The role of women in Chicana literature as portrayed in the writings of Sandra Cisneros and Ruth Behar's Translated woman

Includes bibliographical references (pages [35]-38)Since the advent of the women's movement in the sixties, the role of woman has been in the forefront of society and in literature. More changes have occurred in her role as a Latina, however, than in the general role that she assumes worldwide. Through this paper, I have explored her position as a woman in a world dominated by men, as a person showing signs of repressed anger, as a woman with the role of protectress, and finally as a female going through the Bildungsroman, or novel of development. The effect of one's childhood will be studied as it relates to one's adolescent and adult life. Throughout all this will be shown evidence of her emerging, new-found independence. Through fiction, much of which is based upon the true life experiences of Sandra Cisneros, and through the factual events of the life of Esperanza in Behar's account, I recount the several roles which Latina women portray.M.A. (Master of Arts