So, like many of my fellow classmates, I found this reading really challenging. Part of this is on account of the fact that this was one of my first attempts to read real literature in Spanish longer than the few pages I read here and there in 301. With that said, from what I understood of the reading I was very impressed with Marti’s writing style. His use of descriptive language and metaphor was truly noteworthy and I hope that one day I will be able to read literature of this caliber in Spanish and actually be able to gain a deeper understanding of the prose that it offers.

In El Puente De Brooklyn, Marti eloquently juxtaposes elements of nature with the man made world. In describing the Brooklyn Bridge, a bridge that is constructed of steel and iron by the hands of laborers, he continuously eludes to elements of nature, drawing the two together in an almost harmonies way. On page 426 he writes, “como anclaron en la tierra esos magicos calbes? Como surgieron de las aguas, con su manto de tenzas de acero, esas esbeltas torres?…Como se levantan en el aire, susurrando apenas cual fibra de canas ligeras esas fabricas que pesan 8,120 toneladas?” In order to express the magnitude of this unnatural man made creation he continuously brings us back to nature, creating what I found a very unique parallel.

Another element of Marti’s style that I found interesting was the sense of wonderment that he expressed throughout his writing. He was able to take every day situations that would be taken for granted by most Americans, and present them in a phenomenal way. Many people are entranced by the construction of a bridge, however through Marti’s complex articulations, we see that his feelings seem to penetrate deeper than this everyday sentiment of wonder. I think that a large part of this has to do with the fact that Marti is a recent immigrant to the United States and sees the world through a very different lens than most Americans. In many ways, the construction of such a phenomenal monument as the Brooklyn Bridge is the absolute symbol of Capitalism and thus acts as a reflection of the vastly conflicting values from his old home to his new one.

All in all, I was impressed by this reading but only wish I had the skills to better understand it.

It has been a while since I’ve read stories in Spanish so some of the vocabulary and certain phrases of the short stories held me back. Although it took me quite some time to read his short stories, I found them to be a very enjoyable read! Marti’s style of writing was very artistic and beautiful. The “El Puente de Brooklyn” was immensely detailed, Marti even included the exact measurements of the bridge. In addition to details of the bridge, Marti incorporated several metaphors, similies and emotions of the people to show us how magnificent this bridge really was and how it connected everyone and everything in the city together.

I had no previous knowledge of the Brooklyn bridge and when I finished reading the I realized the importance and significance of this bridge to the people and especially to Jose Marti. You can see how connected he felt to the bridge and his fascination with the architecture. This bridge, through Marti’s writing, showed us that it meant much more than its impressive physical attributes. The bridge was something symbolic that brought all of the people in the city together in awe.

Overall, I am very pleased with his work and that my vocabulary in Spanish has greatly expanded.

When I started reading this seven-dollar booklet with Martí’s readings, I felt lost in a “muchedumbre”. There were so many foreign phrases, new vocabulary words, and colloquialisms that I was well, frankly, lost through quite a large portion of the booklet. I was convinced after the first three pages that reading this booklet would be like trying to board the 99-B line at rush hour in the morning…impossible without pushing through( however, I do appreciate though that these were short stories, unlike “Who Would Have Thought It?”).

I actually ended up quite enjoying these somewhat simple and civilian stories. I’m a big sucker for description, and Martí really hit the spot. His observations of the society encircling him at the time tell me he didn’t really have to have inspiration hit him like a bolt of lightening. Instead, he could find beauty and become inspired just (literally) going to work or looking out his front window. We encounter this for the first time two pages into the booklet, when Martí describes his neighbouring “neoyorquinos”:

“…Se apiñan hoy como entre tajos vecinos del tope a lo hondo en el corazón de una montaña, hebreos de perfil agudo y ojos ávidos, irlandeses joviales, alemanes carnosos y recios, escoceses son rosados y fornidos, hungaros bellos, negros lojosos, rusos,—de ojos que queman, noruegos de pelo rojo, japoneses elegantes, enjutos e indiferentes chinos” (Marti, “El Puente De Brooklyn”: 424).

I love that Martí’s readings really encapsulate the “immigrant” experience of being in a new place and having to work and come together as a community of different backgrounds to build something as astonishing s the Brooklyn Bridge. I really do feel this work could have been translated into any language and distributed to anywhere in the world during Marti’s life span, and it would have been interesting and inspiring for all.

I believe strongly that building a bridge, at least in Marti’s experience, was more than just a physical accomplishment…it was something that bridged all the neoyorquinos together.

