Span322 Thus Far…

So, I apologize that I’m a few days late. It seems that going home for Thanksgiving and being in the middle of nowhere at Grandma’s house means no internet.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this course so far. I feel it is one of the courses I have taken so far at the university level that is really engaging, and where I have to actually think, not just memorize.

Although I didn’t initially enjoy the first three works we analyzed, looking back in retrospect, I find that these works were like a shot of vodka — a bad taste at first, but with lingering taste later that makes you feel good.

A theme I connected with that was strung throughout Ruiz de Burton, Rivera, and Marti, along with “The Salt of the Earth” was the concept of “American”. Of who is, and who is not. Being born and raised in the states, it is a concept that has been present my entire life. I feel as if in both private and public primary education in the US, we learn about how great our country is because it is “a melting pot of all cultures”. But once you step outside to recess, you see all the Filipino kids playing together, all the African-American kids playing together, and all of the Caucasian kids playing together. And somehow the image of “American” is one that is primarily white.

To me, it seems like this…You can be an American if you parents were immigrants. You can be an American if your grandparents were immigrants. But only if your parents or grandparents (etc) immigrated from Europe. A family could have immigrated from China 150 years ago, and this family would somehow be viewed by the American public as “less American” than a family that immigrated from Germany 25 years ago. There is so much discrimination in the States. I can feel it from living in a liberal area of Washington State, and I can’t even begin to talk about the almost bi-polarization of races in other parts of the US I have visited–southern California, North Carolina, South Dakota. It seems as if the US wants to call itself a “melting pot” or a “racial quilt” but wants to be able to pick what ingredients go into the pot or what fabric is used in the quilt.

Why is that?

Overview

This has been an interesting class for me so far, having never read Chicano literature. Progressing through the texts we have come across similar themes, but what is most interesting is how the representation of each theme contributes to the greater message about Chicano identity in each text. For example, we talked last class about the differences between …y no se lo tragó la tierra and The Salt of the Earth, and how the former found the root of Chicano exploitation in racism and the latter found it in class. Who Would Have Thought It?, …y no se lo tragó la tierra, and the pieces by Jose Marti posed questions without solutions: is the true home of mixed-raced people in Mexico or the U.S., how can the incessant toiling of campesinos be ended, or can Latin Americans be content in the “soulless” culture of the U.S.? The film, on the other hand, established that while racial tensions exist, class is at the root of exploitation, and that liberation lies in unionization. In the second half of the course we can be sure that different questions about Chicano history/identity/destiny will surface. I am particularly looking forward to the subject of Chicana subjectivity that will come out in Woman Hollering Creek.

Thus far…

   Firstly, I know I’m publishing this a bit late, but I was ever so busy giving thanks and eating turkey this weekend and simply couldn’t tear myself away to blog. Also, I figured everyone else was fairly similarly engaged, and probably wouldn’t be lining up to comment. 

   Excuses aside, we have done some thought provoking reading, discussing and viewing which deserves to be commented upon. My personal favorite thus far is the film The Salt of the Earth, which I found enjoyable as a story and interesting snippet of 1950’s American cinema. I haven’t exposed myself to very much film of that era, and I must say it was better than I expected. Jon mentioned in class that the producers came under fire from the Communist witch-hunting that occurred during the McCarthy Era (Second Red Scare). At first, I didn’t notice the distinctly (for the time) Communist flavour of the film, but upon reflection it seems that it would have been fairly radical. 
   Like most of what we’ve studied so far, The Salt of the Earth is armed with a strong social message championing equality. To me, this begs the question of the ubiquity of the egalitarian theme in all Chicano texts and media, or simply that which we’ve studied. I think it is an issue which, especially historically, pertains to the lives of Chicano people in North America. The three texts we’ve studied treat the message fairly differently, but still manage to communicate it effectively. 

Thoughts on the class so far…

Looking back at our curriculum thus far, I can’t believe that we’ve only read from THREE authors! I feel like there has been much more information passed around than having to do with just a handful of literary works!

I have to agree with a few of the posts I’ve just read and say that I really enjoy the course. Aside from the content, I find the classroom atmosphere relaxed and friendly….exactly what I’m looking for when I am asked to give my thoughts in Spanish! I have also enjoyed reading about Chicanos and their experiences, be them recent or from a century ago. The authors that we have read allow us to relate to their stories. I am not an immigrant (although I don’t REALLY know what being a ‘Canadian’ means…it’s kind of the old ‘mixing pot’-mosaic analogy for me), but after reading these stories I understood a few of the tribulations and triumphs that belong to these chicanos.

It was also a breath of fresh air to watch ‘The Salt of the Earth’. I’m sure that we all inwardly groaned when we saw the black and white and heard the crappy sound quality of the DVD, but the movie turned out to be better than expected. I found that it connected very well with the racial and gender issues also found in Who Would Have Thought It?; however, this heroin decided to do something drastic and dramatic about her situation. Perhaps this shows how the times have changed even between the book’s publication and the movie’s release.

I’ve already read the book (Cisneros) for our Wikipedia project and I hope that everyone will enjoy it as much as I did. I thought that it was better than any one of our first three readings!

