LITR 5731: Seminar in American Minority Literature

Sample Student Final Exam Submission, spring 2006

Devon Kitch

Minority Literature:  Culture and Literature Inextricably Intertwined

10:15 pm-11:00, 7:00am-8:00am

(I am answering question number four with an emphasis on Mexican American literature)

I unfortunately tend to rely too much on feeling rather than taking the analytical route in my approach to literature.  Perhaps this could be stereotypically attributed to my gender, the emotional female, driven by feeling and senses rather than objectivity, but I do not choose to see it as such.  Minority literature can not be approached without regard for its cultural context since the texts inextricably intertwine culture with content. 

It is impossible to understand the literary value of these texts without acknowledging the cultural climate under which they were formed.  However, even though it is difficult to separate the two, I suppose minority literature could be viewed as strictly literature if the professor limited comments relating to personal opinion and feelings regarding cultural interactions.  For me, this would prove extremely boring, because it would be very difficult to strictly critique the literary accomplishments of a book like Push, if there was no room to express the range of emotions the book provokes.  Song of Solomon gives us an endless supply of “literary” topics to discuss, but we still enjoy relating to the characters and discussing their feelings and motivations.  In either case, the two books complemented each other despite the fact that one has higher literary quality over the other.

            Does the age of a novel yield more respect in terms of its categorization as literature vs. culture?  We tend to respect the works that have prevailed through the years while newer books are often dismissed as trends or fads.  With the Mexican American literature we read, Ultima, had a timeless appeal that Cisneros Woman Hollering Creek (WHC) did not.  Where Ultima has earned its place in history, WHC has yet to discover its fate. 

On the cultural level, both books present culture on many different terms and through the eyes of many different characters.  Since Ultima is a novel, it is easier to attach ourselves to the protagonist, watching Antonio and Ultima’s relationship grow.  We see the sociological and psychological effects of trying to live in between two cultures with different ideals, customs, and languages. WHC gives us many likeable characters, as well as many who are not, but all of whom express different levels of assimilation and resistance.  Cisneros’ character in “Never Marry a Mexican” simultaneously professes love and hate for her culture by hating the wife of her lover, but holding to the theme of never marrying a Mexican.  This story mirrors the ambivalence that many Mexican Americans may feel when trying to enter the mainstream culture. 

There is no doubt that Cisneros’ talent shines through as she changes voice between stories, or even paragraphs.  I especially liked the sentence (that I conveniently cannot find right now) where her tone turned more classic, reminding me of the sentence in Jane Eyre, “That a greater fool than Jane Eyre had never breathed the breath of life.”  Cisneros’ shows us that although she largely writes from her own culture, she can adapt to the mainstream and capture that voice as well.  She is assimilation and resistance all in one.

So the question remains, is minority literature about culture or literature?  One article I encountered while doing my research project stated that culture and language cannot be removed from the author’s voice, because that is what makes the author himself.  The same idea works in answer to the above question.  It would be impossible to analyze the literary elements of our texts without regard for the cultural elements because they are not truly separate entities.  Even our course objectives focused more on the cultural aspects and problems rather than the methods the authors used to convey the problems.  While we touched on the literary elements, cultural differences, similarities, and experiences were at the heart of our class.   

If the purpose of multicultural literature is to foster acceptance and understanding, then our course studies accomplished its objective.  It is difficult for WASP’s to imagine the lives of others, but as Cisneros’ proves, some of her characters can not relate to the Anglo culture.  Multicultural literature allows us to glimpse the lives of others, the alternative dream narratives, the alternative goals and achievements, to our own. 

Ethnicity, Gender and Sexuality: More minorities?

8:45am-9:20, 9:45-10:05

            When discussing minority literature, we mostly talk about the different ethnic groups in separate terms (African American, Mexican American, and Native American) and their interactions with the dominant culture.  However, we tend to leave out the types of relationships that exist between those three ethnicities.  How do African Americans view Mexican Americans or Native Americans?  We all exist within the community together, Anglos included, and our social interactions are important, both together and separate.  In fact, within each ethnic group, lie other minority groups that may experience discrimination and prejudice.  As an Anglo female, I have not felt that I am a minority, though I have been treated differently by men in typically male dominated places such as car dealerships and auto repair shops.  But perhaps men are treated the same way when entering a jewelry or perfume store.  Despite my personal experiences, I believe that women in many cultures do experience negativity; and, if women can experience discrimination, then we should also discuss equality issues in relation to homosexuals.

            I will skip the ethnicity debate because it has already been thoroughly discussed in class and is not necessarily important for the point I want to make, except in dealings with the cultural examples I will give.  In Ultima, we are introduced to many female characters, Antonio’s mother, sisters, Ultima, classmates, and the women at Rosie’s.  Aside from Ultima, none of these women are remarkable or possess strength or power within their community or family relationships.  Ultima is given strong attributes, but her status as a female is overlooked in lieu of her status as curandera.  In fact, it seems that she is only strong because she is a curandera, an almost supernatural being excluded from the rules of men.  Antonio’s mother is seen as only that, a mother and wife.  She occupies the kitchen and small den where she prays, but we never see her as a real person.  Some of the articles I read when researching my project, commented that the women in the Mexican American culture (especially Ultima’s) are kept down by the men as their last means of control in a changing world.  Perhaps it is just one of the cultural differences that we tend to view as negative, whereas the women actually enjoy being only “mother” and “wife” within the household, doing chores, cooking meals, and keeping quiet.  Just because it isn’t normal to us, doesn’t mean it doesn’t provide happiness and fulfillment to others.  In opposition to Antonio’s mother, the women at Rosie’s are enjoyed by the men, but cursed by the women.  They too are isolated to the home, but they have power over their sexuality, something Antonio’s mother does not possess.  Unfortunately, the prostitutes are fairly equal in status to the rest of the women in the book, for they are all denied power of some sort by all the males in the novel. 

            If women can feel discrimination, then what happens to homosexuals?  If women are theoretically acceptable in society and still experience discrimination, then how would an openly gay man or woman be treated by society?  I found it interesting to watch the reactions of the class in regards to TBLBITW.  Where I had more difficulty with other issues throughout the course of the semester, several classmates had more difficulty with homosexual content.  Personally, I was way more shocked and sickened by the life of Precious in Push, than the experiences of John Reid.  The class taught me that being open-minded encompasses a wider range than just being color blind.  We must also consider the hardships that women, or people with aberrant sexuality, may experience.  In fact, am I even allowed to say ‘aberrant’ anymore?  Society often treats homosexuals with open disgust, forgetting their religious “love thy neighbor” doctrines, at least until it affects them personally.

            People have ethnic, gender, sexual differences, and many others that I will not discuss right now.  How do we discuss them all, in length, in a small period of time?  Inevitably some will be left out and some will be brief; equality will never be fully reached in every aspect and every arena.  Someone will always be a minority, whether it be women, homosexuals, or anyone else.  The important thing is that we continue to give voice to the voiceless and allow the traditional American dream to adapt to the concepts of others in order to encompass a diverse group.