Angelina Elizondo de García Naranjo: Defender of Traditional Mexican Femininity in the Exile Press

107Margins: A Journal of Literature and Culture

Work in Progress

Angelina Elizondo de García Naranjo:Defender of Traditional Mexican Femininity in the

Exile PressTrevor Boffone

University of Houston

AAAAAbbbbbssssstttttrrrrractactactactact: : : : : This article focuses on early debates about femininity andfeminism in the Mexican exile community of San Antonio, Texas,during the early part of the 20th century. By centering on AngelinaElizondo de García Naranjo (1888-1971), this article focuses on thewriter’s entrance into the feminist debate in the United States. AngelinaElizondowas a chronicler and writer for the politically and sociallycharged newspaper Revista Mexicana during her time as an exile inSan Antonio, Texas; she formed part of the conservative Mexican group,the Porfiristas (supporters of the fallen dictator Porfirio Diaz), thatwas exiled due to the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920). In 1914,Elizondo migrated to the United States – first to New York andultimately to San Antonio – due to the political position of her husbandNemesio García Naranjo and his involvement in the governments ofPorfirio Díaz and Victoriano Huerta. Elizondo and her familyreturned to Mexico in 1923 but were exiled for a second time due to theCristero War; this second period of exile lasted from 1926-1934.

Due to the efforts of the Recovering the U.S. Hispanic LiteraryHeritage Project housed at the University of Houston, AngelinaElizondo’s chronicles, alongside other pieces from the newspaper’sproduction, have been recovered and are available for scholars to studyin an effort to better understand the Mexican exile community livingMargins: A Journal of Literature and Culture Vol. III, 2013

108 Margins: A Journal of Literature and Culture

in the Southwestern United States at the time of the Mexican Revolution.Among her recovered texts are four crónicas (chronicles) published in1920 in Revista Mexicana: “El salón de recibir” (“The ReceivingRoom”), “La belleza del crespón” (“The Beauty of the Crape”), “Lamentira del divorcio” (“The Lie of Divorce”), and “¿QuéhubieradichoCleopatra?” (“What would Cleopatra have said?”).Elizondo’s crónicas,directed towards a nascent female readership of Revista Mexicana,serve as a call for exiled Mexican women to remain faithful totraditional Mexican ideologies, largely patriarchal in nature, whileliving in the United States and, thus, avoiding assimilation to theradically modernizing social values of the dominant culture.Nevertheless, while adamantly calling for Mexican women tomaintain their femininity and avoid the ideologies of the growingfeminist movement, Elizondo directly enters the movement itselfthrough her writing, an act that much of feminist scholarship believesto be essential to progress towards gendered equality.

KKKKKeeeeeywoywoywoywoyworrrrrds ds ds ds ds Mexican-American Literature, Chronicles, Feminism, U.S.Latin@ Studies, Exile

Angelina Elizondo de García Naranjo (1888-1971) was achronicler and writer for the politically and socially chargednewspaper Revista Mexicana during her time as an exile in SanAntonio, Texas; she formed part of the conservative Mexicangroup, the Porfiristas (supporters of the fallen dictator PorfirioDiaz), that was exiled due to the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920). In 1914, Elizondo migrated to the United States – firstto New York and ultimately to San Antonio – due to the politicalposition of her husband Nemesio García Naranjo and hisinvolvement in the governments of Porfirio Díaz and VictorianoHuerta. Elizondo and her family returned to Mexico in 1923but were exiled for a second time due to the Cristero War; thissecond period of exile lasted from 1926-1934.

Due to the efforts of the Recovering the U.S. HispanicLiterary Heritage Project1 housed at the University of Houston,Angelina Elizondo’s chronicles, alongside other pieces from the