So far…

So far i have enjoyed all the books we have discussed in class! At the beginning of each book, however, i was a bit skeptical but by the end they all were worth my while to read. Who Would of Thought It? started off a bit slow but when it picked up each short chapter was like an episode from a television drama! Also, beyond the first few chapters I saw that this comedy of romance was about a family on the surface and that its important issues were portrayed through the irony used by the author.
Jose Marti’s works were more challenging to read because of its extensive vocabulary but his writing overall was artistic and insanely descriptive! Before reading Marti’s work I knew nothing of the Brooklyn Bridge but now I can how much it meant to some people, and especially to Marti.
Y No Se Lo Trago La Tierra was perhaps the most confusing book out of the bunch but I realized that the author made us feel the way the young boy did during his ‘lost year’. At first I had a tough time understanding the fragmented stories and trying to figure out who was speaking, but in the end i felt that it was more important to focus on what was being said, rather than focussing on exactly who said it.
Finally, the movie we watched in class “The Salt of the Earth” was very enjoyable. I liked the fact that the message of the movie was completely straight forward because it was a nice break from the books that we have been reading. Also i had a few good laughs and smiles from some overly-cheesy moments 🙂

Reflexiones sobre “Y no se lo trago la tierra…”

Despues de haber leido “Y no se lo trago la tierra…,” me pregunto como la experiencia para el inmigrante labrador Mexicano ha cambiado en los ultimos cincuenta anos. Esta este libro, escrito en los anos cincuenta, aun relevante? Para exploraciones historicos, diria yo que por supuesto, si. Pero significa algo para los chicanos de hoy?
Yo ne se una repuesta concreta por este pregunta. Yo se que todavia sigue el uso del poder manual de la clase de inmigrantes ilegales por fabricas y fincas agriculturales porque es posible pagarles mucho menos de la cantidad preescribida por el gobierno. Y yo se que sigue el peligro para mucho de ellos porque no no reciben cuida medical ni por sus empleadores ni el gobierno, y estoy casi seguro que no pueden producirlo con sus ganancias. Tambien, mucho de sus puestos de trabajo, como los en las carnicerias (este aprendi en “Fast Food Nation”) llevan mucho risgo corporal.
Pero al mismo tiempo, el racismo explicito en norte america ha disminuido en los ultimos anos por varios grados, al meos en unos lugares y ciudades. En San Francisco, CA, por ejemplo, hay una programa llamada “Haven City” lo cual manda que las politicas oficiales de la ciudad manda que ningun inmigrante ilegal puede ser deferido al gobierno federal, lo cual no tiene ningun tolerancia para ellos. En la programa de “Haven City”, los inmigrantes tienen aceso al cuidanza medical y a la educacion. Tambien estan libres a llamar a la policia sin tener miedo de que la policia vayan a arrestar a ellos.
Parece a mi que la situacion en los Estados Unidos para los inmigrantes ha mejorado, pero todavia experimentan el racismo y tratamiento como ciudadanos de segunda clase por mucha gente y por el gobierno federal. Pero, estan parecidas las experiencias de los inmigrantes de hoy a los en el libro? Para algunos, probablemente, para los que trabajan en el campo tal vez. Pero no para todos. Los que vienen a los ciudades, en particular, los como San Francisco o Los Angeles, legalmente o no, tienen una experiencia muy diferente, imagino. Y para estos inmigrantes urbanos, esta tan importante una historia oral como para los agriculturales? No se. Tienen tanta solidaridad? No se tampoco.

My recap thus far…

Overall I would say that I have enjoyed the material we’ve covered in this class. It is the first time that I’ve studied Chicano literature and so far I have found it to be quite intriguing. The books we have read as well as the film we watched, together offer four different perspectives on past and present day issues including, but certainly not limited to, race, gender, society and politics.

Our first reading entitled: Who Would Have Thought It? by Maria Ruiz de Burton, disguises itself as a book about family affairs, passion, romance etc. However, underneath the surface we find that it reveals the many different societal and political hierarchies, while at the same time, highlighting a series of gendered relationships between the government as well as particular government officials and those without power. This work turns out to be a sort of “comedy of manners” on a political stage. I really enjoyed this book…it captured my attention..loved everything accept the ending!

Secondly we read a series of short stories by José Martí, including: El Puente De Brooklyn, Coney Island, Fiestas de la Estatua de la Libertad, El Terremoto de Charleston, and Nueva York Bajo La Nieve. The works of this author who fought for the independence of Cuba acted as a bridge between the Anglo-Saxon and Latin-American worlds. (I plan to reread these stories though…because I am still somewhat lost as to their content…!)

Finally, it was: Y no se lo tragó la tierra written by Tomás Rivera, that concluded our readings. This story was about the hardships faced by los campesinos in the 1950’s. Rivera is able to weave the stories of particular campesinos into that of the main character and his struggle to overcome the oppression of religion as well as racial and classist discrimination. This book delivered such a strong message of a need for justice and redemption in this corrupt world of ours…I thought it was very well-written.

