Kristina Nungaray 

A Different Dream: Tradition and The Dream in Mexican-American and Native American Minorities

            One of the earliest course objectives discussed in class was that of ‘The Dream’ (Course Objective Three). The American Dream narrative that is typically possessed by members of the dominant culture includes future-oriented priorities, voluntary participation, and places a priority on the individual and individual nuclear families. Minority cultures adopt a variation of this dream that reflects involuntary participation, connections to their culture and past, as well as an emphasis on extended families and to some extent the minority community as a whole. As represented by the texts selected in class, the Native American Dream and Mexican-American Dream are more ambiguous than the African American Dream. The dream narratives of these two cultures place a greater emphasis on the survival of the values and tradition of the culture than assimilating into the dominant culture.

            The Native American Dream is typically associated with loss and survival. Their history differs from other minority categories such as African Americans who were forcibly brought to the Americas as slaves. Rather, they were the Native inhabitants of America but were eliminated by the dominant culture that replaced them. Therefore, the Native American dream tries to eliminate the stereotype of the “vanishing Indian”. To an extent the way to eliminate the vanishing Indian is to make sure that the Native American values and traditions are upheld and not displaced by those of the dominant culture. In Black Elk Speaks by Neihardt, there are textual references of the culture that they try so hard to maintain such as the Ghost Dance. Black Elk Speaks also illustrates the importance of the traditional Native American culture through Black Elk’s vision in Chapter Four, in which the Grandfathers tell him about the future of his people and present him with traditional Sioux objects. This vision remains an integral part of his life and what is important to him is saving his people and preserving the culture. However, this could not be prevented as the Sioux are continually dislocated as the White Americans settle, expand, and mine gold, and causes tension for Black Elk as he cannot find a way to fulfill his vision. For example, it is difficult to be a holy man in a culture that is under scrutiny from the dominant culture and seen as savages. Eventually, there are examples of forced assimilation in Black Elk Speaks in which he works in a store in order to feed his mother. This final example serves as a representation of the Native American culture that is displaced from its traditional values. The Native American Dream is about survival and loss, Black Elk Speaks candidly illustrates the sense of loss, and not just in a physical sense but in the sense of preserving the culture all together.

            Written to reflect a much later time period, Louise Erdrich’s novel Love Medicine also tells a story of loss and survival through tradition. Focusing on two families, Erdrich creates a blend of characters that struggle with the construction of their identity in which they navigate a path between adhering to traditional way and values and finding a place within the more modern culture. In Christine Ford’s 2010 Final Exam, “Native American and Mexican American Narratives,” she used Albertine as an example of this struggle saying that “even those who leave [the reservation] come back.” Albertine, can be seen in juxtaposition to the older members of her family. She does not live on the reservation and feels distant from her traditional heritage. King is another example of this struggle. He marries a white wife, buys fancy cars, but still tries to fit into the traditional culture as he brags to the men in his family about how well he can hunt and fish. He and Albertine are examples of the loss that is prevalent in the Native American Dream. They have only loose ties to the traditional culture that their ancestors derived from, and that even their grandparents and parents have known, and it leaves them in an in-between state of longing for their traditional past, and the assimilated future.

            The poem written by Peter Blue Cloud entitled “Crazy Horse Monument” also paints a picture of the Native American Dream as one of survival and loss. In the poem he asks, “And what would he think of the cold steel chisel, and of dynamite blasting a mountain’s face?” He discusses the futility of such an effort, and makes the bold statement, “To capture in stone the essence of a man’s spirit…fashion instead the point of a hunting arrow sharp and leave to the elements the wearing-down of time.” In this poem, Peter Blue Cloud argues to not displace the Native American population through the manipulation of nature creating false monuments. Rather, he argues, that to truly monumentalize such a population, live and embrace the tradition. Fashion the point of a hunting arrow. Peter Blue Cloud’s poem emphasizes the notion of the Native American Dream which is not only about loss, but through survival, and preserving traditional values and culture is a way for the Native American culture to survive.

