LITR 5731: Seminar in American Minority Literature

Sample Student Final Exam Submission, spring 2006

Kimberly Dru Pritchard

May 2, 2006

Cultural Wars and the Plight of the Mexican American

            The ever-growing Mexican American population in the United States produces literally millions of dollars in capital for the country.  Leaving their homes, their culture, and their lives behind, many cross the border in hopes of a better life in a country where they believe that the American Dream can fully be realized.  With this in mind, one of the problems that the immigrant faces is a personal culture war whereby he must discard the old and assimilate into the new if indeed he is to survive the change.

            Consequently, this issue arises time and again in the literature produced by Mexican American authors.  For example, in Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima and Sandra Cisneros’ Woman Hollering Creek, the issue of assimilation and of shedding the old world for the new is a dominant theme. One characteristic of the immigrant is that he leaves his extended family and adopts the nuclear family life of the dominant culture.  The young woman in the story “Woman Hollering Creek” believes that when she marries and moves to Seguin, Texas, “she would get to wear outfits like the women on the tele…and have a lovely house” because “he can afford it.  And later on add maybe a room or two for the children” (45).  All of these things sound wonderfully fantastic to the new bride, and they symbolize the achievement of the American Dream.  But, reality literally hits her square in the face, and soon after their marriage, “he slapped her once, and then again, and again, until the lip split and bled an orchid of blood” (47).  Consequently, the young bride packs her belongings, heads toward the bus station in San Antonio, and buys a ticket home – to Mexico.  What she believed to be the American Dream was actually a hell-hole with a husband to match.  Afraid of her husband yet afraid to return home she waits full of “half fear, half doubt,” caught between two worlds with few options (55). 

            Another example of being caught between two worlds can be found in Bless Me, Ultima when Tony is pulled in different directions by both his mother and father.  His mother wants him to become a priest, and his father hopes his son will become a farmer.  The messages he receives from his parents leave Tony in a state of confusion as he is trapped between not only his parents’ wishes but the two cultures as well.  Tony explains that he “wanted to be a good son, but the dreams of [his] mother were opposite the wishes of [his] father.  She wanted a priest to watch over the farmers of the valley; he wanted a son to travel with him to the vineyards of California” (77). Although Tony accepts the traditional world in which he lives by learning and developing his skills through Ultima, he still must choose at some point whether to live the American Dream like his father or hold onto his cultural roots by accepting the priesthood as his work.

            Another example of minority ambivalence appears in the structure of the text itself.  By using a blend of English and Spanish in the text, these authors actually confront the issue of ambivalence head-on.  Because I speak Spanish as well as English, I have no problem sifting through the texts and switching from one language to the other.  However, the purpose of this structure is obviously to draw attention to the fact that there are definitely two cultures at war.  One example of this can be found when Cleofilas in Cisneros’ story questions the name and the background of the “arroyo one crossed on the way to San Antonio” (46).  In Spanish an arroyo is a dry gulch or a creek. Cleofilas learns that the original name of the arroyo was “La Gritona,” and this word translated into English means “The Shouting Woman.”  However, no one from the neighborhood seems to know the background, and honestly, “it was no concern to their lives how this trickle of water received its curious name” (46).  This mixture of Spanish and English is a clever method that the author uses to highlight the issue of ambivalence found in the character of Cleofilas.

            Another example of the blending of English and Spanish is found in Bless Me, Ultima when Tony first attends school.  All of the children in the class speak English, and when the teacher asks his name, Tony explains that he “did not speak English” (61).  The teacher then asks, “Como te llamas? – What is your name?  Sadly, Tony spends the rest of the day working at copying his name in English while the other children are occupied with other subjects.  The point is that the mix of the two languages separates Tony from the rest of the students and puts him in the position of the ambivalent minority.

