Monday, 12 June 2006: Mexican Americans: Immigrant / American Dream story, or Minority?

Text-objective discussion leader: Kristen Bird

“Like Mexicans” by Gary Soto

Objective 1

To identify the immigrant narrative as a fundamental story-line of American culture and to recognize its relations to “the American Dream”

Soto’s early definition of the American Dream:

“But our seventh grade vision was the same: to marry, get jobs, buy cars and maybe a house if we had money left over.” (302)

     *How does Soto’s view of the American Dream change as he gets older?  Why does it change?

     *Why do you think Soto’s family and friends try to keep him in the cycle of poverty?  How is this opposed to the American dream?

“When I opened the door, I was startled by a kitten clinging to the screen door, its mouth screaming ‘cat food, dog biscuits, sushi…’  I opened the door and the kitten, still holding on, whined in the language of hungry animals…I looked back, waving, then gawking at a window screen where there were now three kittens clawing and screaming to get in.  Like Mexicans, I thought.” (304)

    *Do you think the cats are a metaphor of the Mexican culture or do they simply represent a common denominator between Mexican and Japanese cultures?

Conclusion: Soto’s definition of the American Dream is defined at a young age, but as he grows up, he is more willing to relinquish this dream.  He embraces some change (by marrying a Japanese woman) while still remaining in the financial situation to which he feels destined (poverty).

“Hunger of Memory” by Richard Rodriguez

Objective 2

Assimilation as a “melting pot” in which ethnic differences disappear through intermarriage, common language, and shared opportunity or ideology as a result of shared background in “a nation of immigrants.”

“As I grew fluent in English, I no longer could speak Spanish with confidence…A powerful guilt blocked my spoken words…I would speak, or try to speak, Spanish, and I would manage to utter halting, hiccupping sounds that betrayed my unease.” (229)

     *Why did Rodriguez feel guilty?  Was the guilt justified?

“My city seems silent until some ghetto black teenagers board the bus I am on…I listen to the sounds of their voices…They are the sounds of the outsider.  They annoy me for being loud - so self-sufficient and unconcerned by my presence.  Yet for the same reason they seem to me glamorous…I feel envious, envious of their brazen intimacy.”

     *Why does he feel envious of the teenagers’ “brazen intimacy?”

Conclusion: Learning the English language is essential to assimilation in Rodriguez’s narrative.  One reason for this is because he believes that shared language is a powerful key to shared intimacy.

“El Patron” by Nash Candelaria

Objective 3

New World Immigrants, including Mexican Americans…may have an identity somewhere between the immigrant and minority patterns…New World immigrants may remain loyal to home countries…

“‘Papa, how old were you when you left Mexico for the U.S.?’ She didn’t expect an answer, so didn’t give him time to reply. ‘Sixteen, wasn’t it?  And what did your father say?’…She knew she had him, and he knew he didn’t need her smirk to remind him of it…’He disowned you, didn’t he?  Grandpa disowned you.  Call you a traitor to your own country.  A deserter when things got tough.’  ‘I did not intend to stay in Mexico and starve,’ he said. He looked around at us one by one as if he had to justify himself.” (226-227)

     *How does Senor Martinez’s reaction to Tito’s choices contradict his own actions as a teenager?  Why do you think he struggles between the two worlds?

(Objective 4) The view of women is a significant aspect of almost every immigrant narrative we have studied. 

     *What is Senor Martinez’s view of his daughter and how is it different from America’s dominant culture?

Conclusion: This passage is an example of the duality of a mindset trapped between the old world and new world. 

“Barbie-Q” by Sandra Cisneros

Objective 4

To identify signs of the “dominant culture” to which immigrants assimilate in terms of class, ethnicity, gender or family life, and religion.

“Every time the same story.  Your Barbie is roommates with my Barbie, and my Barbie’s boyfriend comes over and your Barbie steals him, okay?  Kiss kiss kiss.  Then the two Barbie’s fight.  You dumbbell!  He’s mine.  Oh no he’s not, you stinky!  Only Ken’s invisible right?  Because we don’t have money for a stupid-looking boy doll when we’d both rather ask for a new Barbie outfit next Christmas.” (252)

“So what if we didn’t get our new Bendable Legs Barbie and Midge and Ken…in nice clean boxes and had to buy them on Maxwell Street, all water-soaked and sooty?  So what if our Barbies smell like smoke when you hold them up to your nose even after you wash and wash and wash them?” (253)

      *How is Barbie an icon of America’s dominant culture?  What does it represent?

      *What might the “sooty Barbies” represent?

Conclusion: The cleanliness theme prevalent in immigrant literature emerges here.  Also, poverty seems to be a theme in Mexican immigrant and minority literature.  These characteristics clash with capitalism prevalent in America. 

Objective 1-4

Final Question: Should the Mexican literature predominantly be characterized as immigrant or minority literature?  Why?