I decided to critique Never Marry a Mexican by Sandra
Cisneros. The author was definitely showing that people cheat. I feel like the
narrator, Clemencia, who was the “other woman”, did not have a guilty
conscience. She knew what she was doing, and kept doing it. Drew, who was
Clemencia’s lover, was not the only one at fault, though what he did was 100%
wrong. At the very beginning, Clemencia says, “I'm guilty of having caused
deliberate pain to other women. I'm vindictive and cruel, and I'm capable of
anything.” (Cisneros 51) I think the author is showing that people in these
relationships of infidelity know that what they are doing is wrong, but they do
not really care. I feel like Cisneros also uses class and race almost as an
excuse for the wrong that Clemencia is doing. Just because she is low class
doesn’t mean she has the excuse to do something so bad. Also, just because she
is a U.S. Mexican shouldn’t mean anything, but just because her mom had a bad
experience, it affected Clemencia’s lifestyle. This goes to show how much
influence a parent can have on his or her child. Clemencia never realized
anything was bad with her life when she was young, and now she just doesn’t
feel like she belongs. There is a theme
of identity through out Never Marry a Mexican. Clemencia does not belong
in a class or with any one person in particular. Her lover is married! I
personally am against everything in this book so it was not my favorite read,
it is fine that it raises awareness of reality, but I would not recommend it to
a friend. I’m not saying it was a bad book, but if I were to recommend a book
to a friend, it would be a romance novel by Nicholas Sparks. Never Marry a
Mexican just didn’t appeal to me personally, but I would still give it a
6/10 rating.
www.sandracisneros.com
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