IDENTITY in Postcolonial Latino Literature

For much of its history, Latin American countries have experienced great deals of oppression from elites and higher class groups in societies. Because of this extremely oppressive and unfair treatment of Latinos by Europeans, these conflicts created a dependency on European and U.S. culture for Latinos to find some sort of Identity. I wanted to explore the theme of Identity in Latino Literature; how do the writers and their novels address Identity we have read? How does this theme of Identity mirror my own culture? What can be done to address this issue of identity and will it ever have an opportunity to be less prevalent in Latino Literature? These are questions that arise for me in exploring the major theme of Identity within Latino Literature.

            In the many novels that we have read in class, there are  few that address identity specifically, but there are common themes within all Latino literature that somehow address this lack of knowing oneself or their culture. There are many conflicts within the Latino culture, especially amidst themselves because of the cognitive remapping of cultural terrain.(Augenbraum, 39) Because of the effects of colonialism, many Latin American countries were split and borders were created to deteriorate or limit the communication between the many diverse cultures that Latin America embodies. For example, the voyages of Columbus, Spanish Conquest, creating the Encomienda system that practically destroyed the Taino race; a racial and cultural hierarchy establishing itself: Spaniards, Criollos, Mestizos, Indians and Blacks. The Spanish language became a mediator or commonality for many cultures in Latin America that shows the influence of the Europeans. Trujillo’s regime, the mass killing of many and not being able to express the dislike of these events, also created a distance between Latinos. The different religions, family values and teachings, especially of categorization of cultures, brought by Europeans, created struggles within the familial and cultural values and having to choose one’s own path in life, definitely made it difficult to find an Identity within Latin American society.(Meztizo, Wikipedia).

In Rudolfo A. Anaya’s, Bless Me Ultima, it is not difficult to see how identity plays a major role, as one of the major themes is the influence of culture on identity. The protagonist in the novel, Antonio/Tony, is struggling to find a definitive answer to questions of his own identity. He is conflicted and influenced by many, even others within a different culture. (Ultima).  Antonio’s struggle to reconcile the complexities within his identity and religious experiences, ultimately allows him to conclude that he must make his own decisions in life, which Ultima helps him with this. One of the major conflicts he faces is that of his parents’ influence in their idea of what Antonio should become. His vaquero father Gabriel, wants him to ride the IIano, just as he did, while his Luna mother Maria, wishes for him to become a priest and bring honor to the family. In chapter 3, Gabriel and Maria are arguing about the influences that the world (cultures) brings upon children; “it is a sin for boys to become men” says Maria, and Gabriel contests, saying “it is part of life, boys grow up to become men, it’s inevitable, “it’s the way of the world”. Maria says, “ If Antonio becomes a priest, he will be spared from the corruption of life.”(Anaya, 56)  This particular scene in Chapter 3 was really interesting because it shows how influential his parents are in his life, having an open argument/discussion about what he should be, in front of him, definitely makes it difficult for Antonio to find his own answers and his own path.

In Bodega dreams, Chino has been searching for an identity for as long as he could remember. “To have a name other than the one your parents gave you meant you had status in school, had status on the block. You were somebody. If anyone called you by your real name you were un mamao, a useless, meaningless thing. It meant that you hadn’t proved yourself, it was open season for anyone to kick your ass.” (Quinonez, 4). Chino admits to wanting to have proven himself, getting recognition from the streets. This would give him the identity that he wanted. Another instance in which identity plays a major role in the beginning of the book is Chino describing how the teachers would treat them, they already were looked at as failures and this created tension in the student/teacher relationship, but also amidst themselves because they had no identity within their own families/cultures.

:“To white teachers we were all going to end up delinquents” “ I get paid whether you learn or not”, they would tell us”.

: “So, since we were almost convinced that our race had no culture, no smart people, we behaved even worse”

: “So we hated ourselves and fought every day. And finally, after a while, when I lost the fear of hitting someone else (not the fear of getting hit, but of hitting someone else), I looked for fights”.(Quinonez,6-7). Chino is listening to Willie express his dream, wanting to become the biggest slumlord in New York City, helping people was his thing, but making money was his identity. As a part of that dream/ identity, Willie needed Chino to represent him and to do that well. In return, Willie helps Chino acquire an apartment. I believe Chino really takes to Willie because he is showing him what he can potentially become.

