LITR 5731: Seminar in American Multicultural Literature

Web Highlight, spring 2006

Thursday, 30 March: "History of the Miraculous Apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe in 1531"; Bless Me, Ultima  

Web-highlighter: Devon Kitch (final exams)

Final Exam Assignment, fall 2004

Assignment: Two essays, whose topics may vary according to the following options.

Option 1: One essay reviewing Native American literature in relation to a course objective; one essay reviewing Mexican American literature in relation to a course objective.

Option 2: One essay comparing and contrasting Native American and Mexican American literature and culture relative to “the minority concept”; one essay comparing and contrasting ethnicity and gender as minority categories.

Option 1

I really enjoyed Kristy Pawlak’s style of writing because it seemed to have emotion and true opinion, whereas some of the other midterms just analyzed the facts.  The other midterm I’m referring to was excellent, very well organized and complete in its analysis.  But, I liked Kristy’s point of view and subject matter because of its originality and relevance to present social issues.  One of her sentences was distracting in its length, but the point was still well made.

Mexican-Americans: Where do they really fit?

“Who is a minority?”

Did you choose to be an American or was the decision forced upon you or your ancestors? 

However, when it comes to one group of people, Mexican-Americans, the lines are not as clearly drawn as they are with Native Americans or African-Americans.  Sure, in parts of the country there were people who lived in Mexico and then as a result of a war or a treaty all of a sudden found themselves to be living in Texas or America, even though they never moved or consented to the change, but, then too, did proud Frenchman find themselves one day converted to Americans after the governments reached an agreement.  Borders move and lands change hands all of the time; there has to be more to the question of minority status.

The ability to travel easily between the two countries reduces the sense of choicelessness experienced by other minority groups.  This geographical proximity to Mexico also allows for a greater connection to the past and retention of cultural characteristics and even language. 

Just as African-Americans don’t have the luxury of visiting their cultural roots for a weekend, they also don’t have the burden of the Mexicans in feeling that they have rejected their true homeland or have been rejected by it.  The short stories by Cisneros are full of examples of Mexican characters belittling their American relatives and vice-versa.  There is a tension that results from the geographical proximity of Mexico and America.

            The syllabus for this class asks the question, “Does a Mexican who moves from Juarez to El Paso truly immigrate?”  Answering from a cultural aspect, in many respects, no.  The Mexican would likely have little trouble communicating, finding friends who share his background, locating a restaurant that serves familiar food, or finding a church to worship in.

The position of immigrant vs. minority is perhaps the greatest cause of uncertainty about the place of Mexican-Americans.  All you have to do is turn on the news or a political debate to hear about the thousands of Mexicans who risk their very lives to come to America.  The official process to immigrate to America from Mexico entails a long wait and strict guidelines and yet waiting lists are long.  The effect is that the original lack of choice for the Mexicans who happened to live north of the Rio Grande is overshadowed by the vast numbers of others since who have chosen, at all costs, to get across that border.

There are, of course, many aspects of the Mexican-American situation that argue for their inclusion as minorities, but it is the difficulties of the classification that make it an interesting subject to examine.  Given the proximity of Mexico to America, the impact of Mexican culture on America, and the large number of willing Mexican immigrants, perhaps the best phrase available to describe them is truly “the ambivalent minority.”

“The Wounded Family of the Native Americans”

One of the most compelling aspects of the first half of this semester was the idea of the African-American concept of the extended family and of community as family.  In that case, the need for alternative family structures arose out of necessity…………. This concept of alternative family structures has continued in recent years as a strong point of the African-American community and helps them deal with the problems that plague portions of the population such as drugs, poverty, and absentee fathers……. in looking at The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven and at Black Elk Speaks, it seems that the subjugation of the Native American had a more negative affect overall on the family structures held prior to that time than did slavery on African-Americans.  This is to say that both experienced immediate disruptions, but while the African-American community adapted and has even benefited from the experience, the Native American literature reflects more bitterness and less productive re-structuring.  

Native Americans began with more of an alternative family structure in that while the nuclear family was important, “father and mother” are mentioned repeatedly in Black Elk, the tribes were highly interdependent groups which functioned as large families.

Black Elk saw the rise of individualism as the downfall of his people.  The historical emphasis of Native Americans on community began to lead to disruptions as modern times saw the adoption of “white” ways.  When did “white” ways experience such a dramatic change?  My historic knowledge is not the best, but it seemed that the early settlers worked together as a community to provide for the whole group.  (Maybe I’ve seen too many movies!)

The Lone Ranger explains that it is far worse for an Indian on the reservation to abandon his children than for a white man to do it because “white men have been doing that forever . . . that’s assimilation for you” (34).

Perhaps because of the “loss and survival” narrative of the Native Americans, aspects of the loss of the community family structure emerge more forcefully, but they also emerge with a sense of helplessness.  Whatever happened to the tribal ties, the sense of community?” (74).  He knows that he is missing something, that something important has been lost, but he does not recognize that it is the ability to think of Thomas and all his fellow tribe members as brothers that he is missing.

