Are we supposed to talk about Cisneros' writing style?
I think that her use of Spanglish is very interesting...
My favourite part about the way she writes is her subtle way of hinting that a something is meant to be in Spanish, although it is written in English. For example, she directly translates Spanish phrases into English: "I gave light" (93), "My sky, my life, my eyes" (113)...expressions that are not the same in English. But then she also uses some funny Chicano Spanish words, for example "Wachelos" (123). Chicano Spanish has always intrigued me, both English and Spanish at the same time, but also neither.
My favourite stories in this second half of the book were Eyes of Zapata and Bien Pretty. Bien Pretty was written in such a way that pointed out the differences between the narrator, as an educated Chicana (supposedly born in the U.S.) woman and Flavio, a Mexican man living in the U.S. The narrator points out her dual identity, to bring it back to Gloria, her state of nepantla...
she says: "I wanted to be Mexican at that moment, but it was true. I was not Mexican" (152). It was also interesting when she pointed out that she had never "made love in Spanish before...not with anyone whose first language was Spanish" (153). This shows that she has lived a very hybridized Mexican-American life, not truly belonging to one culture or the other, one language or the other.
Their cultural differences are pointed out over dinner, she is talking about "Afro-Brazilian dance as a means of spiritual healing" (150) whereas he is talking about going to the gym every Thursday "with aims to build himself a body better than Mil Mascara's" (150). She is a University-educated Chicana from San Francisco...he is an exterminator from San Antonio...Cisneros is not subtle when she points out their cultural, social and class differences...while the narrator is interested in discussing culture, international cuisine and other more "intellectual" topics his choice of topics are far more superficial...what happens at work, his daily activities, his own superficial goal to have a better body than a lucha libre wrestler.
I totally loved this story.
I also totally loved Eyes of Zapata. Cisneros' ability to create this love story/affair of Emiliano Zapata and Ines was fantastic. I don't have much time to write about this one, but the one thing that I wanted to throw out there was this overall feeling that I got from Cisneros' writing about the Mexican revolution (I time when patriotism and loyalty were important things to define) to me the relationship between Ines and Zapata almost symbolizes Cisneros' relationship with Mexico and Mexican culture. A lifelong love affair, that is both strong and weak at the same time...but Ines says that despite how many other women Zapata is with he always comes back to her...to me this symbolized Cisneros' returns to Mexico throughout her life, never forgetting her love, her life of Mexico, proving her loyalty to Mexico despite her dual identity as a Mexican-American and the life she creates in the United States. Okay that's it for now...hasta manana.
domingo, 26 de octubre de 2008
sábado, 18 de octubre de 2008
las tres madres de mexico
I love this book, I knew that I would love it, I've been excited to read it for a while now.
My favourite stories so far have been "My Lucy Friend who Smells Like Corn" and "Mericans".
I especially liked the character of the awful grandmother in "Mericans".
I found this story to say a lot about chicanos born in the United States to Mexican parents, growing up speaking spanglish, without a firm grasp on Spanish i.e "the awfulgrandmother says it all in Spanish, which I understand when I'm paying attention" (19), it was also funny when the woman outside the church was surprised to learn that the children spoke English. To me this represents the unique border identity of chicanos and their ability to be both Mexican and American at the same time.
Cisneros writes about "las tres madres de mexico" (a concept that is common in writing by Chicana women and that Gloria often wrote about)...Guadalupe, the virgin mother whhas not abandoned her people, la Malinche/Malintzin, the raped mother and mother of mestizaje, and la Llorona, la madre que grita y llora para sus hijos perdidos.
My favourite was this line: "La Virgen de Guadalupe on the main altar because she's a big miracle, the crooked crucifix on a side altar because that's a little miracle" (18), this really shows how much la virgen is revered in Mexico and how Jesus is important to the religion of the country but his presence is not as widespread and is not as characteristic of mexican culture.
La virgen de guadalupe es la "reina de mexico" y era un milagro mexicano, pero jesucristo es importante para todos los cristianos, la virgen es para los mexicanos.