: “ People remember you as someone who tried to make the neighborhood a better place. And that’s good. And now they see your in school and that’s good too, bro. (Quinonez,36).

             To anyone who is search of an identity, you tend to go along with what makes you feel important at the time, you have a tendency to become engulfed with making a name for yourself. This is how Chino becomes linked up with Willie, he feels that through him, he can have his own identity. 

            In Cristina Garcia’s novel Dreaming in Cuban, Garcia does a fantastic job in depicting the struggles faced by these marginalized Cuban immigrants, with her character Pilar. Being both Cuban and American, she has strong attachments with the island as well as with the U.S. But because of the political and cultural boundaries that separate families, construction of psychic borders and historical bridges(Augenbaum, 89) the Puentes family experiences identity loss. Pilar’s efforts to accept her Cuban heritage, while forging an identity as a Cuban-American woman stands out the most to me in this novel. Pilar is a young woman who is working to create an identity that addresses major issues such as language, morality, religion, gender and place what she herself identifies as the purgatory of biculturalism. She is the one character in the novel that must blend the past with the present, her Cuban heritage with her American life. The other major characters in the novel do not face nearly the same struggle, for Celia can only be Cuban, while Lourdes can only be American. Struggling with her language, Pilar’s Spanish suggests how the politics that separate Cuba and the U.S. have been introduced into the family relationships. Because she grew up in America, Pilar’s Spanish is hard-edged and awkward.

: “Pilar’s eyes, Celia fears, are no longer used to the compacted light of the tropics, where a morning hour can fill a month of days in the north, which receives only careless sheddings from the sun. She imagines her granddaughter pale, gliding through paleness, malnourished and cold without the food of scarlets and greens” (Garcia,7).

Later on, despite Pilar’s recognition of her love for her mother, she has yet to fully develop a string sense of identity. Pilar’s art is representative of her fragmented identity.

:” My paintings have been getting more and more abstract lately, violent-looking with clotted swirls of red” (Garcia,29).

If art is representative of the artists’ sense of self, then Pilar’s work shows clearly the struggles in which she faces. Pilar must reconcile her two worlds, Cuba and America, to fully develop her identity as a Cuban-American. Pilar’s development of her identity is central to the novel’s theme. I remember her asking, “why don’t we read about this is history books, who chooses what we should know and what is important? (Garcia,28). These questions give us premise to see Pilar’s interest in history and also how the historical constructs are patriarchal and this reflects her mother’s strong will that she inherits. Pilar discovers that no matter how she views things, history has shattered her family. Lourdes not speaking about her rape, Rufino dwelling on his memories of Cuba and not able to adjust to the U.S., makes it difficult for Pilar to piece together her own history, therefore making it difficult for her to find her identity!

For many of the Latino characters in the novels discussed throughout the semester, we see the struggles and conflicts within the family, community, society and most importantly within themselves. After reading these novels, viewing the films on Latino cultures and analyzing Latino Literature along with my classmates, I have found many ways in which the Latino culture and my own culture as an African American are linked. Just as Latin America had been colonized and oppressed in many ways, such is the case of Africa. Much of our culture has been fragmented and picked apart by society, creating psychic dislocations within our ideals and psyche. We are in constant search of identity, having to what I call, “Chameleonize”, ourselves in order to fit society’s standards. I can definitely make connections with the characters in the novels; trying to find themselves an identity based on their own personalities, their own beliefs, and their own way of figuring themselves out, which seemed to be problematic and major conflicts. Although we have discussed many interesting things over the course of the semester, and we have covered many aspects of Latino literature that I could relate to, I find that one project in particular was the defining moment for me. The moment where I realized that African American and Latino cultures cross paths. This project was former Goshen College Spanish professor Rafael Falcon’s “Reflection of My Essence”. This project served as a rich tool for helping me think about my face, my features, and my family; taking a historical analysis as to where these came from; as well as thinking about my culture, the connections to others, and “gaining one’s rightful place”!(Augenbaum, 176) I can only tell you that through this course, I have learned so much about Latino culture, literature, and most of all, I learned a great deal more about myself and now have a new found IDENTITY that I am very proud of!    