newspaper’s production, have been recovered and are availablefor scholars to study in an effort to better understand the Mexicanexile community living in the Southwestern United States at thetime of the Mexican Revolution. Among her recovered texts arefour crónicas (chronicles) published in 1920 in Revista Mexicana:“El salón de recibir” (“The Receiving Room”), “La belleza delcrespón” (“The Beauty of the Crape”), “La mentira del divorcio”(“The Lie of Divorce”), and “¿Qué hubiera dicho Cleopatra?”(“What would Cleopatra have said?”).2 This paper will focus onElizondo’s entrance into the feminist debate in the United Statesvia the publication of these four chronicles. Elizondo’s crónicas,directed towards a nascent female readership of Revista Mexicana,serve as a call for exiled Mexican women to remain faithful totraditional Mexican ideologies, largely patriarchal in nature, whileliving in the United States and, thus, avoiding assimilation tothe radically modernizing social values of the dominant culture.Nevertheless, while adamantly calling for Mexican women tomaintain their femininity and avoid the ideologies of the growingfeminist movement, Elizondo directly enters the movementitself through her writing , an act that much of feministscholarship believes to be essential to progress towards genderedequality.

In his study Rise of the Mexican American Middle ClassSan Antonio, 1929-1941, Richard García explains the Mexicandiaspora as a result of the Cristero War3 that made possible thearrival of displaced Mexican political exiles to San Antonio in1920 (221). García explains that the political refugees continuedto function as a government in exile, critique the current politicalclimate in the motherland, function as a cultural and intellectualmemory of Mexico in a foreign land, and, more importantly,avoid assimilation and Americanization while in the United States(222). Among this ostracized group, the Porfiristas werecomposed of culturally and politically conservative exiles;


Angelina Elizondo de García Naranjo strongly adhered to thisconservative group (Villarroel 31-2).

While Elizondo’s literary production is far from prolific,throughout her four crónicas there is a clear consciousness ofmaintaining traditional Mexican femininity and rejecting thegrowing feminist movement that was gaining traction in theUnited States. According to Carolina Villarroel, Elizondoassumed the traditional patriotic duty that her nation demandedof her and defended her right to promote the conservativefeminine ideal of the Mexican woman that she perceived as herown identity (34). During her residency in the United States,Elizondo maintained a traditional feminine ideology whilefrequently rejecting the feminist and suffrage movementsthroughout her writing. Her texts demonstrate a clearconsciousness of the necessity to adhere to traditional idealsregarding femininity and the position of women within societyas well as in marriage.

RevisRevisRevisRevisRevisttttta Ma Ma Ma Ma Meeeeexxxxxicana icana icana icana icana aaaaand “nd “nd “nd “nd “MMMMMéxicéxicéxicéxicéxico de afo de afo de afo de afo de afueueueueuerrrrraaaaa”””””After moving to San Antonio, Nemesio García Naranjo

founded Revista Mexicana, a newspaper published between1915 and 1920 initially founded to congregate and give voice tothe exiled community in Texas as a result of the MexicanRevolution; essentially, the principal aim of Revista Mexicanawas to publically condemn the government of VenustianoCarranza (Aguirre; Fuchs 1). According to García Naranjo, theexiled, due to their respect for the centralized state, were the idealpreservers of the traditional and historical consciousness, theimportance of the nuclear family unit and love for stability andorder; however, the exiled respected above all Mexicannationalism (225).4 In line with these conventions, one canconsider Revista Mexicana as part of the nationalist ideology of“México de afuera,” or “Foreign Mexico.” Revista Mexicanafollows the ideals of exile presses that Nicolás Kanellos describesin the following manner:


Utilizes the vantage point and the protection offoreign soil to issue messages unwelcome toauthorities in the homeland. But the raison d’etre ofthe exile press has always been influencing life andpolitics in the homeland – even if that goal is movedforward only by distributing publications to expatriatecommunities. (Hispanic 8)

The articles, essays, editorials, and crónicas of RevistaMexicana were primarily focused towards exiled Mexican readerswho hoped to maintain Mexican traditions, their mexicanidad(Mexicanness), and avoid acculturation to North Americancustoms; furthermore, they manifested a staunch desire totransform the current state of the Mexican government (Rosales75). By adhering to their Mexican ideals while in the UnitedStates, Mexicans intended to establish a better Mexico than theone that existed in the country itself;5 the exiled believed thatthe true Mexico was corrupt due to the Revolution andcorresponding revolutionary ideologies (Baeza Ventura 21).According to Nicolás Kanellos, “…the newspapers have had totake the lead in the effort to preserve Hispanic language andcultural identity in the face of the threat of annihilation byAnglo-Saxon culture and the English language” (“A Socio-Historic” 107). Hispanic newspapers such as Revista Mexicanawere in charge of maintaining the protection of immigrant rightsand assuring the relevance of the homeland by occupying anintellectual, cultural, and political position; they focused on whatwas happening in Mexico, the events of Mexican-Americansocieties and organizations, and reinforced traditional Mexicanvalues (Dennison 261).

