A Slap In The Face Of Honor Analysis

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As it’s said in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding “The man is the head, but the woman is the neck. And she can turn the head any way she wants.” Although “A Slap in the Face of Honor” and “Scandal at the Church” by Sonya Lipsett-Rivera does not derive from Greek culture (rather it comes from colonial Mexican culture) it does not diminish its value. In these two sources we are able to see how the women “turn heads” all the time, through possessing influence by gossip, violence and chastity, essentially playing an important role in Iberian society. In “A Slap in the Face of Honor” shows how women behaved in public, or under the eye of anyone in their society reflected upon their family and their husbands. Gossip, chastity, and violence were all used to raise or lower one’s class in society. An example of this is how the character Maria, Rita’s neighbor, gossiped about Rita. Spreading the rumor that while…show more content…
Rita dutifully sought out a way to stop these rumors so she told Maria’s husband that Maria was gossiping about her. While this happened Maria tried to intervene to put her two cents in about Rita’s actions. This only resulted in Maria’s husband instantly hitting her. Being shamed so, Maria and her friends attacked Rita, cutting off her braids and wounding her. “In Mexico as elsewhere, hair cutting for women was a gravely insulting, visible symbol of sexual and social dishonor.” This would reflect upon her husband’s honor as well. Although chaotic, both Maria and Rita performed these deeds in order to preserve their honor. Through this story we are able to see how gossip was used to wound someone’s honor, gossip about one’s chastity wounded their honor and how violence was used to publicly humiliate and decrease one’s honor. In “Scandal at the Church” we see how the women underhandedly were able to affect each other’s honor and try to create a way to raise or lower their class rank in

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