WORKS CITED:
1.Augenbraum, Harold, and Olmos Margarite. Fernández. The Latino Reader: An American Literary Tradition from 1542 to the Present. Boston, [Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. Print.
2. Anaya, Rudolfo A. Bless Me, Ultima. New York: Warner, 1994. Print.
3. Quiñonez, Ernesto. Bodega Dreams. New York: Vintage Contemporaries, 2000. Print.
4.  García, Cristina. Dreaming in Cuban. New York: Knopf, 1992. Print.
5.  "Mestizo." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Apr. 2012. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mestizo>.

BWLOW: Love, Love, Love!

Oscar Wao was a great character that Diaz places as the protagonist for this Novel. We see in most of the other novels how Latino Literature places Identity as a major theme. To me, Oscar is not "searching" for an Identity, but rather, trying to fit in with the Latino machismo identity itself. Yunior is pressuring Oscar to be more like him, courting numerous women throughout the novel. Oscar is struggling because, although he is handsome and liked by many girls, he is also a bigger guy and on top of that a nerd. He likes science fiction, comic books, ect. This bothers Oscar because he is desperately in search of true love. Someone he can spend the rest of his life with, just one girl in particular.

In the end of the novel, he finds just that within Ybon. After going through great lengths to get with her, he eventually has sex with her. I think this was the moment that solidified Oscar as himself, someone finally loved him for him!

I find mirrors in the story of Oscar, that relate to my own culture. Being African American, we are known for being aggressive when it comes to courting women. We are known as smooth talkers, great lovers and so on, so there is a standard or identity we must uphold in order to consider ourselves to be "BLACK".  Like Oscar, I struggled with this because I never saw the opportunities to court girls, and if I did, I always failed. In my first two years of junior college, I placed it upon myself to get out of this shy, non-aggressive, African American male (peer pressure was also a factor) and wanted to experience what every other guy in my culture had. This brings me to my point that, like Latino culture, Black Culture definitely relates, and it is because of this, that the novel has really opened my eyes to that notion.

Dreaming Up an Identity

The theme that I have chosen to focus on is Identity. In many of the novels we have read, identity was a major theme that seemed to plague most of the characters. In Bodega dreams, Chino is searching for an identity as long as he could remember. “ To have a name other than the one your parents gave you meant you had status in school, had status on the block. You were somebody. If anyone called you by your real name you were un mamao, a useless, meaningless thing. It meant that you hadn’t proved yourself, it was open season for anyone to kick your ass.” (4). Chino admits to wanting to have proven himself, getting recognition from the streets. This would give him the identity that he wanted. Another instance in which identity plays a major role in the beginning of the book is Chino describing how the teachers would treat them, they already were looked at as failures and this created tension in the student/teacher relationship, but also within themselves because they had no identity within their own families/cultures.

:“To white teachers we were all going to end up delinquents” “ I get paid whether you learn or not”, they would tell us”.

: “So, since we were almost convinced that our race had no culture, no smart people, we behaved even worse”

: “So we hated ourselves and fought everyday. And finally, after a while, when I lost the fear of hitting someone else(not the fear of getting hit, but of hitting someone else), I looked for fights”. (6-7).

            Chino is listening to Willie express his dream, wanting to become the biggest slumlord in New York City, helping people was his thing, but making money was his identity. As a part of that dream/ identity, Willie needed Chino to represent him and to do that well. In return, Willie helps Chino acquire an apartment. I believe Chino really takes to Willie because he is showing him what he can potentially become.

: “ People remember you as someone who tried to make the neighborhood a better place. And that’s good. And now they see your in school and that’s good too, bro. (36).

