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Both Nash Candelaria’s Leonor Park and Americo Paredes’ “Rebeca” feature women at the center of their narratives. In Leonor Park it shows how Hispanic culture in New Mexico was male-oriented and macho during the early part of the twentieth century and before. In a very similar way, the short story “Rebeca” shows how the lives of women are played down towards the power of the man and their words. Both stories have the women as being protagonists and having a strong strength of character to them. In Americo Paredes’ short story, the main character Rebeca lived a hard and very depressing life. She started to cook for her family at a young age and had no other job but to be in the kitchen. She woke up every morning at five to make coffee for her father. This life started to grow on her and soon after she married Beto her life went in a downhill direction. The kitchen was her favorite room in the house, but cooking gave her no pleasure or satisfaction. There were too many problems that went with keeping the family going. She welcomed the birth of her children but that brought about more problems. Her husband, Beto, was a strict father and would slap around the children, including the girls. The life of women at this tim