Sylvia Duncan

November 4, 2000

Voice and Ambivalence in Two Minority Novels

Bless Me Ultima and Baby of the Family serve as the ‘coming of age’ stories of two minority children. Rudolfo Anaya and Tina McElory Ansa skillfully reveal the richness, diversity, and conflicts that can exist within the Hispanic-American and African-American cultures primarily through the dream sequences in each novel. Dreams are the mechanism used in each work to magnify the individual experiences and conflicts Tony and Lena encounter. In addition and perhaps, more importantly, Tony and Lena deal with ambivalence and find their voices not only through the relationships with other characters, but through the resolution of their dreams.

To truly fathom how integral and dependent the dreams are in the novels, a few definitions are in order. Dreams are defined, not only as "images passing through a sleeping person’s mind" (Neufeldt 132). Dreams also include the mystical events or dream-like occurrences within each novel. Dreams are a way for each character to connect to the past and, perhaps reveal the future. The otherworldly experiences or dreams of Tony and Lena help guide them down the road of ambivalence, and eventually lead to an awakening or the attainment of ‘voice.’

Webster’s New World Dictionary defines ambivalence as "simultaneous conflicting feelings" (13). These ‘conflicts’ can be seen in external situations, and typically have serious internal implications. This condition is one of the defining factors of the Hispanic-American experience. Are Hispanics immigrants or minorities? In terms of religion, are they Catholic or Indian? Typically, Hispanic- Americans blend the two choices because neither situation totally applies to them. Perhaps a definitive choice will be made; however, there are no concrete lines. As a culture and race, Hispanic Americans cannot be pigeonholed into a specific category. This is especially true for Tony in BMU as he is torn on a myriad of levels. Is he Marez or Luna? Is he a future Catholic priest or vaquero? Tony verbalizes the quandary he is in when he asks, "What life will I choose" (Anaya 41)? Through Tony’s dreams, the depth of the ambivalent dilemma is elucidated.

From the very first dream in the novel, a stage is set for the ambivalent theme. Tony is witnessing a birth of a child who, barely out of the womb, is being fought over like the spoils of war. Would this child be "tied to the earth" as a Luna or "free upon it" as a Marez" (Anaya 6)? Only the strange woman who helped deliver the child "will know his destiny" (Anaya 6). This is Tony’s central quandary, and the woman represents the feasibility of a middle road. At this point, however, Tony can only visualize two paths. As each successive dream is revealed, it becomes increasingly clear that Tony cannot simply fit into a specific niche. There seems to be a connection between his history and future, whereas he must either decide an ‘old’ way or create a new path that will unite his people.

Moreover, there is a layering of irresolute issues in the dream sequences. Interwoven in the conflict of choosing his mother’s path of the Lunas or his father’s path of the vaqueros, is an ambivalence about religion. There is no ultimate Christian or mystical force in the novel. Wood notes that Tony’s father’s connection to the "older myths" creates an opposition with the "Catholic faith" (22). This is wonderfully rendered in Tony’s dreams. At one heart-wrenching point, his father and mother are emotionally ripping Tony to pieces. His mother calmly explains that those baptized by the "water of the moon, which was made holy by our Holy Mother the church" will be saved. Alternately, his father is screaming that Tony is not of the "holy water of the moon, but of the salt water of the sea" (Anaya 120)! Only Ultima can force the "power of the heavens and the power of the earth" to give Tony peace. Through Ultima’s guidance, he finally begins to realize that each force needs each other. Therefore, there is no correct path for him. Tony must find a way to intertwine the values and ideologies together to find some semblance of serenity.

Ambivalence, on the surface, seemingly has little to do with the African-American experience. Due to forced participation, the African-American experience is definitely not that of the immigrant. Nonetheless, due to the need to connect to the past instead of wholly assimilating into the dominant culture, ambivalence is an issue. In BOF, Lena must reconcile herself with her mystical powers to find her voice in the future. Lena’s interactions with other characters do assist her. However, as with Tony, Lena’s dreams serve as defining moments that help her work through her ambivalence.

Lena’s ‘dreams’ are not in the same realm of Tony’s sleep dreams as they are otherworldly experiences or trances. However, the mystical and supernatural qualities of her adventures are definitely dream-like in nature. From the very beginning of the novel, readers are seeped into a folkloric realm when Lena is born with a caul covering her face. Is the caul a flaw or blessing? It seems that throughout Lena’s life she is destined to walk in two worlds, the here and the hereafter. How can Lena mesh the spiritual and physical world? Lena’s ambivalence is clearly brought to light with her ability to "put magic on just about anything" and, alternately reject or ignore the spirits that "routinely wandered past her bedroom door" (Ansa 53 & 43).

