LITR 4332: American Minority Literature

Pam Richey

My Word Against Yours

Throughout American history the white dominant culture has consistently taken from those who were here before they first set sail for the new land. The colonists stole land from the Native Americans who had lived there long before the colonists had ever heard of a new world. They used words and concepts against the natives and stole their land, their dignity and often their lives. Native Americans who once roamed through land that sustained them were now blocked along every path by settlers telling them to leave. As America grew, its dominant culture needed more land and so it pushed further west, going to war with Mexico and taking land from them. Mexicans were now in a new land and were told that borders changed. As stated by KP in the sample answers for 2005, both Native Americans and Mexican Americans once lived on the land they to which they now must immigrate. Words, in promises made and broken as well as words in treaties, redefined lives. It is no wonder that both the Native Americans and the Mexican Americans redefine words in their literature in order to use them against the dominant culture. Both Native and Mexican American literature is filled with “double language” as well as the concept of using the language against the dominant culture.

In Sherman Alexie’s Lone Ranger in Heaven…, Alexie uses the character of Thomas Builds-the-Fire to use American history against the dominant culture. During his trial, Thomas calls himself as a witness saying he wishes “[…] to bring attention to all the mitigating circumstances” (96). “The mitigating circumstances” are the atrocities committed by the dominant white culture. He uses the dominant cultures words against them becoming their conscience. Unfortunately, no one likes a conscience, and he is silenced.

In the origin story, “How America was Discovered,” the dominant culture’s story of Columbus is re-envisioned and retold. The Native Americans take a story that is held up as history and not only retell it but give it a new twist. Now Columbus was not looking for new land. He was sent by the devil to corrupt the People. The Native American’s retelling of a well-known story illustrates what has happened to them as a people. They have been led down a path of destruction. In the dominant culture’s history, the missionaries came to convert to Christianity; this version says they were sent by the devil.

The story of the Virgin of Guadalupe does not redefine history or twist it. Instead, it redefines an icon. Not only does the mother of Christ, the Queen of Heaven appear in the new world, she appears to a native. Also, Juan Diego’s vision of the Virgin gives her a distinctly Indian look. In redefining an icon that means so much to the dominant western culture, Juan Diego redefines the place of the mestizo in the society. If the Virgin appeared to him and called him son, then the Indian does have a place in society.

            “La Migra” by Pat Mora also redefines the Mexican American experience. In the first half of the poem, the dominant culture is in control. But, in the second half, survival depends on knowing the land. Just because the dominant culture is “in charge” does not mean that he knows what he “owns.” The immigrant woman though knows the land. Does that mean that she belongs there more than the dominant culture? Mora uses words to redefine the roles both the border patrol and the Mexican maid play and redefines a society.