Now for the film: Salt of the Earth written by Michael Wilson. (Unfortunately I was only able to see the second half of it.) This video has to do with a lower class community of Mexican American and Anglo miners and their families, all of which who fight for better working conditions. In this film, class transcends gender and racial differences, as this mixed community is able to unify themselves to achieve their common goal.

Well that’s all for now…til next time…!

And the Earth Did Not Swallow Him

If you have not seen the movie, go and see the movie. Koerner Reserve section. And the Earth Did Not Swallow Him (1995).

As one of many class members who struggled a bit with the fact that this already obscure and abstract text was written in another language, I benefited greatly from seeing the movie. It really helped to tie things up for me and assured me I was on the right track… that I understood the novel properly. The movie remains fairly faithful to the novel, as much as is possible anyway, due to the abstract and disjointed nature of the text. The vignettes are more chronological in order and the story is slightly more focused on the perspective of Marcos, the young boy, than the Mexican American workers on the whole. The feeling you get from watching the movie, however, and the general expressive purpose are both very true to those intended by Rivera in the novel. The plight of the oppressed Chicano is very well presented and the injustice and hypocrisy of the entire situation are brought to the forefront.

One of the moments that struck me the most, in both the book and movie, was when the young boy points out in frustration that the Mexican Americans are always saying “when we arrive… when we arrive… ” (104) and yet they never really arrive. They are a displaced peoples. They have no true home, no true identity, no place to which they ever feel they properly belong. Their lives are a constant struggle, a constant frustration as they live on the oppressive terms of others.

I feel as though the young boy, called Marcos in the movie, is so very insightful for a child. And I think it definitely has to do with the hardships he has endured at such a young age. The discrimination he has faced and the injustice he has encountered have made him old before his time. The child has seen so much and suffered so intensely that terrifying entities such as God and the devil don’t incite the same kind of daunting, immobilizing fear in him as they do in the average child. He has the nerve to call the devil and to declare that there is no God to his devout Catholic mother. The child is truly remarkable and his harrowing life experiences have shaped him to be the introspective, inquisitive young soul that he is by the end of the novel.

Re-Cap

So far, I have been very impressed with this class. Issues surrounding Chicanos and Latinos in the United States is something that is dear to my heart as I grew up in California and have lived and worked amongst many recent migrants from south of the border, and my Mom is an ESL teacher and advocate for immagrant rights. I have been impressed with the readings and also with Jon’s refreshing non-pretentious teaching style and the insights of many students in the class.
I have found the readings interesting yet challenging. The first book provided interesting historical commentary about issues that have existed for a very long time and still continue to exist to this day. The readings in Spanish have been challenging for me as they are my first real attempts to read real literature in Spanish. Reading them has helped me expand my vocabulary and general Spanish skills as a whole, though I do not understand them as deeply as I would in English. Then again, there is always room for improvement.
I have already begun Women Hollering Creed and am thourghouly impressed with Cisnero’s poetic writing style. She has a way of becoming the diverse characters she displays in her prose and writes artistically and beautifully. So far, this is my favorite!

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Rivera’s style of writing this novel was, and I have to concede with many of my classmates, a rather intimate and unprecedented approach unlike that of anything I’ve read in the past. How does it affect the reader in ways similar and different than that of the other novel Who would have thought it? I’d begin with the context of both plots—in one, we have the character of Lola, an exceptionally intelligent young girl of Mexican descent who really has no idea of what Mexican culture means nor has any particular ties with Mexicans. She suffers somewhat, yet the book is largely one focused on class, and we can infer that she is not the only who faces discrimination, there also exists Mrs. Norvall bound to the ropes of her gender role. In And the Earth Did Not Swallow him, we experience exclusively the struggles, meanderings and injustices of Mexican-Americans. In terms of spirituality And the Earth Did Not Swallow him has heavier religious themes, yet no particular sect is mentioned unlike in Who Would Have Thought It? where predominately we enjoy the likes of WASPS and little else.

And the earth did not swallow him is rich with emotion not difficult to detect, I would say there is little ambivalence in the inherent pains this protagonist (or the multitude of them) suffers from. He does not get the education he deserves despite being just as intelligent as anyone else. He does not enjoy the occasional or even sole anglo-saxon companion to help him or at least wish him out of his turmoil, allowing for quite a depressing read if you were to read the novel as a character study or as a mere tale. However, it’s not a character study, and I believe that it’s important that one reads the book in not an objective way but, how shall I phrase it, a manner that’s detached from your conventional method of analysis. What I mean by that is there is no omniscience to refer to, there is somewhat of a definitive protagonist, but his thoughts are few and far between with respect to lineage and development. That being said, we have to use Rivera’s written emotion and let it meddle with your own to comprehend the messages this book is conveying, and even those are somewhat cryptic. Rivera does not seek to evoke just our sympathy, his story is an edification to the hardships experienced by classes we as readers may have been unaware even existed.

Note that Rivera ends the novel with intended ambiguity rather than a generic conclusion or an attempt to encompass the sruggles of Mexican-Americans. It would be easy to say that it ends with a feeling of hope, which on an elementary level it does, but I would say that it ends with a spiritual awakening, of an acceptance that life will never be perfect, at least in his lifetime. His cries for help may not be answered, but he can soothe them with his own growth.