            To anyone who is search of an identity, you tend to go along with what makes you feel important at the time, you have a tendency to become engulfed with making a name for yourself. This is how Chino becomes linked up with Willie, he feels that through him, he can have his own identity.  

            In Cristina Garcia’s novel Dreaming in Cuban, she does a great job in depicting the struggles faced by these marginalized Cuban immigrants, with her character Pilar. Being both Cuban and American, she has strong attachments with the island as well as with the U.S. But because of the political and cultural boundaries that separate families, the Puentes family experiences identity loss. Pilar’s efforts to accept her Cuban heritage, while forging an identity as a Cuban-American woman stands out the most to me in this novel. Pilar is a young woman who is working to create an identity that addresses major issues such as language, morality, religion, gender and place what she herself identifies as the purgatory of biculturalism. She is the one character in the novel that must blend the past with the present, her Cuban heritage with her American life. The other major characters in the novel do not face nearly the same struggle, for Celia can only be Cuban, while Lourdes can only be American. Struggling with her language, Pilar’s Spanish suggests how the politics that separate Cuba and the U.S. have been introduced into the family relationships. Because she grew up in America, Pilar’s Spanish is hard-edged and awkward.

: “Pilar’s eyes, Celia fears, are no longer used to the compacted light of the tropics, where a morning hour can fill a month of days in the north, which receives only careless sheddings from the sun. She imagines her granddaughter pale, gliding through paleness, malnourished and cold without the food of scarlets and greens” (7).

Later on, despite Pilar’s recognition of her love for her mother, she has yet to fully develop a string sense of identity. Pilar’s art is representative of her fragmented identity.

:” My paintings have been getting more and more abstract lately, violent-looking with clotted swirls of red” (29).

If art is representative of the artists’ sense of self, then Pilar’s work shows clearly the struggles in which she faces. Pilar must reconcile her two worlds, Cuba and America, to fully develop her identity as a Cuban-American.  Pilar’s development of her identity is central to the novel’s theme. I remember her asking, “why don’t we read about this is history books, who chooses what we should know and what is important? (28). These questions give us premise to see Pilar’s interest in history and also how the historical constructs are patriarchal and this reflects her mother’s strong will that she inherits. Pilar discovers that no matter how she views things, history has shattered her family. Lourdes not speaking about her rape, Rufino dwelling on his memories of Cuba and not able to adjust to the U.S. makes it difficult for Pilar to piece together her own history, therefore making it difficult for her to find her identity!

Re-Flection of My Essence

I stare intently at myself in the mirror. My small, squinty and brown pupils look back at me; dark features overshadow the mirror, wavey yet course hair take pride of my head and face. My long, chicken beak of a nose, large, dark full lips and white teeth smile back at me in the mirror. I can see my Uncle, we call him Red Eagle, because of the dark red skin that is common in Indian features, I see my Dad, high cheek bones and small eyes, reflect my African heritage.

In total amazement, you know, like the way you realize you had an idea or the cartoon effect of the "light bulb" over your head, I saw deeper into myself. The mirror now reflects a small cotton field in the south or a large sugar plantation in Latin America, where indigenous and African slaves meet. The mirror reflects the different mixes of foods, of oral traditions and storytelling of indigenous and African mythology and Christianity. It reflects love and solidarity.

The Mirror reflects my culture(s), the mirror reflects my many different ancestors, their beliefs and ideas. I see much more than a handsome face reflecting back at me, I see past the idea of slavery and the wrong doings of others against my ancestors; I see what is truly important, that I am a child of God, I am apart of His multiethnic family. I see what mattered to my genetic historical background, the mirror reflects the fact that my diverse culture is what will matter later in life, That I Am the World, I am dual identities, and that these identities will live on in my children and their children, WE ARE LIFE!

The Reflection of My Essence by Morales, gives us great imagery of the many cultures. I like how Morales describes the many different cultures he embodies as homes that are not able to be returned to, revisited or traveled to again!

