Marianismo
Evelyn Stevens' essay was very significant to this area of study. However, since its publication, her argument has been debated by other researchers and critics. Although her argument addresses marianismo in Latin America at large, many of the sources she uses mainly focus on Mexican culture, thus severely limiting her frame of reference. Also, she is criticized for implying that, despite other differences among various socioeconomic classes, the ideal woman's characteristics are ultimately the same across social classes. Her critics claim Stevens ignores socioeconomic factors, saying "her description of women as altruistic, selfless, passive, [and] morally pure" is inadequate. There have been some responses in the literature to the concept of marianismo that assert that its model of/for women's behavior is very class-based. In other words, the idea that men do all the hard work, while women remain idle, on a pedestal, is a life that rarely exists, particularly for the peasant, poor and working class women that make up the majority of Latin America women. As Gil and Vazquez remind us, "most of her [Stevens's] data came from middle class Mexican women".
Modernismo
His contributions to the movement of "Modernismo" created an opportunity for poets to use their words with meaning behind them within their poems. The swan represents perfection and, according to Darío in his poem, the swan had the power to revive someone from the dead and there was no flaw in the swan. This represents the "Modernismo" movement within literary works.
José Julián Martí y Pérez was born on January 28th, 1853 in Havana, Cuba- died May 19th, 1895. He was a poet, essayist, and a martyr for Cuban independence from Spain. His dedication to see a free Cuba made him a symbol of Cuba’s struggle for independence from Spain. He organized and unified the movement for Cuban independence and died on the battlefield fighting for it. Martí used his power if writing as well to fight for the independence. By the age of 15 he had published several of his poems and by the age of 16 he founded a newspaper "La Patria Libre". This was during a revolutionary uprising that broke out in 1868 because he sympathized with the patriots. He was sentenced to six months of hard labor. Martí would continue to use his talent of writing bring to attention the problems of Latin America. He is considered one of the fathers of "Modernismo".
Enrique González Martínez was born April 13th 1871 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. He died on February 19th, 1952 in Mexico City, Mexico. Martínez is considered one of the last great "Modernismo" poets. While others consider him to be the first "post-modernismo" poet, he never completely abandoned his "Modernismo" characteristics in his work. For the first time in Latin American literature, there was more of a local concern in literature through his works. He was a medical doctor, professor and diplomat to Chile (1920-1922), Argentina (1922-24), Spain, and Portugal (1924-1931). One of his poems called "Tuércele el cuello al cisne" (Twist the Swan’s Neck) has often been seen as his anti-modernismo manifesto. However, this is far from the truth. For the rest of his life Enrique González Martínez continued to be a modernismo poet for the rest of his life. "Tuércele el cuello al cisne" is not a rejection of the "Modernismo movement" but should be seen as a rejection of surface rhetorical devices and frivolity and not as a rejection of the whole movement.