La Llorona

Personal Background:

Stephanie is a junior at the University of Southern California studying biology. She has grown up with a lot of Mexican influence, and has even spent some time in Mexico with her parents and grandparents. She is living in Los Angeles at the moment and is very happy with some of the Mexican influence L.A. has.

Legend

When Stephanie was growing up, she heard a lot of stories about La Llorona from her grandparents and friends. The story her grandparents told her is the one that is heard the most.

It begins with a woman whose husband has died. She ends up going crazy and drowns her children in a river. She ended up killing herself as well. Every night she wanders the streets looking for her children, and children in general.

In some other versions Stephanie has heard, La Llorona drowns her children in a bathtub for no reason. The ending is still the same with La Lloorna wandering the streets at night looking for children.
These stories were originally told to Stephanie when she was little as a way to keep her from staying out late at night. It was a scare tactic used by her parents, older siblings, as well as grandparents. She said they would say, “You better come inside or La Llorona is going to get you!” She would then come inside when she heard this. She has other friends who grew up in a very Hispanic culture who went through very similar events when they were younger. Stephanie is not sure if she still believes in La Llorona, but just in case there is possibility she does exist, she tries not to wander places alone at night.

Analysis:

This is a legend because of the possibility that it may or may not be true. Women have killed their children in the past. It is a legend that has become a ghost story. Parents use it as a way to scare their young kids into not staying out late.

To me, this is this is the type of story that people will continue to tell their kids in the future. It seems to work on little kids now, and if it was something that would have worked for me, I would want to use it in the future.

See other versions “La Llorona.” La Estrella de PanamáAug 10 2011. ProQuest. Web. 2 May 2014 .