Helena Viramontes Miss Clairol Essay -- short story, Miss Clairol

Helena Viramontes short taradiddle, send away Clairol, takes the selecter through a day in the life of Arlene, a single Hispanic mother, and her daughter, Champ. They begin their day at K-Mart in face for just the right beauty products for Arlene because she is going on a figure that evening. After leaving without paying, they spend the day at home. Arlene prepares for the date firearm Champ assists her, watches television, and fixes herself dinner. Once Arlene is sufficiently fixed, she leaves for the date, ignoring Champ as she yells goodbye. Although I had to read Miss Clairol all the way through several times in order to develop a full understanding of the story and its purpose, I needed no extra reading to understand Arlene and my feelings about her. From the ancestor of the story, my gut reaction to Arlene was disgust, and as I continued to read, my distaste alone enlarged. Although I do not feel that Viramontes sole purpose was to reorganize the reader by her characte rization of this single mother, that was what kept my attention from the second base she was introduced.My dislike for Arlene began with the mere description of her physical appearance . When Arlene is first presented, she is envisioned wearing bell bottom jeans two sizes too small and a pink strapless tube top (78). Not only do her clothes fit improperly, but her stomach spills over the hip hugger jeans as well (78). I next realized Arlene is accompanied by her infantile daughter, Champ. I was caught off guard by her blatant use of sworn statement in front of Champ. For example, she responds to Champs question about which Miss Clairol box to crack saying, Shit, mija, I dunno, and after dropping a gum wrapper on the ground, the simple comment, Fuck it, expresses her nonchala... ...e next man is so far from quixotic in the way I understand the concept, that it angers me to hear about it. Arlenes misunderstand of romance epitomizes my serious dislike for her.My experience with good parenting and romance is so opposite of Arlenes parenting and ideas of romance that I am repulsed by them. Because it is so diffused to develop set ideas of what is right and wrong concerning these concepts at such a young age, it is difficult to rid myself of the biases now that I am a young adult. These cultural biases that created the lens through which I read this story strongly affected my perception of Arlene in a way that no one else can experience.Work CitedViramontes, Helena. Miss Clairol. Literature and Gender sentiment Critically through Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Eds. Robyn Wiegman and Elena Glasberg. New York Longman, 1999. 78-81. Print.