LITR 5731: Seminar in American Multicultural Literature

Web Highlight, fall 2007

Thursday, 29 November: Web-highlight (final exams): Fernando Trevino

Web Highlights: Final exam – Additional options for essays

There are four additional essay options to the default essay topics from the syllabus for the final exam.

1. Write an essay describing your experience with this course relative to your study (formal and informal) of similar subjects before and (potentially) after. Refer to several texts across the semester to illustrate your learning path.

 

Giselle Hewitt, Spring 2006

American Minority and Me

“I have always been enthralled with minority history and literature, and the study of the historical effects of the minority experience on other aspects of their lives…”

“Many of the courses I have taken have helped develop my views towards minority literature:  Social Structure, Human Rights and Social Justice, Minorities in America, American Immigrant Literature, Cultural Anthropology, Texas and the Borderlands, and The New American Nation.  The historical and sociological background of minorities has made it a lot easier for me to form understandings of minority literature…”

“The major minority experience theme I was able to pull out of the text and found myself applying to other texts is the idea of the “new American”.  I am curious whether the minority who chooses to “blend” their identities is “fight[ing] or join[ing]” the dominant society…”

“Overall I feel the literature has helped show that the minority experience is ongoing.  The power relationship created between the minority and dominant culture is a constant characteristic throughout their lives and thus will remain in minority literature.”

“There is an understanding that the relationship of their ancestors with the dominant culture has placed them in an unending cycle of struggle in their daily lives.”

 

[Giselle provides a couple of paragraphs to describe her experience before taking the course, shown in the first two excerpts. Then she explains what she was able to “pull out” of the course which was an idea of the “new American” which she goes into greater detail in her second essay about Syncretism, the “blending” of identities. She finishes by speculating on the future impact of the genre, citing that the minority experience is ongoing as the power struggle between minorities and the dominant culture continues. As long as this conflict continues minorities will continue to live in an unending cycle of hardship and despondence much like their ancestors.]     

 

2. As we moved from text to text across the semester, what concept, issue, or problem kept recurring to you as important or intriguing?

 

Giselle Hewett: Additional Option 2

Syncretism of the Multiple Identity in Minority Literature

“…syncretism is defined as the fusing of “differing philosophical or religious beliefs”… it can be used to exhibit the minority experience through the “cross[ing]” of “ethnic or gender identities” or a type of identity “hybridity”.  For the purpose of this essay I will explore syncretism within the Mexican American identity, and then within the alternative identities of women and homosexuals.”

“In Bless Me, Ultima, Anthony is confronted with questions to his identity.  He must decide whether he will be his “mother’s priest, or his father’s son”… He must choose whether he will become a voice for his people and remain in the minority realm, or whether he will go in search of the “American Dream”.  Throughout the novel Ultima is there to guide him into finding an identity that is uniquely his own, while other characters are there to persuade him into “choosing”… Ultima shows him, however, that a “blended” identity is possible.”

“Women and homosexuals are both put into the “dilemma” of being split between two identities or two worlds. Gender role definitions set up restraints for women and homosexuals in our society and leads to discrimination.”

“Women often find a need for a syncretistic identity to survive. This is to say they find the need to achieve a blended identity that encompasses both “power and beauty” like the character Beatriz Solis in WHC who is “a criminal lawyer by day, an Aztec dance instructor by night…”  This character is an example of a woman who has been able to “blend” the gender identities by working in both a strong male-oriented position and as a dance instructor typically seen as belonging to the feminine realm.”

 

[However, as Giselle continues to point out, women find themselves being questioned on their ability to be good mothers if they venture into the workforce since many times women are given negative connotations if they appear to be too goal/career oriented, or have strong personalities. Ultima and the woman in Eyes of Zapata (WHC) are great examples of women who have been placed into negative categories because of their personal strengths.]

 

“Often they (homosexuals) find themselves stuck in between the dominant heterosexual world and a homosexual subculture often defined by discreetness and “codes”. In Best Little Boy the character shows how entering into the homosexual subculture for the first time can be an extremely frustrating and scary experience especially since he had very limited knowledge of the group he belonged to.”

 

[Giselle cites other examples of anxiety for the main character; fearing an actual “coming-out party”, critiques on his gayness, going into a gay club, and deciding what to wear.  He didn’t want “others” to see him going in, and he didn’t want to stick out “as if [he] didn’t belong” to those once he got inside. So homosexuals like the Best Little Boy are anxiety-ridden as they must decide to “fight or join” the gender roles that are expected of them by society (dominant society or the subculture society). Anxiety still exists as many times they decide to combine the roles in order to create a new self not defined by the dominant. Giselle cites Whitman’s In Paths Untrodden and Frank O’Hara in My Heart and points out that both Whitman and O’Hara show possibilities of syncretism by not choosing one identity or the other, but finding a combination of both based on their own levels of comfort.]

“One danger that I have found of these syncretistic identities, however, is when it shows up as a form of discrimination.  If a minority is “blending” their identity by choice it is okay, but it is problematic when the minority feels they must “blend” their identity to fit in or qualify.” 

In Pat Mora’s Depression Days the character is told that if he “change[d] his name” and his identity that he would be hired because he didn’t “look Mexican”.  He must decide whether the economic gain and acceptance in the dominant culture is worth a part of his identity.”

 

[Certainly the notion that syncretism to create an identity to suit one’s comfort level is easier said than done as the character in Depression Days must gauge the importance of heritage and survival to meet a balance of personal acceptance. But having to even do such a thing, as Giselle concludes, to conform or “act a certain way when the eyes of the dominant culture “confines” individuals, “limits their potential” and their contribution to the world.] 

