In the first morning after the Latin America Independence, these New Nations
were eager looking for a new political, economic and above all a Cultural Model to
follow. The Elite Criollos rejected the Spanish model for being colonizer and cruel. They also
rejected our Indigenous and the Afro-American for considered salvage and barbarians.
Therefore, the new Elite Criollos had no choice but to imitate the most prestige systems of the
era: The French, The English, and The United States. This Euro-Bourgeoisie model system
was the standard to follow in the New Nations. Jean Jacques Rousseau had a huge influence
in the making of the women’s place in society during this century. Rousseau’s Emile limits
women’s role in this new society to wife and mother. Women in general are going to be
marginalized in this new patriarch bourgeois world. Just as Rousseau used his ability to
write to educate the new upcoming middle class and bourgeois, Echeverria and his
contemporary writers are going to do the same in Latin America.
Analyze the role of women in Camila’s time and Echeverias’ El Matadero: individual freedom, rights, access to
education, independence, motherhood. Are women still struggling within our societies? Can you give examples
of our era that limits women’s individual rights, education, independence motherhood etc.?