            The Mexican-American Dream is slightly different from Native-American Dream. The Mexican American dream is typically ambivalent in which Mexican-Americans have contradictory attitudes. For example, while they are interested in providing their families and future generations with a better life, they are also interested in preserving their values, traditions and culture. The emphasis on the preservation of culture is in a sense similar to the Native American dream. In Rudolfo Anaya’s novel Bless Me Ultima, the reader is presented with Antonio Marez. Antonio represents the struggle between constructing an identity that representative of the traditional culture or the dominant culture. His mother places pressure on him to be a holy man, while his father places equal pressures to be like his side of the family, and in the meanwhile Antonio receives education from the dominant culture. In Bless Me Ultima, there is a moment in which Ultima tells Antonio that each person is responsible for choosing his own moral values to navigate the world. While this discussion was about morality, Ultima’s speeches were often full of double language in which they discussed something very specific but related to a much bigger picture. In telling Antonio that every person must choose their own moral code, she could have just as well been telling him that ultimately his future path was a choice that he must make. The golden carp that is discussed in the novel depicts Antonio’s struggle for choosing the right identity. At this point Ultima already reveals that he will be a man of learning. When Antonio sees the carp he is taken by it but troubled by it at the same time. While it intrigues him, the notion of the golden carp challenges his devout Catholic beliefs. It illustrates his struggle between his traditional values and the identity that he must claim for himself. In Bless Me Ultima, Antonio’s brothers also illustrate this struggle. Once they come back from the war, they are permanently altered and cannot seem to stay home or fit into their traditional culture. This breaks their father’s heart. The Mexican-American dream reflects the preservation of culture through tradition as well as the betterment for the lives of future generations. Texts such as Bless Me Ultima illustrate the tensions that a dream that places an emphasis on building a better future while adhering to the culture’s values and expectations has on the construction of the Mexican American identity.

            In Sandra Cisneros’ novel Woman Hollering Creek, the reader is provided with several stories that provide elements of the Mexican-American ambivalent dream. For example, in the story, “Little Miracles, Kept Promises,” the reader is presented with several voices. Rosario DeLeon’s prayer to la virgin de Guadalupe reflects an individual that is struggling with the Mexican American Dream. She wishes to become a painter, and is rejected by her family for her dreams, in which they reduce her passion to paint to making little picture. However, she relies on her family’s traditional values and relies on their faith in Catholicism to ultimately become a painter. During her prayer, she thanks la virgen for allowing her to not be pregnant because she was not interested in being a mother, specifically, she did not want to be like her mother. In the story “Bien Pretty” the character of Lupita represents one in transition between tradition and an improved life amongst the dominant culture. She falls in love with Flavio, the exterminator. A source of tension between the two is his working-man status and her separation from the traditional culture. In some ways he rejects her saying that she is really Mexican. She, on the other hand, longs for that connection to her traditional culture. She talks about the impact of making love in Spanish, and how it was like nothing else. When he leaves her she finds solace relying on religious candles that are often present in traditional Mexican culture. Eventually, Cisneros leaves us with a character who finds her peace through a new dream. Lupita finds peace in living for today, without worrying about the future or the past. She incorporates the traditional values into her present and lives each day one day at a time.

            The Native-American and Mexican-American Dream narratives can serve as a source of empowerment for each culture. Mostly they differ from the dominant culture’s American Dream in that they are interested in preserving past traditions and ultimately preserving their culture. The Native American dream is one of loss and survival, and it is through the survival of traditional practices that the Indian can survive. The Mexican-American Dream narrative is different. While it places emphasis on maintaining traditional values and culture, it is also focused on providing a better life for the extended family and future generations. The emphasis of tradition on these two minority populations is empowering because it allows for the preservation of cultures that through total assimilation would be otherwise forgotten.