Roses are Red, Violets are Blue: Poetry

Poet David Dominguez was born and raised in Fresno, California  in 1971. He attended CSU Fresno before transferring to UC Irvine, where he graduated with a BA in Comparative Literature in 1995. He then went on to attend the University of Arizona where he obtained his MFA in Creative Writing in 1997.

Dominguez is the author of two poetry collections, Work Done Right, published in 2003 by University Arizona Press, and his more recently published, The Ghost of Cesar Chavez, published in 2010 by C& R press. His works has also been anthologized in numerous books and has appeared in journals such as, The Bloomsbury Review, Crab Orchard Review, Poet Lore, and The Southern Review. His anthologized works include, Bear Flag Republic: Prose Poems and Poetics from California, Camino del Sol: Fifteen Years of Latina/o Writing, Breathe: 101 Cotemporary Odes, The Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry, and many more.

A the age of 19, after reading "The Red Wheel Barrel" by William Carlos Williams for a class, Dominguez knew he wanted to become a poet. He says, " The work had amazing imagery", and that is one of Dominguez's strongest characteristics in his writing. Dominguez is known for his imagery, considered a Free Verse writer and writes from a Latino perspective. A resident of California's Central Valley, Dominguez writes poetry that reflects life in the area, often focusing on work and family history. In his collection, The Ghost of Cesar Chavez, Rigoberto Gonzalez, a poetry column writer for the El Paso Times in Texas and revered poet, elaborated on the importance of imagery/place, noting that the Central Valley is "a place where generations of Mexican families have lived, worked and witnessed periods of both economic hardship and prosperity... Dominguez pays homage to a different fruit of his labor: the hard-won comforts of domesticity and the impulse to reflect on the legacy of sacrifice."

In reading The Wind Shifts, I came across one poem that placed a sense of all the characteristics highlighted in David's work. I saw the Imagery, the struggles, the pain, the unfairness of life toward Latino groups. His poem "Fingers" shows just that. He starts out, " Because of the frozen meat and a silver ring, my index finger swelled and dimmed... the men held my wrist and used a saw... Nothing passed time like work, unconscious work when the bones pounded and the muscles stretched... Julio jumped on a stool and lowered half his body in the machine, when his thigh brushed the go button, the blade moved an inch and sliced off his index finger... He pushed away those who tried to help, he didn't cry out, how he asked for my smock and held his hand to his chest.... Most of all, I thought about myself: would I have screamed, could I have taken the pain, walked outside to the employee payphone, and with  good hand still held steady, dialed 9-1-1..." This poem struck me because of the way he describes the situation, a finger being cut off, refusing help, the working conditions, walking OUTSIDE to use the PAYPHONE, shows the life of Latinos to me.

Many of the other poems in this book, reflect David's life after marriage and trying to build his home. He uses a lot of imagery and the way he talks about the workers is a great indicator that they are Latino as well. In his poem "ROOF" he writes, " At lunch I go watch the Mexicanos who are putting the ceiling on my house. They don't like me the moment I park at the curb. Extension cords crisscross the slab. I nod at the fellow with the saw. He's watching my feet, nervous i'll trip and pull the diamond-cut teeth through skin, veins and bones... They have names for me, pocho, gringo. The one with the nail gun nods but before I look away he punches three pennies into a board.... I can take a hint. Days ago, I saw a nest in the beams. Now it lies on the floor, a dove's refuge smashed under a boot... This is funny to me, because of the actions of the workers, but also because David is showing how frustrating it would be for people you are working for to watch you all the time, seeing your every move, waiting for you to do something wrong. These are issues I think David is trying to address in his works. He really has the back of the Latino community.

Currently,  David is a English Professor at Reedley College in California. His goal is to get as many students as possible into English 1A. He stresses the importance of earning a four-year degree to all of his students, especially the Latino students. Currently, only 11 percent of Latino students graduate with a BA, four percent with a MA, and only one percent with a PhD-these statistics that he would like to see improved. Dominguez is the co-founder and poetry editor of The Packinghouse Review. I hope that everyone get a chance to read some of David's work, I find it to be really interesting and great work!

