the idea that she was actually influencing him when in fact, her lover changed her to become more modern and American, neglecting her values, thereby neglecting her true Latino identity.