The Connection of the Media and Chicana Activism in Cherrie Moraga’s Heroes and Saints Anonymous College

Heroes and Saints is a varicolored play that concentrates on different aspects of Chicana life and gender identity while also introduces the binary opposition of life and death. In a way, this Mexican/Chicana condition is represented through the character of Cerezita and her disability (Davies 37). The play is based on real events by resembling the tragedy of the real California town of McFarland. It depicts the life of a farming community in San Joaquin Valley where the Chicano/a community is poisoned by pesticides (Garza 27). The dead play an important role in this given community. By putting death in a central position, the play refutes the invisibility of this very phenomenon. Death becomes a meaningful asset for a social protest in the Chicano/a community, exactly by depicting it in a disturbing way, through the crucifixions. The crucifixions of the dead children stand for resistance against the government and refer to transformation within the community as well. In this way, the dead and wounded are revealed as signs of oppression and social problems, as they are not buried, but shown as a public spectacle to raise attention. Disability has the same role as the dead bodies of these children. That is why the main character...