J.E. #6

After much group analyzation (myself and one of my team members from M.A.S.A.), I came up with this list-- individual to my thoughts on these characters:

1.Lola
2. Nina
3. Lena
4. Angie
5. Juanita
6. Felix
7. JoEl
8. Miguel Chico
9. Miguel Grande
10. Mama Chona

I decided to put Lola at a one because although she is a prominent character in the book, I feel as though she more of a foil than a main character. She doesn't as much of the signs, if any, as the characters of cultural schizophrenia.Part of this has to do with her phenotype-- she is the epitome if a beautiful Mexican woman: of light complexion and colored eyes; she showed the delicateness of her Spanish heritage and not the darkness of her Indigenous heritage.

Lena I deemed a 2 because of her Pachuca ways and because of her willingness to challenge authority. Not only does she act rebellious in her dress and in the company she keeps, but she also advocates fearlessly for her father after his death in the scene where she confronts the police officers. Not only does she sense the corruption in the system, she sees it in her family as well. This is best captured when after her confrontation with the police, she tells her uncle, Miguel Grande, that she is more or less disappointed by his apathy in regards to her father's murder.

Nina, I put at a 3. This mostly had to do with the fact that she was the number one supporter for the campaign to have Juanita leave Miguel. This defies the systems of patriarchy and internalized sexism rampant throughout the Angel family. Even though she clearly suffers from this in her own household, I believe that Nina's strong stance on her sister's relationship as well as her deviation for the religiosity in her household puts her at a 3. She definitely suffers from cultural schizophrenia, but I feel that in comparison to the other characters, she's high up on the scale in terms of suffering from the least amount of cultural schizophrenia.

Angie is a 4, in my opinion, because although she does pride herself in her Mexican-ness, when faced with situations in which she has to mingle with people of a "higher class" or wealthier socio-economic background, she begins to speak in English. It is only after her children and others tease her because of her accent does she recoil into her feelings of inferiority-- internalized racism.

Juanita is a 5 because although she does take a stance when she finds out about Miguel and his affair with Lola, she always gives in to the systems of patriarchy and internalized sexism. This is best seen when she begins to iron Miguel's shirts when he packs up for his trip to LA to visit Lola.

I put Felix at a 6 because even though he defends Angie against his family's racism, he still subjects her to patriarchy ans sexism. This is in addition to his mixed feelings about his sexuality. While he doesn't overtly say or think negatively of it, he knows it is "wrong."

JoEl is at a 7 because along with his upbringing full of patriarchy (imposed by his father), he also suffers from cultural schizophrenia imposed on him by outside sources-- his family

Miguel Chico is an 8 because even though his higher education enables him from decolonizing his mind from systems of oppression like historical amnesia, he still has a sense of internalized racism and the hierarchy that comes with that. This is due to his feelings of superiority brought to him by his education-- he sees himself as better than his family because they are less educated than he.

Miguel Grande is situated at a 9 because he, out of all his siblings, perpetuates Mama Chonas' ideals of racism, patriarchy, religion, and other oppressive system the most.

Mama Chona is at a 10, suffering the most from cultural schizophrenia, mostly because of her historical amnesia and her perpetuation of internalized sexism and patriarchy. She also holds this position because out of all of the members of the family, she is the one who perpetuates these systems the most-- she tries her hardest to ingrain these systems of oppression not only to her children, but to her children's children as well.