"Miss Clairol" and Other Short Stories Literary Elements

Short stories/Chicana literature

Primarily California in the second half of the 20th century as experienced by working class Hispanic-Americans.

Through both first-person and third-person point-of-view narration, the stories are presented through the Chicana perspectives of women of various ages, but essentially the same working class lower economic echelon.

Generally, the mood of a Viramontes story is bleak and often verging on despondency, but avoids slipping into a sense of nihilistic surrender through a tone of—however misplaced—optimism and hopeful expectation.

Protagonist: the various Chicanas as representatives of an entire culture. Antagonist: racism, xenophobia, economic exploitation and unreliable men.

The dramatic conflict which forms the narrative of the stories of Viramontes varies significantly. In “Miss Clairol” conflict arises out of the pursuit of assimilation into American culture. “Neighbors” features a more concrete conflict between older residents and teenage thoughts. “Growing” turns on the age-old generational conflict between rebellious daughters and their fathers while in “Snapshots” the conflict exists entirely within the middle-aged protagonist whose life has not turned out as expected.

Most of the author’s stories build to what is more appropriately termed an anticlimax. “Neighbors” ends with “She held the gun high with both hands, squeezing, tightly squeezing it as she aimed at the door.” “Miss Clairol” climaxes with a young girl yelling goodbye out a window to a mother who can’t hear because she’s too busy rolling up the window of the car of her date.

The opening paragraph of “The Cariboo Café” foreshadows its tragic conclusion with a listing of rules for immigrants which includes advice that the police should always, no matter the circumstances, be avoided.

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Throughout “Miss Clairol” are sprinkled allusions to Jackie Gleason’s 1950’s variety show as the young daughter of the protagonist watches TV while her mom prepares for a date.

The death of a loved one is achingly presented through poetic imagery in “The Moths”: “Her hair fell back and spread across the water like eagles' wings. The water in the tub overflowed and poured onto the tile of the floor. Then the moths came. Small gray ones that came from her soul and out through her mouth fluttering to light, circling the single dull light bulb of the bathroom. Dying is lonely and I wanted to go to where the moths were”

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The rule for immigrants listed in the opening paragraph of “The Cariboo Café”: “Rule one: never talk to strangers, not even the neighbor who paced up and down the hallways talking to himself. Rule two: the police, or "polie" as Sonya's popi pronounced the word, was La Migra in disguise and thus should always be avoided. Rule three: keep your key with you at all times”

“In the kitchen I see that today my favorite dish is Chinese food getting cold in those little coffin-like containers. Yesterday my favorite dish was a salami sandwich” in which “dish” is a metonym for everything comprising the meal.

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