In 1919 Revista Mexicana began to lose readership due tothe return of much of the exiled community to Mexico, a processthat began in 1917 when Carranza permitted repatriation.Nemesio García Naranjo explains in his memoirs the transitionthat the newspaper experienced because of this period of decreasedreadership; although this was beneficial for Mexico, it proved to


be rather detrimental for the publishing business because itreduced the list of subscribers seemingly overnight (26). Due tothis decline, García Naranjo was forced to revamp the newspaperwith the aim of attracting more readers, secure the newspaper’ssupplies, and, lastly, salvage the newspaper. As a result, he openedthe newspaper to feminine voices in traditionally masculinespaces; in other words, he allowed women to occupy discursivespaces in the newspaper instead of advertisements, short poems,and the rare article written by a well-established female writer(Aguirre 2012).

The pages of Revista Mexicana had previously beendominated by masculine discourse, but, due to this unavoidablechange, the newspaper ushered in a new, more inclusive era inorder to attract both male and female readers. The justificationof originally excluding female writers was simple; according tothe ideology of “México de afuera” and traditional Mexicanculture and politics, women were relegated to private andtraditional spaces, existing on the margins of society (Aguirre;Anthias and Yuval-Davis 127).

Due to this transition, the newspaper began a period offeminization. Nemesio García Naranjo gave the first page to hiswife, Angelina Elizondo, who wrote under the pseudonym GraciaDe Fontanar (Fuchs 263-4).6 According to Maura Fuchs, thenewspaper began to include her crónicas due to the necessity toattract more female readers with the ultimate goal of increasingpublic interest in the publication (263-4). Although her periodof literary production in Revista Mexicana was brief, Elizondoclearly demonstrates her conventional ideology regarding themaintenance of femininity in line with the ideals of a SeñoritaPorfiriana (Female followers of Porfirio Díaz) throughout herfour crónicas published between the 4th and 25th of January, 1920.Nicolás Kanellos explains: “It was the cronista’s job to fan theflames of nationalism and to enforce the ideology of “México deafuera’” (“A Socio-Historic” 117). The act of writing as a woman


was out-of-the-mainstream during this period as Mexican womenwere typically confined to the home and did not hold much of apresence in the public sector (Franco 91-3).

Free of the discursive restraints typically experienced bymost marginalized women, Elizondo uses her position to writewhat she believes the Mexican nation to be. While traditionalfeminist theory regarding feminine writing remains problematicto Elizondo as she does not seek to write as a means of liberatingMexican women, her writing still falls within a discussion ofwomen writing history, or herstory. Hélène Cixous, in “TheLaugh of the Medusa,” reinforces the necessity for women toplace herself into discourse and, thus, into history. Cixous writes:

Women must write her self: must write about womenand bring women to writing, from which they havebeen driven away as violently as from their bodies(…) Woman must put herself into the text – as intothe world and into history – by her own movement.The future must no longer be determined by the past.(347)

Elizondo, whether conscious or not, partakes in a highlyempowering and liberating act: writing. While her crónicas insiston women maintaining their femininity within the gendered spaceof the home, the chronicler herself occupies a space typicallyreser ved for male writers and writes her own history.Notwithstanding, Elizondo’s writing does not serve as one offemale liberation in a conventional feminist sense as she was avery traditional and conservative woman that demonstratedthroughout her literary production fully traditional themes suchas being against divorce and women’s suffrage (Fuchs 264).

