Final Thoughts...

The term is coming to an end and I am still trying to articulate my thoughts about everything that we've read and discussed in class. I personally would not have picked up any of these books if I had saw them in a bookstore- but after reading them I found myself enjoying each one of them! Ok, maybe not Marti as much as the others probably due to its level of Spanish .
I am very glad to have read all these books because it allowed me to explore a world that I thought I was unable to relate to. However, reading about their daily struggles and triumphs tugged at my emotions and the fact that their stories were short, and sometimes even fragmented, made me completely drawn to them because the stories were so personal. Each story about Latin-American life was unique because if its details but yet the feeling behind each story represented a whole. When I think back to all the books we've read, all the stories in every book seem to come together to form one giant memory. I don't think about each book with its own title and meaning, rather, I find it hard to differentiate which story belonged to which. And that is what I found the most interesting/important.When the young boy in Y No Se Lo Trago La Tierra reflects all that has happened in the year, it is a compilation of all the fragments and everything becomes a whole. Like in Y No Se Lo Trago La Tierra, i feel that the fragmented stories represent each book that we've read and the final pages represents what I feel right now. All the stories come together as one because I think about how the many voices are conveying the emotion.

and a body to remember with

So far I am really enjoying Carmen Rodriguez' stories. It is really interesting how she writes about her life in Canada, and more specifically, in Vancouver! Every time she mentioned places in Vancouver it was so easy to picture it in my head, such as Stanley Park or Fraser and 49th (close to where i live.)

My favourite chapter in the first half of the book is "Black Hole". Estela describes Canada as a black hole, a place without an image. I can relate to this because when I was younger, my parents told me that we would be moving to Canada and I felt that nothing about Canada stood out to me. I couldn't even imagine how it would look like. When i arrived here I thought that it was so void of spirit and culture, even though Canada is known for its multiculturalism. I feel that because there are so many different cultures here that you can't really immerse yourself in one, or be accepted by everyone. It was so different from where I came and it seemed so cold. I was used to everybody sharing the same culture, values and giving each other a kiss on the cheek to say hello or goodbye. However, like the daughters of Estela I came to really like Vancouver.

The conversations between mother and daughter were disheartening to read. You could see how torn Estela was between her new life in Canada and her old life in Chile. Her mother was thrilled to find that Estela and her husband were off the blacklist and expected that they would be home soon. As a reader you know that Estela would have to make an important decision- to give up her new life in Canada or break her mother's heart. I really hoped that this story was longer so we can see more of Estela's life unravel.

How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

I think that "How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents" effectively portrayed the internal struggles of a Latin American family trying to assimilate into the US. As we discussed in class, the girls as well as the parents desperately try to fit into the American culture. It is definitely a difficult situation on both sides. The parents want for their children to adapt American culture, but not too much so that they would forget their Spanish heritage. What is considered to be just the right amount of adaptation anyways?

The Garcia family moving to the US all together only caused family conflict and tension. The root of family problems within the family began when they had no choice but to leave the Dominican Republic. In the girls' childhood, they lived a privileged life with maids and an abundance of gifts. However I think that as the girls grew older they grew further apart from each other and from their parents. The necessity for the girls to integrate into American life left them unable to relate to their parents' traditional perspectives. For example, Sofia's departure from her family was due to her father's inability to cope with her sexual expressiveness, causing a serious rift in her family. One point mentioned in class was how could two out of the four Garcia girls be put into mental institutions if the parents had not done anything wrong? I think that having two Garcia girls institutionalized demonstrated just how much the family had drifted apart. The girls being put into institutions demonstrate how their parents were unable to relate and reach out to their daughters emotionally in a time of need. It seems that if a family has been divided culturally, there is no solution to mend it and the gap between the parents and their children will only grow wider with time.