Just as slavery had an irreversible and devastating effect on the African-American community, the subjugation of the Native Americans disrupted the family structures that had worked for centuries.  The difference as it is reflected in our literature is that in this area, the Native Americans are still dealing with the loss while African-Americans have used the changes forced on them years ago to forge a positive environment for today.  I think this last paragraph is too simple of an explanation.  I enjoyed her subject matter, but I don’t feel that the African American response to the family unit is necessarily a huge transformation into a positive environment.  Yes, it is wonderful that they support extended families just as they did during slavery, but the number of “absentee fathers” is a stark contrast to her portrayal of the Native American tradition of not abandoning their children.  It is a family unit built on survival, but it is also a family unit that enables African American men to continue their behavior. 

Option 2

I am assuming that Susan Cummings chose Option 2 for her final.  Once again, the tone is very conversational, as if she is talking directly to the reader.    

“As noted in class, the indigenous peoples of today’s Mexico and Central and South Americas intermarried with the invaders early on, largely because the Spanish conquerors were unattached men, either priests or soldiers. Nature and power being what they are, the acquisition of indigenous women for, at best, purposes of companionship was inevitable.

Once the indigenous people were under U.S. control, the government systematically attempted to remove their language, the very vehicle that allows a culture to survive.

The two main languages of the Americas, Spanish and English are the symbol of how indigenous people “joined” another group when they were unable to defend their lands against technologically advanced intruders…. North of the Rio Grande, the fight for cultural and political sovereignty against inevitable victors was futile, in a literal sense. Disease, warfare, and near-starvation in concentration camps all but decimated the Native Americans within the United States. South of the Rio Grande, though, the indigenous people survived as a third entity: no longer genetically pure “mestizos” or Spaniards, they were the Mexicans.

For the Native Americans of the United States and Mexican-Americans, the questions of language, culture, and agency are complex. Both groups are the living legacy of “non-citizens” of their own lands. The literature of both groups is rich with evidence of their struggle with the question that dogged their ancestors, “Can we resist or must we assimilate?”

Black Elk answered the question by splitting the difference. Trading on his exotic heritage, Black Elk wove fascinating tales of Native American life for Anglo audiences, not his own people… Had he not chosen to “play ball” with Americans enthralled with the romantic notion of the “noble savage,” those stories would be lost.

Alexie’s work reflects the damage of assimilation as it echoes against voices of tradition. In Lone Ranger and Tonto, he describes contemporary Native American divorces as further evidence of the brutalization of his people. “ 

For contemporary Mexican-Americans, the question of resistance or assimilation lacks the brutal history forced on Native Americans.

Instead, their questions of identity are questions of ambivalence: to what degree can, they chose assimilation and to what degree is resistance valuable… For Mexican-Americans who do speak Spanish or have an accent or have a dark complexion, society often addresses the question, and in a very public manner.  Often, members of their own culture reinforce these prejudices by showing favoritism to those who have lighter skin.

Although Americans tout education as the stepping-stone to success for everyone, and especially minorities and immigrants, education is also a step toward assimilation and can drive a wedge driven between the individual and their group of origin. Lorna Dee Cervantes address that dilemma in “For Virginia Chavez.”…. The woman who chose education in effect chose assimilation, and that choice was made possible because she rejected traditional Mexican-American values regarding motherhood and abortion. In the end, the two women cling to each other in a sense of womanly love and sisterhood, despite their differences “ignoring what the years had brought between us: my diploma and the bare bulb that always lit your bookless room.”  I don’t think that education is a symbol of assimilation.  I think it is a symbol of personal desire and growth to become something more than a housewife.  To say that it rejects the cultures values may be true, but perhaps it’s the cultural values that should be questioned.  Why do all members have to adhere to all culture values to remain a part of that culture?

Anglo in Minority Land

I have always sensed that my literary life list was lacking because I had not read much by minority authors, in part, because my professors did not teach them; and only a few minority works were in anthologies as I read in high school and undergrad classes. After reading “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker, I realized I was missing something great. In addition, stumbling upon Sandra Cisneros reinforced that sense of literary void.

The framework of the course, specifically the objectives, helped me differentiate between immigrant and minority groups and then identify the characteristics of minority literary against the background of dominant culture.

Choosing to read a book by a minority writer is like accepting an invitation into another person's cultural home. Sometimes that home has some of the same furniture in mine; sometimes it hardly resembles what I call a home. Nevertheless, I am able to read the work both as a scholar and as a member of the dominant culture visiting someone’s home.

While I enjoyed the way Susan wrote, I found myself missing the sense of closure that came from Kristy’s essays.  Where Kristy’s essays identified a topic then sought to explain it while reaching a conclusion, Susan’s essays lacked a sense of finality and coherence.  Both women wrote wonderful essays, but I preferred Kristy’s structure. 

Also, I was wondering whether they had other options for the second part of essay two, as Susan did not necessarily “compare and contrast ethnicity and gender as minority categories.  I felt that it was an essay of personal growth and discovery that lacked specific examples and didn’t seem to follow the topic.