SSSSSeeeeeñññññoooooririririritttttaaaaas Ps Ps Ps Ps PooooorrrrrfirianafirianafirianafirianafirianasssssBefore analyzing Angelina Elizondo’s crónicas, one must

understand her ideology in concordance with her being a femalesupporter of Porfirio Díaz, emphasizing her concept ofappropriate femininity. Conscious of her high social standing,


her crónicas are directed towards women such as herself whobelong to the privileged bourgeois class, fellow SeñoritasPorfirianas with whom the chronicler shares similar characteristics.Virgin until the moment of marriage, this group of bourgeoisMexican women prepared themselves for this position from thetime they were born and were assigned tasks of being wife andmother as their exclusive functions (Escandón 150).Furthermore, they were to practice and demand submission,abnegation, a lack of interest for the political sector, socialquestions, and absolute isolation from everything that wasbeyond a traditionally domestic environment (Escandón 150).This stereotype of Señoritas Porfirianas naturally crosses classdifferences; nevertheless, in the bourgeois family, masculine andfeminine roles are solidified and stereotyped more vigorously(Escandón 150). This explains Elizondo’s traditional standpointregarding the position of women in an exiled society.

The conservative Porfirian elements explain Elizondo’sposition that is manifested by means of her literature. Elizondo’ssocial standing profoundly impacted her ideology. Accordingto Linda Alcoff, when the concept of woman is not only definedby a particular set of attributes but by a particular position, theinternal characteristics of the person in question are not denotedas much as the context in which the person is situated (14). Dueto her social position and conservative upbringing, Elizondo’straditional opinions can be justified to an extent. Elizondo alwaysmanifests a traditional ideology regarding masculinity andfemininity. Furthermore, a recurring theme in her work is that ofthe house as a metaphor for what is traditionally masculine andfeminine. The metaphor of the house allows her to write aboutan imaginarily private space, her worry about compassion andcharity and her complete devotion to the nuclear family unit(Villarroel 46).

Another of the most exemplary characteristics of thePorfirian woman of the bourgeois class is the rejection of political


involvement by women. This matter explains the position thatElizondo takes with respect to resisting suffrage. For this issue,she incorporates a parallel between the feminism of Anglo-Saxonwomen and the femininity of Mexican women (Villarroel 47).

“E“E“E“E“El sal sal sal sal salólólólólón de rn de rn de rn de rn de reeeeecibcibcibcibcibiiiiirrrrr” (“” (“” (“” (“” (“TTTTThe Rhe Rhe Rhe Rhe Reeeeeccccceiveiveiveiveiviiiiinnnnng Rg Rg Rg Rg Roooooooooommmmm”)”)”)”)”)Angelina Elizondo’s entrance into traditional masculine

discursive spaces and, hence, the liberating sector of female writingas theorized by Hélène Cixous and Virginia Woolf, amongothers, commences with her first crónica, “El salón de recibir”(“The Receiving Room”), published on January 4th, 1920, inwhich she metaphorically utilizes the juxtaposition of the roomsin a house to allude to Revista Mexicana by making thedistinction between the masculine and the feminine:

¡Qué cosas tienen los hombres! ¡Poner en el cuartomás elegante de la casa una sala de armas! (1).7

What things men have! To put an armory in the nicestroom in the house!

Elizondo successfully demonstrates a parallel between thetraditionally masculine and feminine; she proposes a “salón derecibir,” a receiving room, in opposition of the “sala de armas,” aroom of weapons, or an armory (Fuchs 275). Effectively,Elizondo alludes to the rooms of the house as a means of creatingappropriate gendered spaces in line with the beliefs of traditionalMexican society. Important to Elizondo is establishing sociallycorrect female spaces both in and outside of the house. Shedescribes this feminine space by means of a metaphor for thisreceiving room:

Hay que llenar los espacios con muebles elegantes ycómodos, en donde se pueda descansar; en un rincónel piano, lleno de melodías; en las paredes, cuadrosque alegren la vista y sobre todo, espejos, grandesespejos, que alegran muchísimo más que las obras


maestras de pintura; y en la mesa y consolas, jarronesllenos de flores, muchas flores, porque sin ellas,cualquiera decoración quedaría trunca. (Elizondo, “Elsalón” 1)One must fill the spaces with nice and comfortablefurniture, where one can rest; in one corner a piano,full of melodies; on the walls, paintings that brightenup the view and above all, mirrors, big mirrors, thatliven up much more than the master works inpainting themselves do; and on the table and sidetables, vases filled with flowers, many flowers, becausewithout them, all other decorations would remainincomplete.

