'Your Story is My Story': family and identity in Latino immigrant literature in the United States

This MA thesis analyzes the representation of the family in literature written by Latino authors in the United States, particularly focusing on its relationship with issues regarding social expectations and hierarchies, memory and identity. The analysis focuses on four novels written by four different authors with diverse national backgrounds: How The García Girls Lost Their Accents (1991), by Julia Alvarez (Dominican Republic/United States); Caramelo (2002), by Sandra Cisneros (Mexico/United States); Infinite Country (2021), by Patricia Engel (Colombia/United States); and Of Women And Salt (2021), by Gabriela García (Cuba/Mexico/United States). By comparing how the Latino family is represented in these works, this work aims to explore the commonalities and specificities between different groups within the widely diverse Latino community, in the hope that the recognition of certain patterns might offer further insights into issues such as representation and solidarity not only in the academic field of Latino Studies, but also in Latino communities in general. This work is divided into an introductory chapter and three analysis-focused chapters. The introductory part deals with the increasing relevance of the Latino community in the United States in the last few decades and provides a definition of the term “Latino” as will be used in the thesis, ending with a brief discussion of “Familism” and its pervasiveness in both Latin-American and Latino literature and culture. The introductory chapter also presents a brief summary of the four novels which will be discussed, explaining why they were chosen as case studies. The subsequent chapters deal mainly with family dynamics and structures as observed both in the above-mentioned literary works and in Latino culture in general. Such dynamics are profoundly connected to gender roles and expectations. In particular, the roles of mothers, fathers, extended family and children are observed, looking at what is culturally expected from each one of them and how that might impact their lives. A further topic of analysis is the relationship between individual and collective memory, narratives and how those interact with History, especially when it comes to realities permeated by experiences with colonialism, neo-imperialism or dictatorships.