Those who know me know that I am fascinated by the virgen de guadalupe and the symbolism and culture surrounding her veneration. So, the fact that cisneros refers to la virgen in her writing just makes me love her a little bit more.
She also talks about la Llorona in "Woman Hollering Creek"..."Perhaps la Llorona is the one they named the creek after, she thinks, remembering all the stories she learned as a child" (51). La Llorona, the wailing woman, is a very important figure in this story and in mexican folklore.
Lastly, Cisneros creates an image of la Malinche/Malintzin in the stoy "Never Marry a Mexican" in which the narrator takes on the role of la malinche, with Drew as Cortez.
La Malinche was given the nickname "la Chingada", because as gloria says, she was the raped mother of mexico, an indigenous woman who gave birth to the first mestizo.
When I read this: "I was there first, always. I've always been there, in the mirror, under his skin, in the blood, before you were born" (76) it immediately made me think that the narrator, as la Malinche was talking about mexico, that her people had always been there, before the Spaniards and before the mestizos. That this story of a man cheating on his wife with her (la malinche/la chingada/la puta, the opposite of the pure virgen de guadalupe) to me symbolizes how mexico was taken advantage of and violated by the Spaniards. Maybe I'm way off, maybe you don't agree...maybe I've read too much gloria anzaldua and see the virgen/puta dichotomy in everything...but that's how I saw it when I read it.
Okay that's it for now, can't wait to read more of this book.
My favourite stories so far have been "My Lucy Friend who Smells Like Corn" and "Mericans".
I especially liked the character of the awful grandmother in "Mericans".
I found this story to say a lot about chicanos born in the United States to Mexican parents, growing up speaking spanglish, without a firm grasp on Spanish i.e "the awfulgrandmother says it all in Spanish, which I understand when I'm paying attention" (19), it was also funny when the woman outside the church was surprised to learn that the children spoke English. To me this represents the unique border identity of chicanos and their ability to be both Mexican and American at the same time.
Cisneros writes about "las tres madres de mexico" (a concept that is common in writing by Chicana women and that Gloria often wrote about)...Guadalupe, the virgin mother whhas not abandoned her people, la Malinche/Malintzin, the raped mother and mother of mestizaje, and la Llorona, la madre que grita y llora para sus hijos perdidos.
My favourite was this line: "La Virgen de Guadalupe on the main altar because she's a big miracle, the crooked crucifix on a side altar because that's a little miracle" (18), this really shows how much la virgen is revered in Mexico and how Jesus is important to the religion of the country but his presence is not as widespread and is not as characteristic of mexican culture.
La virgen de guadalupe es la "reina de mexico" y era un milagro mexicano, pero jesucristo es importante para todos los cristianos, la virgen es para los mexicanos.
Those who know me know that I am fascinated by the virgen de guadalupe and the symbolism and culture surrounding her veneration. So, the fact that cisneros refers to la virgen in her writing just makes me love her a little bit more.
She also talks about la Llorona in "Woman Hollering Creek"..."Perhaps la Llorona is the one they named the creek after, she thinks, remembering all the stories she learned as a child" (51). La Llorona, the wailing woman, is a very important figure in this story and in mexican folklore.
Lastly, Cisneros creates an image of la Malinche/Malintzin in the stoy "Never Marry a Mexican" in which the narrator takes on the role of la malinche, with Drew as Cortez.
La Malinche was given the nickname "la Chingada", because as gloria says, she was the raped mother of mexico, an indigenous woman who gave birth to the first mestizo.
When I read this: "I was there first, always. I've always been there, in the mirror, under his skin, in the blood, before you were born" (76) it immediately made me think that the narrator, as la Malinche was talking about mexico, that her people had always been there, before the Spaniards and before the mestizos. That this story of a man cheating on his wife with her (la malinche/la chingada/la puta, the opposite of the pure virgen de guadalupe) to me symbolizes how mexico was taken advantage of and violated by the Spaniards. Maybe I'm way off, maybe you don't agree...maybe I've read too much gloria anzaldua and see the virgen/puta dichotomy in everything...but that's how I saw it when I read it.
