1. Machismo & Marianismo: Gender Relations in Latin American Literature
Kyle Yoshioka
Haley Pangman
Hanna Dooley

2. Machismo Defined
The cult of the male—characterized by a display of sexual prowess, zest for action; including verbal action, daring, and, above all, absolute self confidence
A hyper-masculine ethos at the core of societal organization
“…and at times those who believe themselves to be machos are really not so when they are alone with their conscience. They are only braggarts of the moment.”
The typical male response to fear of dominance by a (perceived) sexually superior and threatening female.
Not all machos are caudillos (leaders), but all caudillos must be machos
Cynthia Nelson describes how the identity of the macho is a façade that disguises the conflict between his persona of macho and his inner feelings

3. Marianismo Defined Spanish Colonization
Catholicism
Preservation/Idealization of virginity
Virgin Mary
Morally and spiritually superior
“In relation to the machismo, the woman, or the Marianismo, is a mother first, a wife second, and a sexual being almost never.”

4. The Relationship between Machismo and Marianismo
Marianismo-emotional, familial, spiritual support
Machismo-physical, material support
Men attempt to “…wrench the secrets of life and death away from women, who although gifted with the capacity to produce earthly life, are believed to exist too close to mortality ever to hope to guide their fellows to another existence.”
Public vs. Private
Family Structure—roles are contrasted
Intra-familial relationships are divided between a respect for authority of the father, who directs the family’s relations with the outside world, and love of the nurturing homemaker mother.
Mother-son relationships: the mother turns to her son’s for consolation and male affection (not the husband). The son is “…seduced into the role of the sociological husband.” A mother’s son comes first in her heart.
It is in this closeness of the mother-son relationship that the crucial role identification problem that results in machismo lies.

5. Machismo in The Underdogs
Men
- Aggressive, confrontational
- Demetrio
Women
Support, fulfillment of men’s needs
Camilla

6. Machismo in One Hundred Years of Solitude
José Arcadio
Stubborn, headstrong, like his father
“Well-endowed”
Leaves home
Saves Aureliano from execution
 Colonel Aureliano Buendía
32 civil wars
Leader, warrior

7. Marianismo in One Hundred Years of Solitude
Úrsula Iguarán
- Chastity belt
Virginity, “virtud”
- Support
“If you have to go crazy, please go crazy all by yourself! But don’t try to put your gypsy ideas into the heads of the children”(5).
- Consistent
Macondo, home, family
- Blindness
“Quite simply, while the others were going carelessly all about, she watched them with her four senses so that they never took her by surprise”(247).

8. Cambridge Companion: Gender Studies
Analysis of literature from a gender studies perspective:
How does gender relate to power and social control?
How is gender depicted in Latin American Literature?
Companion suggests that some women in literature are “socialized into subordination” (192)

9. Bibliography
Azuela, Mariano, and E. Munguía. The Underdogs: a Novel of the Mexican Revolution. New York: Signet Classics, Print.
Basham, Richard. "Machismo." Frontiers: A Journey of Women Studies 1.2 (1976): University of Nebraska Press. Web. 30 Mar
García, Márquez Gabriel. One Hundred Years of Solitude. [London]: Harper Perennial, Print.
González Echevarría, Roberto, ed. The Oxford Book of Latin American Short Stories. United States of America: Oxford UP, Print.
Kristal, Efraín. The Cambridge Companion to the Latin American Novel. New York: Cambridge UP, Print.