The Moths, and Other Stories by Helena María Viramontes
"The Moths, and Other Stories" by Helena María Viramontes is a collection that intimately explores the lives and struggles of Chicana women across various stages of life. Through poignant narratives, Viramontes delves into themes such as identity crises, the intersection of cultural traditions and modernity, and the complexities of gender and family dynamics. Stories like "The Moths" and "Growing" depict young women grappling with adolescence, familial expectations, and the influence of strong female figures. Other narratives tackle more challenging subjects, including abortion, domestic violence, and the emotional toll of childhood trauma. The collection also addresses the experiences of older women, showcasing themes of loneliness and the search for self amidst the expectations of society. Viramontes' work is characterized by a sensitivity to the cultural and personal nuances faced by these women, inviting readers to engage with their stories on a deeper level. Overall, "The Moths, and Other Stories" is a rich exploration of the trials and triumphs of Chicana women, making it a significant contribution to contemporary literature.
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The Moths, and Other Stories by Helena María Viramontes
First published: 1985
The Work
The Moths, and Other Stories focuses on the lives of Chicana women of various ages and backgrounds. The women in Helena María Viramontes’ stories often face identity crises—they struggle with religion, adolescence, sexuality, family, and aging.
“The Moths” narrates the growth of a fourteen-year-old girl who cares for her grandmother. The grandmother’s home is a refuge for the young woman, whose home is ruled by her father. When her grandmother dies, the girl laments the loss of a strong female figure who has helped shape her identity. “Growing” also focuses on a young Chicana woman who struggles with adolescence. Fifteen-year-old Naomi looks forward to her first date until her parents make her take along her little sister Lucia as a chaperone. Naomi insists that dating is “different” in America, but her parents insist on their own customs and Naomi wonders about the difficulties of growing up in a new country.
In the stories focusing on young women Viramontes raises the issues of religion, reproduction, and marriage. In “Birthday” a young, unmarried woman struggles over her decision to abort a child. “The Broken Web” focuses on a young woman and her struggles with repressed family memories. Martita learns that her father, Tomas, beat and cheated on her mother, and that her mother finally snapped and killed Tomas. “The Broken Web” shows a young woman dealing with the violence of her childhood. In “The Long Reconciliation” Amanda and Chato’s marriage falls apart when Amanda refuses to bring children into their meager existence. After Amanda aborts their first child, Chato refuses all sexual contact with her and their marriage ends. “The Cariboo Cafe” focuses on the struggles of a young mother. Two children are kidnapped by a woman who has lost her own child in the political problems in Central America. Eventually the woman is discovered, and the children are taken away from her. She screams for her own son, Geraldo.
The final two stories focus on older women. In “Snapshots” Olga Ruiz, a middle-aged divorcée, attempts to come to terms with her past identities. As she sifts through family photographs, she realizes how little she has left of herself—she was too busy being a good wife and mother. “Neighbors” focuses on a lonely, elderly woman. Aura has nothing but her beautiful garden and her neighbor, Fierro. When a strange woman visits Fierro, Aura is upset by the change in their relationship. In her struggles with loneliness, Aura becomes fearful, and “Neighbors” examines the loneliness, isolation, and fear of being an old, solitary woman.
Women’s issues are Viramontes’ focus throughout The Moths, and Other Stories, and her narratives focusing on the struggles of primarily Chicana women are tinged with the complexities of adolescence, sexuality, marriage, poverty, and family.
Bibliography
Alarcon, Norma. “Making Familia from Scratch: Split Subjectivities in the Work of Helena Maria Viramontes and Cherrie Moraga.” The Americas Review 15 (1987): 147-159. In this critical essay, Alarcon connects the self-sacrificing woman of Mexican and Chicano Catholicism to the split identities of females in Moraga’s and Viramontes’ work.
Anzaldua, Gloria, ed. Making Face, Making Soul: Haciendo Caras: Creative and Critical Perspectives by Feminists of Color. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Foundation Books, 1990. This anthology of personal narratives, critical essays, poetry, and short stories picks up where This Bridge Called My Back (1981) left off. Like the earlier collection, this one provides incisive cultural critiques by women of color.
Franklet, Duane. “Social Language: Bakhtin and Viramontes.” The Americas Review 17 (Summer, 1989): 110-114. Franklet details the way in which Viramontes uses a variety of language systems to illustrate the difficulty of meaningful communication for her characters.
Herrera-Sobek, Maria, and Helena Maria Viramontes, eds. Chicana Creativity and Criticism: Charting New Frontiers in American Literature. Houston: Arte Publico Press, 1988. One of several volumes of critical essays on Chicana literature and literary theory, Chicana Creativity offers several complex, interdisciplinary articles.
Horno-Delgado, Asuncion, et al., eds. Breaking Boundaries:Latina Writing and Critical Readings. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1989. This anthology of essays includes Viramontes’ essay “‘Nopalitos’: The Making of Fiction,” in which she discusses her own commitment to writing as a means of speaking and fighting for women and children.
Moraga, Cherrie. Loving in the War Years. Boston: South End Press, 1983. Moraga’s text, written prior to The Moths, and Other Stories, shares similar thematic and stylistic concerns. Loving in the War Years is a collection of essays and poetry that examines the role of Chicano culture in shaping the lives and imaginations of Chicana writers.