Granados explores brutality in 'Brides and Sinners in El Chuco'

After completing my final project, which required me to eavesdrop on bilingual speakers, for a General Linguistics course, I promised to never code-switch again."It sounds horrible, improper, and tacky," I thought.Little did I know, however, that the task was impossible. Without any conscious notion, Spanish and English words rolled off my tongue effortlessly, within the same sentence and sometimes the same word. Many failed attempts later, I realized and accepted code-switching as part of my Mexican-American culture-a culture present in many border towns and brought to life in Christine Granados' book: "Brides and Sinners in El Chuco." Granados' book consists of 12 enticing short stories, with topics ranging from embarrassing yet memorable moments with a Mexican-American family to physical and sexual abuse.Her writing, like my everyday language, incorporates code switching in the dialogue and character names, thus making her stories more traditional."Pendejo, mamon, mija, and 'n'ombre," are words constantly used, and "Chano, Chela, Pilar, Alma, and Aurelia" are all character names throughout her stories."Perfect," I thought, "some of these names I hear every day; they are my mother and sisters' names."This detail, however, is not the only thing that makes Granados' writing authentic. Her descriptive style allows the reader to use his or her imagination to create a picture for every scene of the book. In her story "Comfort," which relates the life of a woman who would rather be physically abused than respectfully treated, Granados writes: "She [Courtney] flew backward into the wooden cupboard door. The metal doorknob dug into her back and tore her flesh. ... That fist hit her on the right side of the jaw like a knock with a sack of rocks." At this moment, I flinched and curved my back; I became Courtney and felt every blow.Granados also gives great attention to the scenic descriptions of El Paso, the setting for all of the stories and what she refers to as "El Chuco."In the story "The Bride," Rochelle dreams of having an elegant, magazine-oriented "autumn-wedding;" however, Granados points out the lack of elegance in El Paso."Autumn is either scramble a huevo [egg] on the hood of your car hot or wind so strong the sand it blows stings your face and arms," the narrator of the story, Lily, describes.Granados provides an insight into Mexican-American culture through interesting, page-turning stories, and as her mother says, "It [her writing] just comes out of her, you know, like a pedo [fart]."Unfortunately, her "farts" do smell, for after so many negative, macho, ignorant, and self-degrading characters, I couldn't help but to ask one question: Why do all of the stories have to involve a distant parent, child-molester, woman-beater, cheating husband, or an alcoholic?These issues, although present, are not exclusive to the Mexican-American culture, and the fact that Granados didn't include stories representing educated, well behaved, and honorable women or men is sad.Why does Dora, a character in "Love Web," submit to James, the ladies-man who has used her as a personal secretary to answer calls from his five girlfriends?"I don't mind that he doesn't look me in the face. ... He lifts my skirt and twists my arms to make me turn around. ... My panties barely at my knees, he shoves me against his computer terminal. I gulp air," says Dora.Dora gave herself to him in vain, for he hardly acknowledged her the next day. Like her, other women characters devalue themselves while men leave their morals aside. "My Girlfriend Bobbi" introduces Mr. Phillips, who allows his sickness to overcome the love for his daughter, Roberta; instead of caring for her, he molests her."He insisted she sit next to him. ... Once, when I dropped my napkin and bent down to get it, I noticed that Mr. Phillips was fondling Roberta under the table," said Patty Vega, Roberta's friend and the narrator of the story.These types of stories, although attention-grabbing, can lead a reader who is not Mexican-American to receive the wrong impression of a culture that has much more to offer; however, considering the book's title, I wonder whether Granados' intention was to portray only this unfortunate side. What was her inspiration?Nevertheless, instead of being a wandering soul with unanswered questions, I have the chance to gather some answers, for Granados will be visiting our university on March 26 during Women's Literature Month.So, even though the book had some content that only captures a glimpse of Mexican-American culture, I highly recommend it and encourage everyone to read it, meet Granados, and ask her questions.