ABSTRACT
In Western tradition, the figure of Medea has been revisited as an infanticide (thus, a bad mother), an outcast or a sorceress. All these features distort the canonical gender and social feminine roles and depict an image of a she-monster, criticized and rejected by her own social group. Across different spaces and times, a similar characterization has been used to describe women who betrayed their own people and embodied supernatural power used to harm others. These attributes blend and find their voices in the female narrative of Ana Castillo’s So Far from God, featuring the story of Sofia and her four daughters after being abandoned by her husband. A comparative analysis of the novel’s characters and the mythological archetype of Medea (as well as Circe, Penelope or Helen of Troy) reveals how both these mythological characters and Castillo’s women share their status as (potential/untypical) mothers as well as living beyond canonical gender roles. Finally, analyzing the intersection between a classical approach and the religion and spirituality of the Chicana culture as it presents itself in the novel, this chapter aims to open the way to a new debate about motherhood and female alienation.