Why Study Mexican American/Latino Lit?

When the class first began this semester, I must say that I knew nothing about Latino/Mexican literature. I was a virgin to the subject and the stories we have been reading has really given me experience in the language and the context in which the Latino writers are writing. The story lines and plots of the books we have been reading really gives me a sense of the Latino culture and some of the events and struggles in their lives mirror my own struggles as well.

Ann asks the question, Why study Mexican American/Latino literature? The answers seem quite easy, but the realities make those answers difficult because of the convictions we feel when recollecting thoughts about it. Mexican American/ Latino cultures have had a rough beginning, since the Voyages of Columbus from 1492-1504. Especially after the Spanish Conquest in Mexico and the indigenous people became part of the Encomienda system, Mexico became a place of hardships and struggles. The mixing of cultures, languages and races became a problem(Spanish became primary language to smooth things out). A racial and cultural hierarchy established itself, Spaniards, Criollos, Mestizos, Indians and Blacks. Anzaldua talks about the differences in languages and the complexity of the origins in Borderlands. The taming of the wild tongue was intriguing because it shows how cultural hierarchies are in place (Spanish/English) hierarchy. She talks about her experience in school as kids would make fun of her because of the way she spoke.

The study of Literature in Mexican American/Latino cultures contrasts the ways in which journalism would portray. Journalism is often exaggerated and sometimes not factual. Whereas, literature would give facts, dates, real life experiences and struggles. Journalism is mainly in the male perspectives, whereas, we have been reading literature in both male and female perspectives. The Latino and Mexican communities are given legitimacy in the novels and poems we have been reading. We get a sense of what the cultures are, in the writings and the experiences of the authors. Most of the readings give reference to the "border". This is very important in Latino/Mexican American literature because of the lives lost trying to cross the border, the splitting of families because of the border, struggling to find an identity because of the border, and so on.

It is very important that Mexican American/Latino literature is captivated in our lives and that we have some empathy toward the hardships they face. Being a minority myself, I can totally relate to the struggles, I understand what finding an identity is about. The question is, how can we make it more understandable to others outside of our studies. What can we do to make it clear that Latino and Mexican voices are the same as ours? These are questions that I leave you all with....

The Guardians and The Devil's Highway

Both novels gives us a look into the border politics and immigration techniques that the central characters are faced when crossing the threatening harsh deserts in search for a better opportunity and life for themselves. The single notion of opportunity is a major theme in the stories. Like The Guardians, the Devil's Highway gives us a look at the illegal crossings that many immigrants experience and their use of the Coyote system to get across is key in understanding how the United States has many laws in place to prevent these people from coming over.

Coyotes are people who smuggle illegal immigrants into the United States. Like any other illegal system or illegal dealings, there are risks that one must take. You have to put you trust into someone that you do not know. You have to trust that whatever you do will ultimately help you and these things are not guaranteed. The men in the Devil's Highway put their trust in the Coyotes that are "helping" them cross over into the United States. Obviously there are some risks and the story proves this. The coyotes themselves get lost on the trail, does not inform the guys and take another route. Some of the men lost their lives and others were very close to death. Parallel with this, The Guardians shows how the Coyotes took Gabo's mother's life when crossing the desert. Rafa, Gabo's father is missing as well as he is crossing the border.

The problem I have with both stories is not of the illegal crossings, or the loss of lives on the desert; but the United States' harsh immigration laws, and the strenuous process of gaining citizenship. In one scene in the Guardians, Regina is talking to her mother and she is telling her how great it would feel to get her papers. To solidify her citizenship by getting her papers is the ultimate dream. She says this is how she knows she is a real person. That was very sad for me because as for me being a citizen of the U.S. already, I do not relate to not having proper identification. I do not have to apply for a visa to stay in the U.S. This whole situation of immigration and the process of gaining citizenship is a frustrating and harshly exhaustive process. I am glad we are able to talk about this issue and that it is being talked about throughout my classes and throughout the school. Now I can only hope to make some impact in more than just ways of discussion, but actually putting plans together to help people get through this process much easier.