“Like the Strands of a Rebozo”

Sandra Cisneros, “Caramelo” and Chicano Identity

Abstract

This article explores Sandra Cisneros’s multicultural cosmos, through the image of a traditional Mexican shawl: the rebozo caramelo which gives the title to her latest novel. Through this basic metaphor connecting weaving and storytelling, the essay highlights the prominent traits of Cisneros’s personality – her close bond to the symbols of her ethnic identity, her social commitment and her lively and sagacious character – as well as the hybrid space of the Chicano community, which she tries to depict in its rich and complex blend of Pre-Columbian, Mexican and North American cultures. The author’s great loom intertwines different lives, centuries and languages in a huge unique fabric, while past and present, male and female, First and Third World, together with any other element of cultural conflict, are constantly mixed and renewed in her deep disorienting border.