By occupying the first page of the newspaper, Elizondosubverts traditional gender roles and inverts traditionallymasculine and feminine spaces; the metaphor of the house forthe newspaper itself exemplifies her consciousness of the meaningof traditional spaces according to one’s gender (Villarroel 40-1).Elizondo writes:

Si quieren ejercitar sus espadas, que se vayan a la salade armas, que está en los cuartos, es decir, en las páginasinteriores. (“El salón” 1).If they want to train their swords, then they shouldgo to the armory, that is in the rooms, this is to say, inthe interior pages.

This inversion of interior and exterior spaces puts intoeffect the sending of men to interior rooms while women takethe power of the written word that is embodied by the principalpage of the publication.

Nevertheless, Angelina Elizondo never questions anyadvance towards the liberation of women; she only demands aspace to give voice to this marginalized group of Mexican womenin exile (Villarroel 41). Elizondo adds:


Así somos las mujeres. Nos gusta que los hombres seocupen de nosotras y admitan que, cuando menos,formamos la mitad del mundo. Exigimos que se nos deun lugar en la casa, el primero, como ordena lagalantería rudimental. (“El salón” 1)This is how we are as women. We like our men tooccupy us and we admit that, at least, we form half ofthe world. We demand to be given a place in the house,first, as a polite gesture.

She reinforces the Porfirian ideology that the onlyappropriate space for a woman is in the home (Fuchs 275-6).Notwithstanding, the first page of the newspaper, that beforehad been dominated by male intellectuals in exile and support ofthe Mexican exile community, allows Porfirian women to haveagency and voice (Fuchs 264). By occupying the first page with“El salón de recibir,” Angelina Elizondo transmits a conservativefeminine ideal indicative of “México de afuera” that follows thethought of how a female supporter of Porfirio Díaz should carryherself. Unconsciously or consciously, Elizondo opened spacesfor the future participation of Mexican women in a previouslyexclusive masculine discursive environment; the utilization ofthe metaphor of the house permits the occupation of previouslyprohibited spaces (Villarroel 41-2).

Nevertheless, Elizondo never interprets society butattempts to explain it. These two characteristics are wellrepresentative of feminine writing that Marta Traba specifies:the emotive nature, the emphasis on detail, and the attraction toexplain and not interpret the world (24-5). These characteristicsare not solely seen in “El salón de recibir” but are manifested inElizondo’s other crónicas as well.“La b“La b“La b“La b“La belelelelelleleleleleza del cza del cza del cza del cza del crrrrresesesesespppppóóóóónnnnn” (“” (“” (“” (“” (“TTTTThe Bhe Bhe Bhe Bhe Beaeaeaeaeauuuuuttttty of ty of ty of ty of ty of the Che Che Che Che Crrrrraaaaapppppe”)e”)e”)e”)e”)

Her second crónica, “La belleza del crespón’ (“The Beautyof the Crape”), published on January 11th, 1920 in RevistaMexicana, establishes her principal audience by calling them


“amigas mías” (my female friends) (1). This chronicle representsone of the most exemplary characteristics of conservativefeminine ideology, the abnegation of the Mexican woman.Angelina Elizondo writes:

Siempre fue un atributo de la mujer mexicana, hacerpedazos su alma para ofrendársela a los demás, yvosotros no sois excepción en esta tradición religiosade piedad. (“La belleza” 1)It was always an attribute of the Mexican woman, togive pieces of her soul in offering to others, and youare not an exception to this tradition of religious piety.

Elizondo believes that abnegation is a tradition that theMexican woman must serve her man. Furthermore, she links thisrole with religious beliefs traditionally associated with Mexicanculture.

Additionally, Elizondo continues to theorize theimportance of gendered spaces in Mexican society byimplementing the metaphor of the house previously seen in “Elsalón de recibir.” Elizondo writes:

En las paredes tapizadas de rosa, encontraréis losmoños de crespón negro (¿verdad que el rosa y el negrosiempre armonizan?)… En este afán divino de hacerel bien yo encuentro un fondo de coquetería adorable¡Cómo os veis bellas en vuestra tristeza! (“La belleza”1)On the pink upholstered walls, you will find the blackcrape ribbons (Isn’t it true that pink and black alwaysgo well together?)… In this divine effort of well-doingI find a depth of admirable coquetry. Oh, how youlook beautiful in your sadness!