Es la primera ves que leo un ensayo escrito por Jose Marti y debo decir que me gusto mucho la forma en la que escribe. Su forma de describir el puente es muy detallado y esta lleno de terminologias relacionadas a la arquitectura y construccion: “son muros casi cubicos, que de frente miden 119 pies y 132 de lado, y con su enorme peso agobian estas que ahora veremos,-cuatro cadenas que sujetan, con 36 garras cada una, los cuatro cables” (427). La Nueva York que describe es una ciudad mulitcultural lleno de”hebreos de perfil agudo y ojos avidos, irlandeses joviales, alemanes carnosos…” (424) Estos trabajan juntos como una comunidad para crear algo tan increible como el puente de brooklyn.
La union esta personificada en el puente: “ya no se abren fosos hondos en torno de almenadas fortalezas; sino se abrazan con brazos de acero, las cuidades; ya no guardan casillas de soldados las poblaciones…los puentes son la fortalezas del mundo moderno” (432). El puente sirve como punto de conexion entre ciudades y la gente en ellas.
Latino America o La America como Marti lo llama es el publico al que Marti se dirige y parece ser que el quiere que los pueblos de Latino America vean como este gran pais progresa y parece sugerir que los paises de latino america hagan lo mismo; que salgan adelante, trabajando fuertemente y unidos. Segun tengo entendido Marti admiraba a los estados unidos y sobre todo tenia una gran admiracion por la etica laboral de ellos. Tambien expresaba admiracion por esta sociedad en la cual habia muchos inmigrantes, los cuales tenian como mayor aspiracion el construir un pais moderno, basado en trabajar duro e ideas de progreso.

Like others in the class I found this reading to be challenging.  I was strenuously trying to decipher and translate everything I could while trying to comprehend his imagery of the Brooklyn Bridge and other New York land marks.  Although it was taxing, I found it to be quite rewarding when I finished the reading.  Marti’s writing style is very descriptive and imaginative.  You can tell by his writing style that he himself felt an intimate connection with the city and its remarkable architecture.  Even though the reading was difficult and his sentences were very long, it flowed beautifully.  I read some of the reading out loud and found that the reading was very pleasing to the ear.  After reading his writings I felt I have definitely expanded my Spanish vocabulary.

Marti constructs beautifully the image of the Brooklyn Bridge using metaphors and similes.  For example, the opening paragraph seems to suggest how every one in the city is interconnected through this piece of architecture.  This bridge links every citizen together as if somehow this piece of architecture is the final piece of a cultural jig-saw puzzle.  Marti also gives the bridge an organic feeling as well.  At the top of page 427 Marti describes the cables of the bridge like roots on a tree which are subject to flat anchors, much like this bridge will become an anchor for New York.

I felt that Marti seemed to suggest that the city and its people were not together without the completion of this symbolic bridge.  He goes on to describe the numerous types of different people that live in New York and how they are all connected. Despite their differences they all share an equal sense of optimism and hope in the future.

Okay, so honestly the first thing I thought when I looked at this MASSIVE booklet was: ‘mierda’. After struggling through the first 2 essays with a pocket dictionary and a lot of pen ink, I decided to forge ahead and just go with my gut feelings. I have to say: I was not very inspired.
Not to say that Jose Marti isn’t a fantastic writer. You can see his talent and uniqueness in every elongated paragraph, but it certainly wasn’t material that I would recommend as a good read. Maybe it’s the difference in our eras, or perhaps it was the political-mindedness which I have no background in whatsoever. Or it could have been his apparent obsession with America (no offense, but these subjects literally put me to sleep). However, I do not think that my less-than-ecstatic attitude was brought on by the essays being written in Spanish. I feel that I would have felt exactly the same had I read them in English.
So now that I’ve said my unkind words and I have ol’ Marti rolling in his grave, I should probably get into what I felt was unique about these writings. And seeing as I’ve already hinted at my inability to grasp the political ideas, I will centre mainly on Marti’s semantics and themes.
I would first like to nominate Jose Marti for the award: ‘Writer of the Most Drawn-out Sentences EVER!’ It was actually amazing to watch him do it, so to speak, such as in the last paragraph of Fiesta de la Estatua de la Libertad. This is 9 lines of one sentence, punctuated with a final exclamation of free indirect narration. It seemed as though Marti’s exile to the US only enhanced his obsession with their politics and lifestyle. At times I felt he was writing a satire of America’s love of power and presentation; and its convenient forgetfulness of the little people who brought these great displays of power to completion. He remarks in El Puente de Brooklyn that “…si [los cables] pesan tanto de suyo sustentan el resto de esa pesadumbre portentosa.?” (p. 426). And on page 430, when he addresses the bridge workers: “Oh trabajadores desconocidos, oh martires hermosos, entranyas de la grandeza, cimienta de la fabrica eterna, gusanos de la gloria!” Such statements display how these key players in the construction of mankind’s most celebrated works were disregarded in a ‘wonderful sorrow’. Or even how Lafayette’s work with the Statue of Liberty was overlooked because he was a foreigner: “Ah! de Francia, poca genta habla. No hablan de Lafayette ni saben de el. No se fijan en que se celebra un don magnifico del pueblo fances moderno al pueblo americano.” (page 182, Fiestas de la Estatua de la Libertad).
Marti is an amazing observer. I felt like I was actually being led by him through the scenes which he presented. He directs us: “Ved a Bartholdi….Ved a los diputados…Ved a Spuller” (page 185, Fiestas de la Estatua de la Libertad), and we see each point of interest in succession.
El Terremoto de Charleston brought some human realism into Marti’s essays. For example, how a victim of the earthquake “…anda sobre su vientre dando gritos horrendos, con los brazos y las piernas rotas…” (p. 200). And also how the survivors think of their loved ones at the cemetary: “…los muertos llevados al cementario donde esta sin hablar Calhoun que hablo tan bien, y Gaddens, y Rutledge y Pinckney.” (p. 202).
I will be interested in class to hear some background about these essays which may bring them to life for me.