Okay that's it for now, can't wait to read more of this book.
domingo, 12 de octubre de 2008
chicana/o or latina/o?
Since some of the authors in our reading list are not Mexican-American but are Dominican-American or descendant from parents born in other Latin American countries, they are not all Chicanos...but are they all Latinos?
Se puede decir que cada mexicano-estadounidense es un "chicano"? Creo que no...me parece que "Chicano/a" es una identidad que uno/a elige para si mismo. Del mismo sentido, se puede decir que todos los Chicanos tambien son Latinos? Que es la diferencia entre Chicano y Latino? Me acuerda de una clase de geografia aqui en ubc donde aprendimos que "chicano/a" es una identidad que tiene mas sentido politico que "latina/o" Tambien Chicano refiere solamente a gente que han nacido en los EEUU, no a los mexicanos que nacieron en mexico y viven/han vividos en los EEUU.
So, Jose Marti is not a Chicano, right? By the definitions that are commonly accepted (and according to wikipedia) Marti would not be Chicano because he was born in Cuba to Spanish parents. However, would he be considered Latino? More likely, I think. But, since he did spend some time living in Mexico and in the U.S. could he identify himself as a Chicano if he believed in the politics? Quien sabe?
Y Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton? Was she a Chicana? Maybe because of the political and feminist nature of her writings. But, if you were to base the decision solely on geography and not of politics or philosophy she would not be, since technically she was born in Mexico and moved to the U.S. ... but she moved to a part of the U.S. that used to be Mexico...so now this is confusing, one of those instances where the border moved, not el pueblo.
But since Chicano/a identity is both very political and personal, ultimately it is up to the individual to define their own identity. Either way, all of the authors that we are reading in this class have a similar experience in that they have Latin American ancestry (or were born in a Latin American country) and have lived in the U.S., both of these aspects of their individual identities have a definite influence over their writing.
Okay, now I'm rambling. I have enjoyed these books...Rivera has been my favourite so far, and I look forward to reading the books to come.
Se puede decir que cada mexicano-estadounidense es un "chicano"? Creo que no...me parece que "Chicano/a" es una identidad que uno/a elige para si mismo. Del mismo sentido, se puede decir que todos los Chicanos tambien son Latinos? Que es la diferencia entre Chicano y Latino? Me acuerda de una clase de geografia aqui en ubc donde aprendimos que "chicano/a" es una identidad que tiene mas sentido politico que "latina/o" Tambien Chicano refiere solamente a gente que han nacido en los EEUU, no a los mexicanos que nacieron en mexico y viven/han vividos en los EEUU.
So, Jose Marti is not a Chicano, right? By the definitions that are commonly accepted (and according to wikipedia) Marti would not be Chicano because he was born in Cuba to Spanish parents. However, would he be considered Latino? More likely, I think. But, since he did spend some time living in Mexico and in the U.S. could he identify himself as a Chicano if he believed in the politics? Quien sabe?
Y Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton? Was she a Chicana? Maybe because of the political and feminist nature of her writings. But, if you were to base the decision solely on geography and not of politics or philosophy she would not be, since technically she was born in Mexico and moved to the U.S. ... but she moved to a part of the U.S. that used to be Mexico...so now this is confusing, one of those instances where the border moved, not el pueblo.
But since Chicano/a identity is both very political and personal, ultimately it is up to the individual to define their own identity. Either way, all of the authors that we are reading in this class have a similar experience in that they have Latin American ancestry (or were born in a Latin American country) and have lived in the U.S., both of these aspects of their individual identities have a definite influence over their writing.