Cisneros part 2

Pleasing book to finish! I find that Cisneros' writing style to be straight from the heart. Her writing consists of a variety of narratives that are extremely convincing. She is able to portray the characters in every short story so that they are distinctive and memorable. The first few stories, "My Lucy Friend Who Smells Like Corn", "Eleven", and "Tepeyec", are written in the point of view of children and Cisneros does this very convincingly.
"I'm going to peel the scab from my knee and eat it, sneeze on the cat, give you thee M&M's I've been saving for you since yesterday, comb your hair with my fingers and braid it into teeny-tiny braids real pretty" (pg.5) She is able to show how children are so direct with their words and how they honestly they express themselves. "Well, I couldn't help but feel bad for the dip once she's dead right? I mean, after I got over being mad" (pg.40)
The later stories such as "Never Marry a Mexican" and "Bien Pretty" the narrative switches to adults who are consumed by love and loss. What I love about Cisneros' writing is her attention to detail. For example, in the story "Never Marry a Mexican" she goes into great detail describing where each gummy bear was placed and the sensation it gave to the mistress in the house. One story that seemed to stay in my mind was "There Was a Man, There was a Woman". Although it is a very short story, its simplicity and message was effective. I couldn't stop thinking how two people, who are at the same point in their lives longing for the same thing , will never meet due to the fact that they received their paychecks on different days and so will not visit the bar on the same days.

Woman Hollering Creek Part 1

So far I am really enjoying this book! The short stories in Cisnero's novel are very simplistic in first-person narratives and provide very detailed descriptions. For example, in "My Lucy Friend Who Smells Like Corn", a young girl carefully describes everything she knows about Lucy and how she longs to be her good friend. "We're going to run home backwards and we're going to run home frontwards....We're going to wave to a lady we don't know on the bus. Hello!" Cisneros definitely embodies the thoughts of an eleven-year old girl effectively and the simplicity of the language and actions made this chapter in particular very heartwarming!

The first section of the book consist of stories concerning young girls. My favourite chapter has to have been "eleven" because it was intriguining how someone could feel that they are two, three, five, ten, but not eleven!!! I felt sorry for her as she was being embarrassed on the brink of tears on her eleventh birthday, and that she would rather be one hundred and two years old just for her eleventh birthday to be over.

The message I am getting so far from the stories is that these Mexican-Americans are experiencing clashes between their heritage Mexican culture with the demands of American culture. I found this to be particularly true in the chapter "Mericans" where Micaela goes to a Mexican church with her grandmother and cannot relate to the Spanish customs but at the same time she feels out of place in the American society as well.

I have also read The House on Mango Street and I found the language to be very similiar because the story was also told through the eyes of a child.

So far...

So far i have enjoyed all the books we have discussed in class! At the beginning of each book, however, i was a bit skeptical but by the end they all were worth my while to read. Who Would of Thought It? started off a bit slow but when it picked up each short chapter was like an episode from a television drama! Also, beyond the first few chapters I saw that this comedy of romance was about a family on the surface and that its important issues were portrayed through the irony used by the author.
Jose Marti's works were more challenging to read because of its extensive vocabulary but his writing overall was artistic and insanely descriptive! Before reading Marti's work I knew nothing of the Brooklyn Bridge but now I can how much it meant to some people, and especially to Marti.
Y No Se Lo Trago La Tierra was perhaps the most confusing book out of the bunch but I realized that the author made us feel the way the young boy did during his 'lost year'. At first I had a tough time understanding the fragmented stories and trying to figure out who was speaking, but in the end i felt that it was more important to focus on what was being said, rather than focussing on exactly who said it.
Finally, the movie we watched in class "The Salt of the Earth" was very enjoyable. I liked the fact that the message of the movie was completely straight forward because it was a nice break from the books that we have been reading. Also i had a few good laughs and smiles from some overly-cheesy moments :)

Riviera part 2

Although i was COMPLETELY lost during the part of the book, the end was worth all the confusion. The non-chronological order of the book revealed to us how confused the boy was himself and I was certainly able to relate due to the fact that I was utterly confused myself. However, through the simple language and fragmented stories it made the entire meaning of the novel more powerful. Through the eyes of a child we can see the boys' reactions added in with what we know as young adults. The simplicity put in plain view how the campesinos were being mistreated and how disease and poverty affected the young boy's mental state.

