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LITR
5831 World / Multicultural Literature: |
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Jessica Myers
July
9, 2016
Stranger than Fiction
The
basic distinction between fiction and nonfiction is that the former is created
by the author’s imagination and the latter is portraying real events or facts. A
quality writer can make fiction seem realistic. Fiction conveys real concerns,
thoughts, and feelings the author desires to share with their audience. Whereas,
nonfiction conveys actual people and events, and their actions and perceptions
of what occurred. Sometimes, nonfiction can seem untruthful because the author
has an agenda or bias that influences their writing. Although there is crossover
in both genres of literary and rhetorical elements, there are features in each
genre that make them distinct from one another. Fiction and nonfiction immigrant
narratives may be distinguished through plot development, point of view, and
tone.
Fiction develops a world imagined by the author and a plot that follows a fixed
pattern. Although the setting can be realistic or a real place, the author must
create a space for the characters to interact with one another. In Cisneros’
vignette, “Barbie-Q,” she places her narrator at a flea market “on Maxwell
Street” purchasing Barbie dolls (252). The narrator only exists in her room with
her friend playing with the dolls and on the street at the flea market
purchasing “water-soaked and sooty” Barbie dolls (253). She is tethered to the
space created for her, and she cannot exist outside of this space because she
doesn’t have the same substance as an actual little girl. She lacks substance
because her story is confined to the expected development of a story. The reader
is given an exposition to establish background information, such as playing with
Barbie dolls. Then, the narrator shifts into the rising action and the discovery
of “[t]wo Mattel boxes” that contain “Career Gal” and “Sweet Dreams” Barbies
(253). This leads to the climax and conflict where the narrator discovers that
she has not made an amazing discovery. The flea market has been flooded with
toys because “a big toy warehouse on Halsted Street burned down yesterday”
(253). Finally, the episode is resolved when the narrator decides that it
doesn’t matter that their new dolls did not come in “nice clean boxes” because
she is thankful for new dolls to play with (253). Fiction is confined to a
specific structure. Otherwise, the reader would struggle to make sense of or
find a purpose for what they read because it would not follow the predetermined
pattern expected of a story.
Nonfiction is not confined to a set pattern and since the characters are real,
they exist outside of the piece itself, which automatically gives them
complexity. The reader does not need to read an entire work of nonfiction to
appreciate its value. Nonfiction can be excerpted, and those excerpts can stand
independent of the work they are pulled from. The two pieces I am analyzing are
both excerpts from larger memoirs, The
Distance Between Us and The Cooked
Seed. The development of the story is not restricted to a set pattern and
some moments can be perceived as random or out of place. For instance, when
Grande and her family were attempting to cross the border, she recalls, “To make
things worse, I had woken up with a toothache on the morning of our first
attempt, and my father didn’t have anything to give me for the pain” (97). Her
toothache does not have any symbolic meaning nor does it foreshadow an
unsuccessful crossing of the border. She remembers this detail of her experience
and relates the incident to her audience. In incorporating this detail into her
narrative, she does garner sympathy from her audience, but it is not placed here
as a key moment of plot development. Events are relayed as fact to add detail to
the story. Grande describes playing with dolls that her Papi brought her and her
sisters from El Otro Lado. She relates that they “played with [their] new dolls.
Mago, who was going on fourteen and claimed to be too old for baby dolls, was
more than happy to play with Betty and me, just to spite Elida” (88). Grande
does not use imagery or figurative language to describe how they played with the
dolls. She simply details the events that occurred. The reader does not require
the author to fill in the blanks; they can simply accept that the girls were
playing with dolls. These “characters” are complex because they exist outside of
the text with grudges and a history that does not necessarily need to be relayed
in the narrative.
Fiction gives the author freedom to take on any point of view; whereas
nonfiction is limited to the author’s experience and understanding of events.
Fiction can have a variety of narrators including first person, third person
limited, and third person omniscient. The short story, “In the Land of the
Free,” is told from an outside narrator’s perspective. Yet, the narrator conveys
the characters’ feelings through imagery and figurative language. When Hom Hing
first holds his son he had “proud and joyous eyes” (3). The reader becomes aware
of how severely depressed the wife has become when “she appear[s] listless, wan,
and hollow-eyed” (8). The reader even realizes that James Clancy, the deceitful
lawyer, feels ashamed of himself because “for one moment [he] hesitated” because
“something arose against accepting such payment for his services” (10). The
reader is aware of each character’s emotions due to the narrator’s descriptions
of them. The author has the freedom to choose the perspective and information
they want to share with their audience.
In
contrast, nonfiction is confined to the author’s perception of events.