Okay, now I'm rambling. I have enjoyed these books...Rivera has been my favourite so far, and I look forward to reading the books to come.
sábado, 4 de octubre de 2008
...cuando lleguen
Después de leer el blog que Katie ha escrito ya veo que no entendí mucho de la novela. De todos modos me gustó el libro. Creo que mi parte favorito era al final cuando todos los trabajadores estaban el la "troca" en camino hasta Iowa. Aunque casi nunca hay nombres el lector sabe que los comentarios vienen de gente diferente, de edades y posiciones sociales diferentes.
Para mi el capítulo "Cuando Lleguemos" era lo mejor de todo el libro. Me parece que en ese capítulo el lector puede ver la situación de los personajes de verdad. Y podemos entender un poquito sobre como era la vida de un trabajador migrante de esos años. Y eso me hace pensar de como ha cambiado la situación de los trabajadores migrantes en eses 50 años...si ha cambiado aún...
Me gustan todos los puntos de vista diferentes de la gente en la troca. Uno/a quien es bien molestado/a y enojado/a...que solamente dice maldiciones, otro que está pensando en una vida mejor con su coche propia, otro/a que tiene fe y esperanza que pide a "Diosito" para que habría trabajo, otro que está "cansado de llegar" (104). Con eses monólogos está claro que a nadie le gusta ese viaje, pero que es la única opción para ganarse un poco de dinero y sobrevivir.
Creo que el mejor ejemplo de como se sentían eses personajes es que son "cansado de llegar". Eso es un comentario de la vida en que la gente siempre quiere algo más, pero nunca lo alcanzan. O si lo alcanzan siempre hay un deseo para algo más y algo más. Pero también para algunos todavía existe la fe y la esperanza para seguir viviendo. La religión era, y creo que todavía es, muy importante para esa gente quien está trabajando en situaciones como así en ese libro.
En ese ejemplo de las diferentes voces de la gente en la troca algunos todavía tienen su fe, están pidiendo a Dios o están pensando en una vida mejor. Pero otros ya han perdidos su fe y esperanza y ya no se importa de intentar de mejorar su situación y solo son de mal humor.
Como discutíamos el otro día, la religión es un tema muy importante en ese libro y yo creo que con ese capítulo Rivera muestra como la religión, la fe y la esperanza afectan la perspectiva de los trabajadores migrantes del libro.
Para mi el capítulo "Cuando Lleguemos" era lo mejor de todo el libro. Me parece que en ese capítulo el lector puede ver la situación de los personajes de verdad. Y podemos entender un poquito sobre como era la vida de un trabajador migrante de esos años. Y eso me hace pensar de como ha cambiado la situación de los trabajadores migrantes en eses 50 años...si ha cambiado aún...
Me gustan todos los puntos de vista diferentes de la gente en la troca. Uno/a quien es bien molestado/a y enojado/a...que solamente dice maldiciones, otro que está pensando en una vida mejor con su coche propia, otro/a que tiene fe y esperanza que pide a "Diosito" para que habría trabajo, otro que está "cansado de llegar" (104). Con eses monólogos está claro que a nadie le gusta ese viaje, pero que es la única opción para ganarse un poco de dinero y sobrevivir.
Creo que el mejor ejemplo de como se sentían eses personajes es que son "cansado de llegar". Eso es un comentario de la vida en que la gente siempre quiere algo más, pero nunca lo alcanzan. O si lo alcanzan siempre hay un deseo para algo más y algo más. Pero también para algunos todavía existe la fe y la esperanza para seguir viviendo. La religión era, y creo que todavía es, muy importante para esa gente quien está trabajando en situaciones como así en ese libro.
En ese ejemplo de las diferentes voces de la gente en la troca algunos todavía tienen su fe, están pidiendo a Dios o están pensando en una vida mejor. Pero otros ya han perdidos su fe y esperanza y ya no se importa de intentar de mejorar su situación y solo son de mal humor.
Como discutíamos el otro día, la religión es un tema muy importante en ese libro y yo creo que con ese capítulo Rivera muestra como la religión, la fe y la esperanza afectan la perspectiva de los trabajadores migrantes del libro.
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