Samuel Mathis

5 May 2010

The Empowerment of Minorities:

Personal Reflections on American Minority Literature

          Throughout the American Minority Literature course, I, along with my fellow colleagues have looked at various works by minority writers that attempt to use composition as a means of asserting themselves in the world.  These authors used language – specifically the written language – to make their presence and their issues known to the dominant culture.  This is a part of Objective 5.C., yet it was not something actively discussed in class except for a few occasions.  Using their writing as a means of communication and empowerment, “Immigrants…are adding to the literature of the nation, and in the process, there has been an increase in the understanding of the culture” (Lewis 1).  Writing gives minority cultures a space to establish themselves and to develop a voice that the dominant culture cannot silence.

          I did not realize this at the time, but much of my research and other writings have all been leading me to this revelation.  My research journals examined the use of oral language in providing their singers with an escape from the realities of the dominant culture.  I found that singing gave minorities a place away from the troubles, yet it also reminded them of their burdens.  African American literature uses singing as a means of escape.  By singing, the slaves gained a voice that their masters could not subdue.  Native Americans used songs as a spiritual activity and to bring them together as a community.  The ghost dances described by Black Elk were mixtures of song and dance that brought his people together in times of hardship.  Even the grandfathers in Black Elk’s visions used song to communicate with him and through him, the village. 

I would also argue that the class examination of poetry was partially a look into the lyrical qualities of the poet’s writings and how they flowed to paint a picture or image in the reader’s mind.  My presentation on Peter Blue Cloud’s “Crazy Horse Monument” slightly touched on the rhythm of the piece.  While the poem does not have the rhythm of an Indian song or dance, it still carries a flowing language that connects the movement of the Indians with nature imagery.  “Green Chili” by Jimmy Baca also carries a particular flowing language that hints at a song in the background; a wordless tune that is forgotten even as it is uttered.

As the semester continued and my research and understanding grew, I began to see the pattern among some of the works.  This pattern became more pronounced as I searched for it, and I connected it specifically with Biblical language in my midterm, yet it was something more than just that.  While I saw the use of biblical language in the older African American texts, I was truly inspired by the Judeo-Christian allusions made throughout the Native American and Mexican American texts.  In Fredrick Douglass’s autobiographical account, scripture was referenced and used in many instances.  This is also true for Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon.  The class also noticed and discussed the Catholic presence and predominance in works like Love Medicine and Woman Hollering Creek.  While we did not discuss this in depth, I do believe it is a worthwhile topic for future research and analysis. 

One of the more challenging aspects of this course was the lack of lecture or professor led conversations.  I found Dr. White’s comments to be very helpful and informative when he did lead the discussion towards the end of the semester and was a little sad that he did not do it more often.  This is not to say that I did not enjoy the class discussions, but I felt that more was accomplished when Dr. White led them.  However, I did thoroughly enjoy Julie Garza’s short presentation on “Louise Erdrich & Dartmouth College.”  I am of the school of thought that believes understanding the history of the author can help one understand the subtleties of the text.  I am not saying that the text cannot be appreciated without this information, but personally, I enjoy knowing where the author is coming from.  This information helps me to better understand the author and the work.  Julie’s discussion on Erdrich’s past and her experiences in life added validity to Love Medicine and provided the historical angle of interpretation to her work. 

As a reader, this course was different from other courses and it exposed me to works that I may not have otherwise read.  I enjoyed all the texts, but I thoroughly enjoyed the Native American works.  I have never encountered Native American texts before this class, but I found myself being swept away by their natural language and imagery.  Their language affected me so much, that I can now find traces of it in my own personal short stories and writings.  I was amazed by the connection the written language had with nature and even how some of the old customs continued on into modern times.  Louise Erdrich does an amazing job of combining the Catholic religion, contemporary distrust of the church, and the natural power of the earth into a beautiful narrative of the power of love.  Even the poetry of this course continually surprised me with its mastery of language and power to invoke the images and scenes being described.

To repeat the quote used from Gordon Lewis in his final essay mentioned earlier in this essay, the literature of immigrants and minorities continually adds to the uniqueness that is American literature.  Through their writings, the voice of what it is to be an American is changing.  People can no longer discuss American literature as works only produced by the dominant culture.  The quality and imaginative genius of works produced by minority cultures in the United States today is too great to be kept quiet and ignored.  Only by acknowledging the quality of these works and incorporating them into the literary canon will American literature finally reach the greatness that can be seen in works from around the world.  I have learned in this course that American Minorities have a voice and are demanding to be heard.  As readers, scholars, and fellow human beings, who are we to deny them?

The Experienced Dream:

The Use of Dreams in Native American and Mexican American Literature

          Early in our American Minority Literature class, we discussed the “American dream” and how it differed from the African American dream expressed by authors like Fredrick Douglass or Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.    One of the characteristics of Minority literature has been the use of dreams.  These dreams are a different variety than the American Dream.  In African American literature, dreams are a variation of the American dream.  They desire to be treated as equals to the dominant culture.  Alternatively, Native American and Mexican American dreams are more literal in their existence and use.  However, the discussion of these dreams faded once we started discussing the Native American and Mexican American works.  Dreams play an important role in understanding Native American and Mexican American works, and by examining these dreams, students of Minority literature can see how important they are to these cultures.

