Ana Castillos So Far From God uses humor, burlesque to challenge the cultural stereotypes, perceptions that are dominantly held by people in Chicana. Through the weakening of her marriage, the death of her daughters and her aspiration for social activism, Castillo creates an image of a Mexican-American woman who defies all the olds against her and comes far stronger than ever before. To achieve her objective she mixes religion, sex, laughter, supernatural encounters and heartbreaking stories in the novel unlike anything else seen in American literature. Her desire is to reveal the joys and realities of the present day Mexican-American on the border of the American culture. (Manriquez)
To achieve her objective she mixes religion, sex, laughter, supernatural encounters and heartbreaking stories in the novel unlike anything else seen in American literature. Her desire is to reveal the joys and realities of the present day Mexican-American on the border of the American culture. (Manriquez)
Everybody attends the funeral except the husband, Domigo. Nobody in her family had accepted their marriage even the priest had refused to preside over their wedding. That marriage had a black ribbon on its door from the beginning. Softs grandfather had refused to give the young lovers his blessing, the father had forbidden Softs querido to step foot in their house during their three-year courtship, and the local parish priest joined the opposition when he refused to marry the couple in church (Castillo 21).
Her husband had left shortly after Locas conception. Each daughters name is a parody of the virtue represented by her name. At the funeral she was said to have set on the coffin and chased the priest away. The lid had pushed all the way open and the little girl inside sat up, just as sweetly as if she had woken from a nap, rubbing her eyes and yawning(Castillo 22) She has since acquired a general fear of people. All the five women experience different personal experiences as a result of their interaction with the environment and gender.
The books theme centers on the womans role in the society. In the traditional Chicana life women were supposed to look after their husband, children and their father. These roles can be very difficult especially for a modern day woman, and Castillo challenges these roles in her book. Esperanza, Caridad and La Loca try as much as possible to be loyal and dutiful daughters and wives yet they are not successful in their roles. Esperanzas boyfriend leaves her for another woman, while Fes husband gives her job that kills her. (Manriquez)
The characters combine with the plot permitting the author to use absurd scenarios in the narrative to address the opposing and conflicting subjects of being an American -Mexican. Castillo identifies the chaos in the American society as well as the chaos and discrimination in the Chicana culture. She uses absurdist riddles to explain the absurdity of life in the American society for a Chicana thus in, So Far From God Castillo provides a series of ridiculous and mockery incidents and characters who are distorted and caricatured.
Castillos imitation turned burlesque makes use of parody. Burlesque becomes a way of rejecting the normal manner of ordering reality in a novel and turns instead to ridiculing history, religion, society and anything else that tries to impose direction upon existence. Castillo ridicules wisdom of mothers, fraternity of sisters, and the sanctity of saints and loyalty of friendship.
In one of her absurd techniques Castillo gives a story of the women by using both burlesque and humor in different scenarios.
When Esperanza comes home with her mother from the hospital where her sister lies dying, they dont find La Loca. They could not find her any where even in the stall where the horses are or in the field. The dogs cannot explain her whereabouts instead they stare at Esperanza blankly when asked about La Loca. She decides to call the police. As she was dialing the police number, they heard a commotion in the wood burning stove in the living room. They all heard the sound and rushed quickly to get her out. Mom, is Caridad dead La Loca asked soot-covered, arms around her mothers shoulders. She was crying. No, jita, your sister is not dead. Gracias a Dios. (Castillo 34)
Esperanza tries to console her mother Sofi with words but she did not put her arms around her mothers shoulders (Castillo 34). Esperanza represents hope but cannot embrace her mother whose name represents wisdom. Once more the figurative implication of their name is challenged. Esperanza (Hope) is not capable of giving any hope to her mother, SophiaWisdom either as a player in the narrative or to wisdom the name she represents. (Manriquez)
Castillos characterization and plot are very unique and her spread throughout the novel. She brings them together to show the ambivalence of Chicana culture and values. Religion and social economic values are mixed with narrative intrusions of advice to women and social political comments to illustrate the absurdity of conservative attitudes towards the material social economic vicissitudes that are present in the Chicanos everyday life.
The characters act out the attributes symbolized by their names up to the time they meet with a natural disaster or a macho male character. For instance Esperanzas college studies do not guarantee any hope. In addition it does not help her escape from the cultural confinement that her family is engrossed in. She desires to run away from Tome by going to college in order to learn new ways of interacting with other people and also lean other practical skills. But the familys needs and interpersonal relationships especially with the opposite sex pull her back to the dysfunctional family cocoon. Since she harbors a big desire for male characters she continues to let her renegade boyfriend to sexually abuse her. Her family also continues to use her, directing her life and dictating her choice of career. In this way she is torn between the traditional family beliefs and the modern life learned in school as shown in the contemporary society. Castillo does not want to reform a world that is far from remedy rather she sees the absurdity of the Chicanos as a big joke. The response she desires is laughter. It is evident that the characters in So Far From God who desire material success and a happy life either through the rejection or acceptance of the Chicana cultural lifestyle do not succeed. (Manriquez)
In the absurd world of So Far From God, Sofis daughters are very unlucky. The harmful forces from the machismo and patriarchy that make Sofi strong kill her daughters and their virtues. (Manriquez)
Only Sofi survives by accommodating Catholicism, folklore and feminism. Fe is rejected by her boyfriend just before they got married. She screams non stop since she has lost faith in herself the mitotera explains her thus Fe and her bloodcurdling wail became part of the households routine so that the animals didnt even jump or howl no more whenever Fe, after a brief intermission when she dozed off, woke up abruptly and put her good lungs to full use (Castillo, 32).
In her narrative, Castillo confronts both religion and spirituality. She shows that the transformational effort of the human spirit in struggle also finds expression and rest in the religious, spiritual and metaphysical environment of the victim (Manriquez)
By focusing on communities of women, a Chicana feminism fueled by a womans centered spirituality comes out to challenge the suppression of women within the omnipresent notions of religion as an obstacle to women emancipation. (Manriquez)
So Far From God is weird and powerful. Its humor is basket full of a strong political message. The message is quite simple women will always triumph whether in life or in death irrespective of the treatment they receive from men and the society as a whole. Castillo survives because she is able to work with the customs she acquired. By assuming an evasive perspective, she questions the ultimate ethical and aesthetic chaos that results from rebelling against the dominant cultural standards of what should or should not be. Her daughters who attempt to create order in their lives encounter accidents of life that can not go beyond their heritage and customs. They suffer the consequences.
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