Elizondo describes the gendered female space of the houseby reinforcing traditional gender stereotypes, such as theassociation between women and the color pink, in a persuasive


inflection that seems to appeal for women to adhere to theseideals of appropriate female behavior and place. Nevertheless,the persuasive tone does not persist; Elizondo produces a breakin “La belleza del crespón” by confronting her female readerswith their vanity (Villarroel 42). Elizondo declares:

…ya he satisfecho vuestra vanidad femenina (¿a quémujer no le gusta que ante todo y sobre todo, le hablende ella misma?). (“La belleza” 1)…I have already gratified your feminine vanity (andwhat woman doesn’t like before and above all, to talkabout herself ?).

Essentially, she writes that women’s space is one filled withpride and arrogance regarding the maintenance of her femininity.The author establishes a new distance between herself and herreadership by directly referring to their vanity; in other words,Elizondo assumes a higher role by positioning herself above herreading public (Villarroel 43). Elizondo, through the act ofwriting and taking over the main page of Revista Mexicana,empowers and gives herself authority in a liberating manner.Whether conscious or not, Elizondo positions herself as superiorto her readership, a position directly related to the act of writing.

“¿Q“¿Q“¿Q“¿Q“¿Qué hué hué hué hué hubububububieieieieierrrrra da da da da dicho Cicho Cicho Cicho Cicho Cleleleleleooooopppppaaaaatttttrrrrraaaaa?” (“?” (“?” (“?” (“?” (“WhWhWhWhWhaaaaat wt wt wt wt wououououould Cld Cld Cld Cld Cleleleleleooooopppppaaaaatttttrrrrraaaaahave said?”)have said?”)have said?”)have said?”)have said?”)

Angelina Elizondo’s third crónica, “¿Qué hubiera dichoCleopatra?” (“What would Cleopatra have said?”), was publishedon January 18th, 1920. This chronicle represents her firststraightforward entrance into the feminist debate; Elizondo refersto the term feminism and make a public call against suffrage(Villarroel 43). By 1920, the term feminism was already beingutilized with reference to women’s liberation in the United States,Europe, and Mexico due to the Anglo feminist movement knownas First Wave Feminism that was fighting for female voting rights.Elizondo, as a Porfirian woman with a highly conservative


upbringing, disagreed with suffrage and fully rejected the termfeminism; according to her belief, by joining the FeministMovement, women would lose their femininity (Villarroel 43).This concept of the loss of femininity is distinguished in thechronicle:

Un ser maligno, un ser antifemenino, uuuuun hon hon hon hon hombmbmbmbmbrrrrre dee dee dee dee deseguroseguroseguroseguroseguro, fue el que sopló al oído de una mujercasquivana, la idea estúpida de reconquistar derechos:Y nació el sufragismo. ¡Qué horror! (Elizondo, “¿Quéhubiera” 1)A malignant being , an anti-feminine being , aconfident man¸ was the one that whispered into theear of a scatterbrained woman, the foolish idea ofrecapturing her rights: and from there suffrage wasborn. What horror!

As the crónica proposes, Elizondo believes that thetraditional distinctions between the two genders and theirrespective roles are what provide society with stability. The onlyapproach to preserving sociocultural balance in Mexican exilesociety is through the protection of correctly, in line with thedoctrines of “México de afuera” and the Señoritas Porfirianas,gendered spaces, both physically and metaphysically, inside andoutside of the house.

Angelina Elizondo draws a parallel between masculineand feminine in which the emotional and the physical coinciderespectively with feminine and masculine. According to CarolinaVillarroel, in this crónica, Elizondo does not perceive femininecharacteristics as weaknesses but more so as weapons thatcontribute to masculine domination and manipulation on thefemale’s part (44). Corresponding to Porfirian thought, the writermanifests the ideology that by entering into the political realmthe woman will lose her femininity, an essential device for womenbecause it allows them to obtain power through feminine


manipulation which gives them an advantage over men(Villarroel 44). Elizondo writes:

Mientras mezclemos adorablemente el encanto y eldolor, un poco de promesa y otro tanto de desdén,algo de ternura y algo de crueldad, seremos las dueñasdel mundo. (“¿Qué hubiera” 1)While we adorably mix charm and pain, a little bit ofpromises and an equal bit of disdain, some tendernessand some cruelty, we will be the owners of the world.