Having read very little of Jose Marti’s works in the past and not knowing much about his life, I went into these ones thinking he was simply a Cuban patriot, how wrong I was! I’ve realized from these readings that he is definitely a very patriotic writer, perhaps for Cuba, but definitely for the United States. As we saw from these short stories, he has a very intimate connection with life and the social aspects of American society.

Although these were tough to get through when it came to the level of difficulty of Spanish, I actually did enjoy reading them. Marti’s amazing descriptive ability is most definitely one of the essential components in the way he writes. It truly astonished me the way he was able to describe the most simple situations, figures or people with sentances which were seemingly like poetry. He uses many beautiful Spanish words – some of with which I was familiar, most of which I was not – to express his feelings and surroundings. I’m quite certain I am not alone in saying that he does an excellent job in paiting a detailed mental picture for the reader, which makes the experience all the more enjoyable, as I found myself being as enthusiastic as he clearly is.

His writings about New York and it’s surrounding areas show that he was quite passionate about the city. As Jon mentioned in class, Marti was a story teller for many Latinos as his articles were published in Mexico and Argentina (and perhaps all over Latin America). I assume he exceeded expectations when it came to describing North America and it’s inhabitants to the foreigners to the south with excellent ability to entice and entertain his audience.

Although I found the Martí readings very challenging to get through, I thoroughly enjoyed his beautifully descriptive writing style. The vocabulary used to create the vivid imagery found throughout his works is extremely aesthetically pleasing. Although the Brooklyn Bridge is certainly an impressive work of architecture, it is really just great big hunks of steel and stone. I was rather impressed at Martí’s ability to produce such a poetic and inspirational piece of literature. A passage I particularly enjoyed involved the personification of the statue of Liberty:

“imagínase ver sentada en mitad del cielo, con la cabeza radiante entrándose por su cumbre, y con las manos blancas, grandes como águilas, abiertas en signo de paz sobre la tierra,—a la Libertad, que en esta ciudad ha dado tal hija. La Libertad es la madre del mundo nuevo,—que alborea” (423).

The passage speaks of Liberty herself, seated on high, overseeing the teeming, bustling Brooklyn Bridge with approval (423). With images such as this, Martí has succeeded in making me, as the reader, feel as though this bridge truly does represent much more than its physical form would suggest. I have never given much thought to the bridge myself. To me, it has always just been an ugly, old, dirty structure that is basically just there, in the background of New York. After reading this passage, however, I see it in a new light. The Brooklyn Bridge is a symbol of unity, forging connections between brave, hopeful immigrants who have struggled through oppression to reclaim the right to be free citizens of the new world. Yes, it is all overly idealistic and patriotic, but it is beautiful. There is no harm in that.

The fact that En Los Estados Unidos possesses the narrative force to stir up the latent sense of wonder in the reader over the seemingly mundane object of a bridge is what makes this passage so supremely non-tedious. While passing through the iconic landscape of New York, Marti is overcome with “agradecimiento” for his fellow man, the architects whose pencils delineated the skyscrapers towering over his head, and goes so far as be “religiosamente conmovida” by the vast forms and structural aesthetic of the bridge. We might agree that the Brooklyn Bridge is a fine and useful structure, but Jose Marti reminds us, in language that bowls you over with the force of its excitement, that this bridge is one of the finest expressions of humanity.

Some may think it is merely some ugly slabs of concrete put together in response to a practical need. But: a human being does not have to feel dwarfed by nature when standing before an “inmenso” and “gigantesco” structure of our own creation. With our ingenuity we can build to the scale of mountain-sized mammoths and fashion objects of cyclopean proportions. Nor do human beings have to feel that their lives are so fleeting when we can leave such a triumphant mark of our presence. Look at how the foundations of the bridge “muerden la roca en el fondo del rio”: these structures are rooted to the earth.

But there is also evidence the Marti considers these structures not accomplishments of humanity at large, but profoundly American accomplishments. The fact that this reading package opened with an ode to a bridge recalled another traveler who famously recorded his impressions of the United States, Alexis de Tocqueville, who I remember opining that bridges were America’s cathedrals. This identification with bridges may have been part of the developing American psyche that sought to differentiate itself from Europe: it saw itself as vigorous, honest, and hard-working. As a Latin American, Jose Marti is also turning away from Europe, and venerating what is essentially American. He marvels at the spectacle of Coney Island and writes swooningly about the iconic Statue of Liberty. However, how Latin Americans will negotiate their own identity in relation to this northern titan is unclear. Other than the Americas sharing the ideal of liberty, which Marti calls “la madre del mundo nuevo,” he does not indicate exactly how this United States he describes relates to the nascent literary public in Latin America who would have been reading this text.