            Countless other examples can be found to substantiate the point of the ambivalent minority.  Immigrants, desirous of the American Dreams and all that entails, enter the United States and in two or three generations, not only have a large portion of their cultural traditions disappeared, but their native language as well has become virtually nonexistent.  However, at some point, the immigrant may become the ambivalent minority if true assimilation is not achieved and the war between the two worlds is never resolved.              

Kimberly Dru Pritchard

May 1, 2006

 Unleashing the Native American Voice

            More often than not, most Americans’ experiences with the Native American culture has been in the form of Hollywood movies, casino visits, and

“authentic” pow-wows complete with Native American costume and headdress. However, in the world of academia, the study of Native American literature and culture leaves behind the Hollywood version and often focuses on the Native American’s place within the dominant culture.  One problem that appears time and again is the question of assimilation of the Native Americans and their status as a minority group. 

            Ironically, the Native Americans are technically immigrants and have lived on and from the land for decades before the arrival of the white man.  Yet, as the Europeans forced their way into the New World and established themselves as the dominant culture, the Native Americans lose their rightful place on American soil.  In an involuntary immigration, eventually the immigrant group assimilates and becomes inseparable from mainstream society. However, the Native American did not make a voluntary immigration, they were already on the land and thus their immigrant status has been subverted. Consequently, the Native Americans experienced tremendous loss as well as complete disruption of their once peaceful lives.

            The concept of loss and survival in the Native American world is a subject of great interest in academic circles.  Black Elk, a well-known Ogalala Sioux and cousin to the great Chief Crazy Horse, frames his life story in this fashion explaining the devastating loss of the Native American culture caused by the infiltration of the white man.  In his biography, Black Elk Speaks, he explains that as a child, he had been told that the “Wasichus were coming and that they were going to take our country and rub us all out” (7).  Furthermore,  Black Elk explains that the cultural and territorial war between the Native Americans and the now dominant white man leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of those who wish for the “good days before the trouble came” (118). 

            Stripped of their land and denied their culture, the Native Americans endured many hardships at the hand of the white man.  They certainly were not voluntary participants in this culture war.  Moreover,  in order to deal with the presence of the savage in the New World, the white men moved these people into “square gray houses, scattered here and there across [the] hungry land” (164).  All of these actions by the now dominant white society converge into one overriding message:  the Native American became voiceless and choiceless in his own land.  Ironically, in today’s world, the Native American is revered and respected as the “original American,” the survivor against all odds.  However, scholars continue to pose the time-worn question: Are they really surviving? 

            Sherman Alexie, author of The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven, offers an insider’s view in answer to the aforementioned question. In the story “The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn’t Flash Red Anymore,” one of the characters explains, “It’s hard to be optimistic on the reservation.  When a glass sits on a table here, people don’t wonder if it’s half filled or half empty.  They just hope it’s good beer” (49).  How can one argue with that point and believe that the Native American is surviving?  The Native American is NOT surviving….he merely exists in a world created not by his culture but by a group of people who decided to delegate lives that did not belong to them.  Does the white man understand or concern himself with the fact that the Indian child ate “potatoes every day of [his] life…and imagined the potatoes grew larger, filled [his] stomach and reversed the emptiness?” (151). 

            The Native American culture is wedged between two opposing worlds. Unwillingly incorporated into white society, these people lost a way of life known to them for centuries.  Normally, an assimilated group finds their place in the dominant society and becomes inseparable from the mainstream.  However, in the case of the Native Americans, assimilation is about the last thing that occurs in their history.  Black Elk saw firsthand how his “nation’s hoop was broken, and there was no center any longer for the flowering tree” (164).  Years later, not much has changed.  In his story “Imagining the Reservation,” Alexie writes, “The reservation doesn’t sing anymore but the songs still hang in the air.  Every molecule waits for the drumbeat; every element dreams lyrics” (150).  The powerful words of these two Native Americans slice through the Hollywood vision that many Americans perceive as accurately historical and bring the plight of the Native American, his history, his culture, and his torturous existence to a heightened awareness.