Angelina Elizondo declares the domination over themasculine sex by maintaining one’s femininity, an inversion ofthe traditional dichotomy that questions the prototypical powerstructure seen between the two genders. “¿Qué hubiera dichoCleopatra?” repeats the same concept about sustainingfemininity with the goal of establishing a position of power withinthe marriage. Elizondo adds:

Los hombres hacen las leyes y basan el matrimoniosobre la obediencia de la mujer; pero en el momentodecisivo, cada una de nosotras es la reina. Nos quierenahogar y… nos producen la impresión de una manooprimiendo una rama de rosal, erizada de púas. (1)Men make the laws and base matrimony on theobedience of women; but in the decisive moment,each one of us is the queen. They want to smother usand… they give us the impression of a hand crushinga branch of a rose bush, full of sharp thorns.

Furthermore, Angelina Elizondo draws a parallel betweenAnglo-Saxon feminism and Mexican femininity; she writes:

… mis amigas adorables, yo os conjuro para que nodejéis entrar en México los horrores del sufragismo.Ved la consecuencia de la igualdad sexual en este país,en donde el derecho femenino ha acabado con lamajestad femenina. (“¿Qué hubiera” 1)


… my adored friends, I invoke you to not allow thehorrors of suffrage to enter Mexico. See theconsequences of sexual equality in this country, inwhich feminine rights have stopped with femininemajesty.

This functions as an attempt to avoid assimilation andAmericanization by the Mexican woman in exile. According toElizondo, only through adhering to appropriately genderedspaces, is it possible to maintain one’s femininity and the powerfulqualities that it entails. By crossing into sociocultural and physicalterritories typically associated with men and masculinity, womenrisk the loss of femininity, which leads to power according toElizondo.

“La me“La me“La me“La me“La mennnnntttttiiiiirrrrra del da del da del da del da del divivivivivooooorrrrrciociociociocio” (“” (“” (“” (“” (“TTTTThe Lhe Lhe Lhe Lhe Lie of Divie of Divie of Divie of Divie of Divooooorrrrrccccce”)e”)e”)e”)e”)In her final crónica titled “La mentira del divorcio,”

published on January 25th, 1920, Angelina Elizondodemonstrates the same themes previously seen in her other works.She invokes the abnegation and sacrifice of the Mexican womanby abstaining assimilation to the ideologies of the NorthAmerican Feminist Movement for women’s liberation. In thischronicle, she centers on the family by establishing a similaritybetween the constitution of the United States family unit and itsMexican counterpart. As previously written, Elizondo believesthat women solely exist in relation to men and their existencedepends on their condition of being dependent on their roles ofwife and mother:

… les entregamos a nuestros maridos el alma entera.Dejamos de pensar como antes, varían nuestros gustos,se modifican hasta los giros de nuestro lenguaje y todonuestro ser se amolda al alma del esposo que llega a serel vaso que contiene la esencia de nuestra vida …porque nuestro placer está en eso, en hacer de nosotrasmismas una ofrenda. (“La mentira” 1)


We deliver our entire soul to our husbands. We stopthinking as before, vary our tastes, we modify the waywe speak and our complete being adjusts ourhusband’s soul that arrives to be the vase that containsthe essence of our life… because our pleasure is inthat, in using ourselves as an offering.

Elizondo calls for her fellow Mexican women to upholdtheir matrimony, even if their husband is not faithful; the destinyof the woman is personal sacrifice without thinking of her ownpersonal happiness and desires. Elizondo adds:

Sigue pues en tu árbol, amiga mía, porque ese es tudestino. ¿Te tocó llorar? ¡Llora! (“La mentira” 1)Stay in your tree then, my friend, because that is yourdestiny. Is it your turn to cry? Then cry!”

Mexican women must continue to inhabit female spacesas a means of cultivating their feminine power. According toElizondo’s ideologies, marriage is an appropriate space for womenregardless of its quality and redeeming features. Women mustposition herself in passive sociocultural spaces in order to keepthe Mexican nation intact while in diaspora. Personal sacrificeand passivity are essential attributes that women must possess infurtherance of traditional Mexican culture and society.

