Reading Gender Paper

In her play The Eternal Feminine Rosario Castellanos examines and criticizes many stereotypical roles of Mexican women. The play follows the dreams that Lupita has while sitting under a dryer at a beauty salon. Lupita is at the salon to get her hair done for her wedding day. The contraption that makes Lupita dream was created to stop women from thinking. As the dreams progress, Lupita becomes unsure of her decision to marry and also comes to understand the truly important role that women played in Mexico’s history.
The beauty salon is an important part in Mexican women’s lives. The very wealthy women visit the salon once a day, often spending hours sitting idly. Men believe that this idleness will lead women to think, and women who think are a detriment to society. Castellanos is criticizing the notion that women should spend all of their time becoming beautiful without contributing anything else to society. The idea that women should not or do not think could be quite offensive. Castellanos portrays the idea in a way that becomes humorous though. She uses wit and humor to examine a very serious situation. And to most American women of today, this idea is so ridiculous that it cannot be taken seriously. Castellanos also uses Lupita’s decision to leave the salon without her hair finished to represent the new role that she believes women need to begin playing in Mexican society.
Because of the blackout Lupita’s hair cannot be completely set. She then asks for a wig to wear for her wedding day. As she puts the wigs on she sees stereotypes of appearance for different types of women: prostitute, feminist, mistress, and professional. As she disregards each wig, she slowly sheds the beauty myth. When she leaves the salon without her hair done, she leaves behind the notion that outward appearance is the most important facet of a woman’s life. She leaves behind the old role of women and accepts the new, more active role that women should have.
As Naomi Wolf writes in Beyond the Beauty Myth, “The beauty myth countered women’s new freedoms by transposing the social limits to women’s lives directly onto our faces and bodies” (270). Linda Scott counters this argument in Fresh Lipstick. Scott asserts that women can be beautiful and enjoy beauty accoutrements while still being a feminist and still taking an active role in their society. While I agree with Scott, I believe that Wolf’s claims directly apply to Mexican women’s worlds according to Castellanos.
Gender is obviously the primary theme in The Eternal Feminine. Castellanos is showing that the beauty salon and having the perfect hairstyle are only important to women. The salesman who sells the salon owner the dream maker contraption is condescending and manipulative. The owner is unsure as she as just purchased new equipment from him, but he uses the prospect of money to convince her. He is the one who perpetuates the thought that women should not be spending their time thinking. Castellanos assumes that all men and women conform to these standards. The only male figure that is portrayed in any type of positive light is the serpent in Paradise with Adam and Eve. And even he is typically thought to symbolize the devil.
Lupita does eventually break these assumptions, and she does so without a man’s guidance. Though Lupita does not outwardly claim to be taking a new path in life, it is certainly implied.