The Cooked Seed only conveys the
experiences and feelings of Anchee Min. Although there are many complex people
introduced in her narrative, her understanding of their actions, reactions, and
choices are clouded by her lens as a newly arrived immigrant from China. In her
conversation with Takisha about slavery and her prejudices against whites, Min
struggles to understand the root of her anger. Min spends time telling Takisha
about her own enslavement to the Chinese government, but the reader does not
have the opportunity to view Takisha’s reaction to Min’s story. Takisha asks
many questions but Min does not describe her reaction to the information she
receives (214). There is a clear disconnect between these two women as, “[i]n
tears Takisha described how her ancestors were sold, beaten, hanged, and burned
when they tempted to escape. [Min] wondered what that had to do with Kate”
(213). The interaction between a minority group and an immigrant group is
confusing to Min. She “knew what it was like to be owned” because her family was
currently enslaved to the Chinese government (212). The reader knows that
Takisha’s family is not enslaved based on when this incident took place, but
they do not know her family’s living situation. The reader’s understanding is
limited by Min’s knowledge and comprehension of the situation.
Fictitious immigrant narratives create a tone of bitterness towards America
through charged language and symbolism. In “Barbie-Q” the “left foot that’s a
little melted” symbolizes the lack of privilege given to immigrant groups (253).
They have come to America to attain freedom and prosperity. However, some
immigrants never seem to quite arrive at the achievement of the American Dream.
They try to mimic the prosperity found in the dominant culture just as the girls
play with the same Barbie dolls made popular by dominant culture. The narrator’s
questions “so?” and “right?” express the bitterness of not having an equal
opportunity to achieve the American Dream (253). This same bitterness is found
in “In the Land of the Free,” as well. Through charged language, the narrator
portrays the horror of not being able to bring the son into America, and the
nightmare of a son not wanting to go home with his mother after ten months of
living at the mission with strangers. When the Little One if first taken, Lae
Choo “reproached” her husband “in a voice eloquent with pain” (5). The next
morning when her husband asked her if she had slept, she responded by
exclaiming, “Ah, how could I close my eyes with my arms empty of the little body
that has filled them every night for more than twenty moons!” (5). Then at the
end when Lae Choo finally goes to retrieve her son, “the Little One shrunk from
her and tried to hide himself” (11). Lae Choo and Hom Hing have literally been
robbed of their future by coming to America. They are swindled and cheated of
their son and separated from him for ten months. This negative association with
America is typically found in fiction where the author is not sharing their own
personal experience. Instead, the author is portraying the suffering and
hardships immigrants face when they attempt to assimilate to dominant culture.
Rather than a bitter tone, nonfiction immigrant narratives contain a tone of
fascination that upholds the American Dream as immigrants discover the abundance
America offers. When Grande first views America after her difficult crossing of
the border, she notices that “[t]he freeway was amazing, so enormous” and “the
cars were clean and shiny” (102). From the car, she “wanted to take in
everything” (102). Her excitement on first viewing America is conveyed through
the use of positive adjectives. It is bigger and better than what she had
experienced in Mexico. Similarly, Min describes her first experiences of America
in terms of luxury and excess. She is concerned that “[t]he dorm room was way
too luxurious for [her]” (195). An American would not consider a cramped dorm
room “luxurious” which speaks to her poverty and scarcity in China. She is
amazed “[t]hat hot water was available twenty-four hours a day” (195). Her
fascination with amenities Americans take for granted reveals that America has
exceeded her expectations. In her naiveté, she decides that she would “love to
be a slave so that [she] could be given a full scholarship to study to become a
medical doctor” (213). Although she clearly draws a horrifying conclusion about
scholarships in America, her misunderstanding of American culture exposes her
desire to do anything to accomplish her dream. It is refreshing to “see” the
hope America inspires in immigrants in comparison to their circumstances in
their homeland.
Fictional and nonfiction prose represent the immigrant narratives differently
and may be differentiated through plot development, point of view, and tone.
Both genres effectively present the immigrant narrative but produce a different
outcome. Typically, the immigrant writing fiction is either a second generation
immigrant or an immigrant who has successfully assimilated into the dominant
culture. This perspective influences their voice because they have seen or gone
through the difficulties of assimilation. This lens allows them to criticize
America and the process of assimilation. Whereas, first generation immigrants
write the nonfiction immigrant narrative. If they are writing, this is a sign
that they have successfully assimilated through language acquisition and
education. They have the ability to artfully share their experience with the
American public. Their nonfiction pieces are unique because they are relaying
real circumstances and obstacles that they had to maneuver. Both are valuable
because they demonstrate multiple aspects of the immigrant narrative and what it
means to make a place in American culture.
