ABSTRACT
I discuss the representation of thespian and poetic ChicaNerd identity through an examination of the protagonist Lupita’s growing interests in theater acting and poetry. In the novel’s chronology of Lupita’s four years of high school in Eagle Pass, Texas, tragically marked by her mother’s death from cancer, Lupita struggles to maintain her artistic and writing interests afloat while balancing the mourning and caretaking of her younger siblings. However, it is by honing her poetic talents—in particular, through her use of poetry to honor and remember her mother—that Lupita grows into her ChicaNerd identity. In Lupita’s rejection of some of her classmates’ taunts that her poetic interests make her, in their eyes, “white,” the novel challenges stereotypical messaging that denies Chicanas the right to embrace poetry, dramatic arts, and self-exploration.
