The Thin Frontera between Visibility and Invisibility: Felicia Luna Lemus’s Like Son

Abstract

The historically entrenched gender-based division of western society is also part of the cultural heritage of the Chicano community. The diverse cultural, literary and religious symbols that have defined the female and male roles have been transmitted through the generations, creating a clear gender-based hierarchy within the group. This binary division, however, has left no room for those considered (extremely) deviant such as the LGBT community. The aim of this essay is to observe the way Felicia Luna Lemus’s Like Son (2007) addresses issues of visibility and invisibility and the integration of a family past and a cultural heritage into the life of a young Chicano transgender person, in an attempt to render this group visible and voiced within the community. Keywords: Chicano/a; LGBT; identity; literature; (in)visibility