          Dreams play a heavy role in Native American literature, as can be seen from the creation stories of the Iroquios.  In one of the creation stories, the Skywoman had a prophetic dream that the Celestial tree would be uprooted.  The people of SkyWorld understood her dream was special and did what they could to help it come to pass.  The dream here was perceived as directions for life.  It was through the dream that Skywoman came down to earth and that all good things that the Indians experience came to pass.  Dreams were treated as something more than psychological subconscious understandings of the day’s happenings; they were honored and treated as something valuable to the dreamer and those close to her.  The dream in this sense is something different than the American dream for wealth or the African American dream of equality or freedom.  This dream is a dream of prophesy that leads to life.  This dream sets a pattern of other Native American dreams, one of life.  Skywoman’s dream was one that led to the creation of all life on planet earth, and all of Skywoman’s children’s dreams follow in the pattern of how to perpetuate the life of their people.

          The best example of the life giving dreams comes from John G. Neihardt’s Black Elk Speaks.  Black Elk experiences his first true vision or dream during a sickness.  He relates, “I was lying in our tepee and my mother and father were sitting beside me. I could see out through the opening, and there were two men coming from the clouds” (18).  These men take Black Elk into the clouds to meet the six grandfathers who then proceed to tell him and show him things through song and dance.  After the dream is complete, Black Elk returns to his body, and the sickness is healed.  However, Black Elk did not say anything about his vision until much later when he realizes that his dreams are prophetic visions that his tribe must act out.

          One particular dream that Black Elk acts out is the dog vision that he acts out with the heyokas (149).  The heyoka ceremony was a happy time that made everyone laugh and see the world as a brighter place after it was complete.  However, this was in stark contrast to the vision that Black Elk had.  Black Elk relates that his dream was scary at first, but then the horror allowed him to see the beauty in life.  By acting out his dream, Black Elk functioned the same way Skywoman did after her dream.  He made the dream come to pass through his actions and “When the ceremony was over, everybody felt a great deal better, for it had been a day of fun.  They were better able now to see the greenness of the world, the wideness of the sacred day, the colors of the earth, and to set these in their minds” (153).  This shows how valuable dreams were to the wellbeing of the Native American people and how important they were in maintaining the Native American culture.

          Unfortunately, by the time Louise Erdrich wrote her novel Love Medicine, the average N American mind “got so full it exploded” (231).  Nector Kashpaw was a Native American that learned the ways of the white man, and it affected him to the point that he was no longer able to think or dream the way that other Indians did.  This does not mean that modern Native Americans did not dream, but rather that their dreams began to mimic the dominant culture, much like the dreams of African Americans.  Marie Kashpaw dreams of the past and the freedom she had when she was younger (Erdrich 262).  Unfortunately, she is unable to return to the past, and must follow Lyman Lamartine’s dream of a factory and profit.  The Native American dream as depicted by Erdrich is one of remembrance rather than prophesy. 

          Interestingly enough, Mexican American literature follows the same pattern of prophetic dreams transforming into remembrance as time progresses.  In Bless Me, Ultima, Antonio experiences the past, present, and future.  His first dream is “to be a witness at the birth of a baby” which the reader soon realizes is himself (Anaya 5).  Other dreams follow this pattern or play on the present circumstances that Antonio is living through.  Additionally, a few of his dreams seems to be prophetic in nature, though they proclaim only things that are about to happen in the near future.  In one of Antonio’s dreams, he sees the three giant figures of his brothers coming towards him calling “Toniroooooo … Toni-reel-oooooo…Oh, our sweet baby, we are coming home to you” (Anaya 61).  Toni interprets this dream to mean that his brothers are coming home and soon after he awakes, the brothers appear. 

Toni’s dreams provide him with an opportunity to interact with the adult world around him.  Unlike the Native American dreams, he does not have to do anything to help them come to pass, they happen in their own time and way.  Antonio is merely a receiver of these dreams, and through his connection to Ultima, he learns how to see these dreams as something special and not something to be feared.  As Antonio becomes more comfortable with the dreams, he finds himself better able to interpret them and to see them for what they truly are.  By learning how to interpret his dreams, Toni also learns how to interpret what people say and how to understand their intentions.  It is through these skills that he learns of the danger that Ultima is in and why he sets off to save her.  Antonio’s dreams offer him a means of learning about himself and the people around him. The give him purpose and direction in life.

Alternative to dreams are visions.  In the Mexican folklore tradition, one of the most famous visions came to a poor farmer named Juan Diego.  Juan’s visions of the Virgin do not foretell the future like Black Elk or Antonio, yet they are vital to his claim that she desired a chapel built for her people.  In this respect, the visions act more like support to Juan Diego’s holy mission than remembrances or prophesy.  Juan Diego even contemplates whether he is dreaming or not when he first sees the Virgin because he does not consider himself worthy to be spoken to by someone so powerful.  His dream or vision gave him power to fulfill his charge and it even manifested itself in a physical form of the image.  Just as Skywoman worked to fulfill her dream, Juan Diego worked to fulfill the vision set before him.

If we look closely enough, we can begin to see how dreams and visions play a vital role in Minority literature.  Dreams offer individuals direction, hope, warning, and even memories.  It is through the use of dreams that some of the most important aspects of a minority culture are passed on to future generations.  Just as Skywoman’s dream led to the creation of the earth, Juan Diego’s dream led to the building of a beautiful chapel for the Virgin of Guadalupe.  These dreams and visions provide the encouragement that these minorities needed to stand up against the dominant societies of their time and proclaim that they would not sacrifice their culture to be accepted.  The dreams of their people were proof enough that they were unique and deserved the privilege of being treated as such.  While I could discuss visions and dreams among other works, I have already surpassed my time limit for this essay and the number of references I should have used.  The dominant American dream, the African American equality dream, the prophetic Indian dream, and the Mexican situational and directional dreams all share in common the simple fact that these dreams had power to affect not only the dreamer but his or her people as well.  The dream in both the dominant and minority literature is an essential part of understanding the mindset and culture of the people it came from.  Through further study, we might be able to find a common dream that all cultures share and wish to experience with each other.