The Hungry Woman

The Hungry Woman: A Mexican Medea, by Cherríe Moraga, is a 1995 play that blends mythology, political issues, and personal betrayal. The play is a reimagining of Euripides’s Medea, a tragedy first performed in 431 BCE. Moraga’s play is set in a dystopian future in which the United States has expelled all people of Latin American and Indigenous descent. Moraga uses the narrative to explore themes of cultural alienation, gender oppression, and the complexities of familial and romantic love within the context of societal exclusion and racial discrimination. 

This guide uses the 2001 West End Press edition of The Hungry Woman.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of substance use, antigay bias, rape, and child death.

Plot Summary

The plot of The Hungry Woman unfolds in a dystopian future in which the United States has fractured into separatist territories divided by ethnic and sexual identity. The play follows Medea, a bisexual Chicana woman, as she navigates exile, longing, and betrayal, drawing on elements of Greek tragedy and Indigenous mythology to explore complex themes of identity and loss. The narrative of the play unfurls in a nonlinear fashion as Medea’s character moves back and forth between her past with Luna and Chac-Mool and her present in a psychiatric ward.

As the story begins, Medea is living in exile with her lover, Luna, and her young son, Chac-Mool, in a borderland community located near present-day Phoenix, Arizona. This community is a haven for those marginalized by mainstream society, including queer individuals and people of multiethnic heritage who have been driven out of the small communities set up in the aftermath of the revolution. Medea’s exile stems from her past: She was cast out of Aztlán, a Chicano nationalist state, after her relationship with Luna was deemed unacceptable by the patriarchal leaders of the society. Medea’s husband, Jasón, still resides in Aztlán, where he is about to marry again and establish a new life with his new bride, a much younger woman of Indigenous descent.

Medea struggles to reconcile her identity as a mother with her identity as a queer woman. Her relationship with Luna is passionate but strained, particularly due to Medea’s lingering attachment to her son and inability to fully integrate into the communal life of the borderlands. Unlike most of the women in the community, she is a bisexual woman rather than a lesbian. Chac-Mool, who is reaching adolescence, begins to question his place in the world and his loyalty to his mother. He is torn between the values of Aztlán, as represented by his father, and the freer but more precarious existence he shares with Medea and Luna, having spent most of his life being raised by queer women in this community of marginalized people.

The presence of Jasón disrupts the fragile equilibrium of Medea’s life. Throughout the play, Medea deals with the threat of having her child taken away from her as she endures the messy bureaucracy of divorce proceedings. Jasón seeks to take Chac-Mool back to Aztlán, arguing that the boy deserves a stable future in a more structured society where he can learn what it means to be a man. Medea is adamantly opposed to this idea, fearing that Jasón will raise Chac-Mool in a patriarchal and oppressive environment that rejects her values and identity. The conflict between Medea and Jasón intensifies, revealing the depth of Medea’s pain and resentment over her exile and the choices she has been forced to make.

As tensions escalate, Medea’s relationship with Luna begins to unravel. Luna, who longs for a deeper commitment from Medea, grows increasingly frustrated with Medea’s fixation on Chac-Mool and her unresolved feelings for Jasón. She feels as though Medea is never truly committed to her, making several accusations that cause Medea to drink more heavily. Medea, meanwhile, becomes consumed by her fear of losing her son and her anger at the forces that have marginalized her. Her mental and emotional state deteriorates as she grapples with feelings of powerlessness and betrayal.

Medea’s despair culminates in a series of prophetic dreams and visions. Drawing on Aztec and Greek mythologies, these visions blur the boundaries between reality and the spiritual world, revealing Medea’s inner turmoil and the cultural heritage that shapes her identity. In one such vision, Medea encounters the goddess Coatlicue, a powerful symbol of creation and destruction, who embodies the dualities of motherhood and sacrifice. These supernatural elements underscore the inevitability of Medea’s tragic fate. The appearance of these symbolic deities often blurs the boundaries of the play’s staging.

The play reaches its climax when Medea, driven by desperation, makes a harrowing decision. Fearing that she will lose Chac-Mool to Jasón and the patriarchal values of Aztlán, Medea resolves to take drastic action to prevent this outcome. In an act of both love and vengeance, she kills Chac-Mool by urging him to drink unknowingly from a beverage that contains poison. She believes that this is the only way to protect him from a life of subjugation and to assert her agency in the face of systemic oppression.

The aftermath of Chac-Mool’s death leaves Medea utterly alone. Luna, perturbed by Medea’s inability to commit to her and her threat of returning to Jasón, abandons her, severing their relationship even though she is concerned about Chac-Mool’s future. Medea is left to confront the enormity of her loss and the consequences of her choices. The play ends with Medea in a state of desolation, haunted by the memory of her son and the irreparable damage caused by her actions. She is placed in the psychiatric ward of a hospital and watched over by guards and nurses. Her only visitor is Luna, whose occasional absence drives her deeper into despair. Medea is also haunted by the ghost of her son and the reality of what he has done to her.