3. Creation / Origin Stories.

Andrew Wiget writes that Native American origin or creation stories are “complex symbolic tales that typically dramatize the tribal explanation of the origin of the earth and its people; establish the central relationships among people, the cosmos or universe, and the other creatures (flora and fauna) of the earth; distinguish gender roles and social organization for the tribe . . . . ”

Briefly discuss and evaluate the “origin stories” of our course’s three ethnic groups in terms of Wiget’s description.

·        African American origin story = slave narratives

·        Native American origin stories = stories mentioned or reproduced on handout

·        Mexican American origin story = “The Virgin of Guadalupe”

Also feel free to consider The Declaration of Independence, immigrant stories, and other texts from the course. What do we learn about minorities’ “social contracts” from reading “origin or creation stories?”

Danny Corrigan

December 10, 2004

Essay One: Question Prompt 3 - Creation/Origin Stories 

“A Brief Analysis of African American, Native American and Mexican American Origin Stories”

Danny focuses on the origin story concept from the “individual” perspective as opposed to the tribal perspective Wiget uses. Danny starts with the Classic Slave Narratives and Equiano. He believed Equiano’s life mirrored a “fall” commonly recognized in Christian literature as he’s says “in true Christian fashion, Equiano falls and then is redeemed to be born anew; his personal origin story is one of being born from the darkness of slavery into the light of freedom, where he finally gains his own identity.”

Equiano’s origin story is the only example of Christian influence in the black experience as Frederick Douglas, Milkman and Precious Jones experience “similar ‘origins’ as their journeys of self-discovery, their births, are based on their acquisitions of knowledge.” For Douglas and Precious, the keys to unlock the chains that bind them are to be found via literacy while Milkman’s vitality comes from his knowledge of his ancestry, being a descendent of Solomon. 

[While discussing the types of creation stories among North American Indians, Danny concludes that “all of them describe tribal origins, not individual origins.” Danny, however cites examples of origin stories of Native American individuals. One example is

“The Only Signal On the Reservation Doesn’t Flash Red Anymore”. The story’s theme is about how basketball is a way for youths to escape the poverty of the reservation, and by being successful the athletes in a way help to redeem the reservation. Even when athletes with potential fail, they are still remembered. In fact, one of the characters comments that “In the outside world, a person can be a hero one second and a nobody the next...A reservation hero is a hero forever.”  The attention of the narrative is on the individuals, but it is the ramifications of the individual’s experience to the tribe as a whole that is main focus.

For Danny, of the three minority origin stories, the Mexican American story of “The Virgin of Guadalupe” is the most difficult to fit into the context of Wiget’s theories, mainly because it is so syncretic to begin with. While the story of Juan Diego’s vision of the Virgin Mary does bridge the cultural gap between the Indians of Mexico and the Catholic Church, the parable definitely has a Christian slant, with its emphasis on individual redemption and salvation. Even the basis that the vision supposedly occurred at the ancient site of an Indian fertility goddess possesses a masculine/feminine opposition element one stronger of overpowering the other.]

4. Is American Minority Literature about Literature or Culture?

How do you resolve this question: Is a course like American Minority Literature primarily about literature, or is it about culture, history, sociology, etc.?

Karen Daniel: Additional Option 4

The Cultural, Historical, and Social Impacts of Minority Literature

[Karen begins by saying, “I am sure that all of these minorities are aware of the American Dream, but, for them, it does not hold the same connotations as it does for members of the majority culture.” She then examines the approach minority authors are using to “meet and merge” the literary value of their works with the impact of the social commentary that usually the foremost and superior topic found in their works.]  

 “… I believe they must think of themselves (minority authors) as having a higher calling, as having an important message to convey and a deeper purpose to fulfill than just producing great prose.  Rather than use topics to create art, minority authors use art to create compelling avenues of discovery and discussion.”

 “This idea of holding onto one’s original cultural heritage, while seeking to join the majority dream culture, at least to some degree, is what makes minority literature about so much more than just literature.  I believe… they are speaking to the members of the minority culture about which they are writing in the hopes of reaching them on another level. Thus their writings become their voices to the world, both seeking to encourage and educate their readers, and perhaps to call them to action.” 

“When reading the canons of literature that is usually not done, as those texts are already established as great works for their literary value alone, and the student’s task is to analyze the message, not the value of the text).  Even when discussing the literary value of some of the works, our class seemed to primarily relate that back to how it functioned to help or hurt the author’s conveyance of his or her message.”  

“When doing research for my journal I came upon a quote in which Cisneros, when sending one of her books to the President, had attached a note to the effect that if reading this book caused him to look at Mexican immigrants in a kinder and gentler way then her book had accomplished its purpose. With lofty goals like that coming from the authors of minority texts, how can we, as a class, read them any differently than in the social, historical, and cultural ways in which they were intended?”

[Ultimately, to me, it seems that Karen believes that while minorities have goals from their works such as wanting their works to be appreciated for its literary construction as well as being a financial success only if that means above anything that many people read it; the primary goal for minority authors is to espouse a message as demonstrated by the Cisneros/President example. The message can range from wanting to “gain empathy” by explaining the plight of their people or to create a charged sense of awareness and pride of their heritage among their people or a call to action to everyone involved or possess a personal stake in the preservation and elevation of the culture or race as a whole.]