María, one of the protagonists of the musical West Side Story, symbolizes the constructed image of the Latina woman in the Anglo-American imagination. West Side Story, a famous musical that debuted on Broadway in 1957, is one of the most prominent representations of Puerto Ricans in mainstream American culture. María is portrayed in the musical as passionate and fiercely romantic, reflecting stereotypes of Latina women. Cofer opens the essay with a reference to María: the first scene of the man on the bus sings María’s titular song to Judith, indicating that he only associates women of her ethnicity with a mythologized caricature of a Latina woman. Similarly, Judith believes that the man in the hotel sees her only as a “María,” or “a character in his cartoon-populated universe.” María, therefore, symbolizes the stereotype that must be destroyed so that Latina women can truly belong in the U.S. and be seen as real, complex human beings.
María Quotes in The Myth of the Latin Woman
Maria had followed me to London, reminding me of a prime fact of my life: you can leave the Island, master the English language, and travel as far as you can, but if you are a Latina, especially one like me who so obviously belongs to Rita Moreno’s gene pool, the Island travels with you.
[T]o him, I was just an Evita or a María: merely a character in his cartoon-populated universe.
María Symbol Timeline in The Myth of the Latin Woman
