Gonzalez 1

Alicia Gonzalez
Adler
English 100
5 November 2014
Making The Able Disable
The Madonnas of Echo Park by Brando Skyhorse is a really controversial book that
depicts many themes and topics. In chapter 3 Our Lady of The Los Angeles Beatriz is the
younger of two other sisters. When Ruben Beatrizs father dies her sisters are sexually molested
by Archie, Rubens brother. When her mother realizes this was going on she pretended that these
unpleasant events were not happening. Skyhorse uses this chapter to portray Gender roles (They
determine how a male or female should, think, speak, dress and how to interact with in society.)
and negative stereotypes on women through Beatriz and her family; where in their household
women are seen as weak and emotional. This is why women back then and even now are not
able to progress in society.
Many times gender roles affect a specific group or sex. Women have always been seen as
fragile and useless in the workplace. For instance, the father of Beatriz was a man who thought
women should be weak and they should obey every order a man gave without questioning. My
father believed in fairness for everyone. Well, except for women (55). In this quote Beatriz talks
about how her father was a good guy because he believed in fairness and equality but not for
women. We can tell by the quote that Beatriz and her family were suppressed by men in her
family therefore they did not have the courage to find a way to speak up for themselves and
move on. Most importantly Beatrizs mother did not realize that as a mother she is doing wrong
in staying in a household where women are not respected and treated fairly. This can affect her

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daughters in many ways for instance living in a household were men have all power and women
have no say it affects them in the future because they wont be able to find a voice or be herd in
this society where they underestimate women.
As time went by with the death of Beatrizs father her uncle Archie became the man of
the house. Archie began sexually abusing Beatrizs sisters. As little girls they did not have the
courage to do something about it because they were afraid of their uncle. The sad part is that
their mother new about it. Mother could pretend unpleasant events werent happening, but she
would store away memories of them from which some future argument could be heated up and
served without any advance notice necessary-call them emotional leftovers. (55). Beatrizs
mother decided to act like her daughters werent getting abused. The reason why she did that was
because Archie in a laughing voice told her that as long as they lived in his house she had no say
in what he did or not because at the end of the day it was his house. Beatrizs mother had no
option but to stay quiet or live in the street. As a mother she should have left the house no matter
under what circumstances. Her daughters well-being is more important than anything. Beatrizs
mother does not realize that she is causing something worse by staying there, her daughters later
on may suffer psychological problems and all because she is dependent on men. This depicts the
impact of gender roles in their lives. All Beatrizs mother has known is how to obey a man and
be quiet. It also shows the impact of gender roles leading to abuse. Due to gender roles women
tend to act a certain way without realizing that its affecting them and people around them.
Back then being a single parent was seen as wrong and sinful within society. Women
were judged and criticized for being a single mom because according to society a family was
based upon a marriage. Gabriel was a decent man, or as decent as a man who bought a girl from
the convent could be, and while I never bore him a son ( there was one daughter, Felicia whom I

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sent away when she was four because Gabriel had no interest in raising a daughter, and I had no
interest in being a single parent) he was content to live a life apart from me, listening to his
Lucha Reyes records on a separate floor while I lived a life on my own floor (58). This quote
shows how important the way you are seen in society is. Gabriel and Beatriz are married they
dont really love each other, but they dont want to be criticized by others so they just deal with
each other. Also Beatriz mentions how she gave away her daughter Felicia because her husband
was not interested in raising a daughter. This comes to show how Beatriz follows the norms of
gender roles where women do what the husband says. She also mentioned how she was not
interested in being a single mom, by this I can assume she cares and worries too much about
what society has to say about her and doesnt realize that as a woman she should be herself and
norms should not stop her from being a caring single mother and take a stand for herself. The
fact that Gabriel did not want to raise a daughter demonstrates how he is a stereotypical man. He
preferred to have a son because men are viewed as smart, strong and powerful. Due to the
connection between stereotypes and gender roles Gabriel had the idea that women were meant to
stay home, look nice and they were useless in the workplace.
Through chapter 3 Skyhorse exposed the idea that through gender roles and stereotypes
women lack the opportunity to prosper, because within society they are seen as feeble. Society
has always undervalued women just because of their physical appearance. Now in days there are
many women out there who are capable of performing the same way as man but there work is
still seen as inferior because they are women. They make the able disable by stereotyping and
creating gender roles.