Lena’s ambivalence is also connected with the past, or folklore. Ansa notes that a central problem within the African American experience is remembering the ‘things that got us through the horrors of the Middle Passage . . . and up into freedom" (Interview 1). In addition, she notes that "struggling against change . . . is suicidal" (Interview 1). The African American experience is not and should not be about ‘forgetting,’ it is more about embracing and coming to terms with the past to enter a ‘rebirth’ of sorts.

Lena’s enigmatic conversation with Rachel exemplifies the issue of the past and how it must be intertwined with the future. As mentioned before, Lena does not truly feel that she has a place in the world. Throughout the novel, she is torn between the supernatural and the palpable world. Rachel takes Lena beyond the realization that she is "real," as she reveals a connection to the past (Ansa 55). Lena does not "want to hear" or "know" the horrific things that Rachel is divulging (Ansa 163). After Rachel relates the struggles she faced that, ultimately, ended with her death to attain freedom, Lena quietly says, "colored folks don’t belong on the beach" (Ansa 167). Rachel, intensely tells Lena that she "belongs anywhere on this earth that [she] want[s] to" (Ansa 168). Rachel typifies how important it is to not forget the past, and link to it in a way that enables Lena to meet the future head on, without fear. In addition, if Lena belongs anywhere she wants to, perhaps she can exist in the realms of spiritual and physical. This revelation marks the beginning of a new road for Lena that is not so tarnished with ambivalence.

Within the minority experience, a need to have a ‘voice’ that is separate from the dominant culture is incredibly important. Callahan notes that the "fiction of voice . . . looks back to the culture of community among African peoples and African-American slaves and forward to that diverse democratic culture of individuals" in the United States (15). In many ways, this is also true for the Hispanic-American experience. Diversity within the dominant culture is difficult and sometimes, seemingly impossible. Therefore, the need for minorities to find a ‘voice’ is intrical to attaining an identity. As Lena and Tony exit the mode of ambivalence, their dreams begin to help them find this ‘voice.’

As BMU progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that only when Tony is at peace with being a mixture of Luna and Marez and Christian and pagan, will he find his voice in the world. While the last chapter of the novel is not a true ‘dream’, it does, in many ways, transcend reality. The darkness, mysticism, and evil are so pervasive that it takes on a supernatural quality. The death of Ultima serves as a catharsis that enables Tony to come to terms with his ambivalence and find his voice. In the final pages, Tony realizes all that he has gleaned under Ultima’s guidance. He sees that "sometime in the future [he will] have to build [his] own dream out of those things" that had encompassed his life thus far. In other words, Tony will become a mixture of ideals with a new ‘voice’ that encompasses all of his people.

While Tony has Ultima to help him work through his dreams, ambivalence, and attainment of voice, Lena is silenced by her first supernatural experience. When she tries to tell her family what the girl in the picture did to her she is immediately goes into "convulsions" (Ansa 41). Lena "never told her family why" she could not go into the room with the picture (Ansa 41). Throughout the entire novel, Lena is unable to verbalize her quandary. She is isolated by her experiences and fear prevents her from telling her one and only friend. Furthermore, "saying anything to the family is out of the question" (Ansa 230).

There is; however, a transition that Lena goes through. Lena moves from silence, to being real, to belonging, and the final dream sequence in the novel allows the reader to begin to see the transition down a path where she will attain ‘voice.’ Grandmama’s spirit explains the relevance of Lena’s caul and its bond to the spiritual realm. Although Lena is quite reluctant to accept her fate, she asks Grandmama what the "veil is a sign of?"(Ansa 263). Her response clearly shows that Lena will have to find her own voice to find the answer when she says, "that’s what you got to find out yourself" (Ansa 263). The novel ends with Lena sitting upright in bed contemplating the information her Grandmama has given her. Like Tony, Lena must find her own way in the world, and to truly do so, must have a ‘voice’ that speaks out beyond her dreams.

Overall, the most defining moments in BMU and BOF occur when Tony and Lena deal with ambivalence and find their voices through the dream sequences. There is a running theme in these to novels that encompasses a search for identity that exemplifies the minority experience. Once Lena and Tony are reconciled to the swirling adventures that transpire around them, there is a resolution. A rebirth of sorts occurs for each character as they realize that they must take conflicting ideologies and mesh them together to form individual voices.