ConclusionConclusionConclusionConclusionConclusionThroughout her four crónicas published in Revista

Mexicana, Angelina Elizondo de García Naranjo characterizesand defines masculine and feminine spaces, with which shemanifests a consciousness of the traditional social functions thatpertain to men and women and the construction of gender.Overall, the preservation of femininity occupies a predominantpart of her discourse even though she advocates fervently forfemale participation. Due to her traditional and conservativeeducation and upbringing, Elizondo’s message cannot be any


different; she assumes a struggle against feminism by promotingfemale charity, helping to preserve traditional Mexican culturewhile in exile, and utilizing a moral discourse in concordancewith the ideology of Señoritas Porfirianas, female followers ofPorfirio Díaz (Villarroel 48-60). Elizondo not only appointsherself to a feminine literary tradition but also justifies her ownwriting and ideology; her crónicas demonstrate her knowledgeof women, private and relegated to the home as suggestions abouthow to adorn a house, reinforcing the notion of appropriatelygendered spaces inside and outside of the home. Elizondo’sfeminine voice, evocative of traditional Mexican ideologies, isimpossible to separate from the historical and social context inwhich she was surrounded. Thanks in large part to the Recoveringthe U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project, Mexican femininevoices such as Angelina Elizondo de García Naranjo, ElenaArizmendi, Dolores Bolio, Hortensia Elizondo, and María LuisaGarza among others are not lost, but can be analyzed in an effortto better understand the Mexican exile community in theSouthwestern United States in the early parts of the twentiethcentury.

NotesNotesNotesNotesNotes1 The Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project,headed by Dr. Nicolás Kanellos, has been responsible for therecovery of thousands of unknown or lost texts by Hispanic authors.Housed at the University of Houston, the project works to find,identify, conserve, and make available the literary works of Hispanicauthors of the United States from early colonial and conquest timesthrough 1960. For more information on the Recovery Project, seehttp://www.class.uh.edu/hispanicstudies/resources.asp and http://www.latinoteca.com/recovery/.2 Elizondo also published two speeches given at the Pan AmericanRound Table in 1938 and 1939 and a brief essay on Sor Juana Inésde la Cruz, “Sor Juan Inés de la Cruz. Breve historia de un alma.”


3 The Cristero War (1926-1929) was a popular uprising andattempted counter-revolution against the anti-Catholic policiesof the ruling government in Mexico.4 García Naranjo explains the preservation of the traditionalMexican ideolog y of collectivity: “The Catholic Scholasticsperspective; the communal societal emphasis of the comte; respectfor the centralized state; love of the order and stability; thecentrality of family; and the need for a culture of universality aswell as an emphatic respect for nationalistic fraternalism” (225).5 Carlos Mosiváis supports the belief that the newspaper functionsas a weapon to create the nation; he writes that the newspaper is aconstitutive element of the nation which represents and ordainsthe convictions citizens struggle to implement and serves as atribune, school, cultural center, political party, space for literature,blackmail, and literature by installments (19).6 Gabriela Baeza Ventura affirms that crónicas were usually writtenunder a pseudonym, so that the author retained full liberty andresponsibility to critique, mock, and reprimand the reading public(17).7 As there is no English version of her crónicas, all translations aremine.

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—. Address, ts. 17 Oct. 1939. Pan American Round Table of SanAntonio Records, 1909-1994. The University of Texas at SanAntonio Archives. Print.

—. “El salón de recibir.” Revista Mexicana [San Antonio, Texas] 4Jan. 1920: 1. Print.

—. “La belleza del crespón.” Revista Mexicana [San Antonio, Texas]11 Jan. 1920: 1. Print.

—. “La mentira del divorcio.” Revista Mexicana [San Antonio,Texas] 25 Jan. 1920: 1. Print.

—. “¿Qué hubiera dicho Cleopatra?” Revista Mexicana [SanAntonio, Texas] 18 Jan. 1920: 1. Print.

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Angelina Elizondo de García Naranjo: Defender of Traditional Mexican Femininity in the Exile Press

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