The title has always fascinated me because, before reading the book, it seemed as though this was a children's novel so I thought that fantasy would some how be incorporated. Then after reading the background of the author, I thought that the earth "devouring" someone perhaps referred to the physical and natural disasters that Mexican workers had to face everyday working on the earth. However, it was completely different! "...y no se lo trago la tierra" referred to the young boy who was deeply concerned about what would happen to him if he were to speak blasphemy against God. Overall this book helped me see that despite the hardships that the chicanos faced, such as poverty, sickness and mistreatment, they still continued to hope for "the arrival" of their people as a whole

Y No Se Lo Trago La Tierra.......

Before reading this book, I skimmed through a couple of pages and I thought that this would be an easy read. The book cover and big font mislead me; the narrative of the story was confusing at certain points because it kept changing from first person to third. I am a little more than half way through the book and the name of the young boy, as well as many other characters, remain unknown! Also, there were pages in between chapters where fragments of conversations took place without stating any name, place or purpose. Although the point of the story was hard to follow, it revealed the harsh realities of agricultural migrant workers in the US after World War Two. The child's description of mistreated campesinos were detailed and his sentiments about religion showed how confused he was himself during his 'lost year'.

I also liked how this book was written very informally. There were numerous slangs in this book such as "pos" and "m'ijo". Also the author frequently mentioned the words "verguenza y coraje" and ended many sentences with "luego, luego". So far the short stories in this book have been pleasing to read but their significance as a whole has yet to be outlined for me.

El Puente de Brooklyn

It has been a while since I've read stories in Spanish so some of the vocabulary and certain phrases of the short stories held me back. Although it took me quite some time to read his short stories, I found them to be a very enjoyable read! Marti's style of writing was very artistic and beautiful. The "El Puente de Brooklyn" was immensely detailed, Marti even included the exact measurements of the bridge. In addition to details of the bridge, Marti incorporated several metaphors, similies and emotions of the people to show us how magnificent this bridge really was and how it connected everyone and everything in the city together.

I had no previous knowledge of the Brooklyn bridge and when I finished reading the I realized the importance and significance of this bridge to the people and especially to Jose Marti. You can see how connected he felt to the bridge and his fascination with the architecture. This bridge, through Marti's writing, showed us that it meant much more than its impressive physical attributes. The bridge was something symbolic that brought all of the people in the city together in awe.

Overall, I am very pleased with his work and that my vocabulary in Spanish has greatly expanded.

And i thought Mrs.Norval was horrible....!

I agree with Jon, Mrs. Norval is just stupid-she is someone who clings onto every word of her beloved. She is so deep in love with Mr.Hackwell that she is willing to throw herself at his feet and follow his unreasonable biddings. She is quite a weak woman. Time to move onto who the REAL villain is....MR.HACKWELL! I actually feel sorry for Mrs.Norval with the way Mr.Hackwell plays with her mind and uses her unconditional love to his advantage. It was even more sickening to learn of his twisted plans to force Lola into marrying him and doing whatever it takes to prevent Julian from marrying her. "The dark demons and hideous monsters, the untamed, ferocious beasts of passions, the poisonous reptiles, and repulsive, crawling things of wicked propensities and sinful desires..." It was creepy how Ruiz de Burton describes in detail his innermost feelings and the extent of his jealousy. "He thought the man could be no other than Julian, and, as the thought flashed on his brain, he instinctively carried his hand to his breast pocket, where a little pistol lay always ready." What a psychopath!!!

This second half of the novel was definitely a much more interesting read because the story really picked up and it felt as if I was watching dramatic television program. Throughout the last half of the novel I awaited anxiously for the sinful ex-priest to receive his well-deserved punishment. However, the final confrontation between Julian and Mr.Hackwell was not as explosive or exciting as i had highly anticipated. I have about 10 pages left to read before i finish the novel and i hope that we have more closure about what happened to Mr.Hackwell and i hope that Julian and Lola finally get that happy ending together!

Who Would Have Thought It?

Ruiz de Burton, the author of Who Would Have Thought It, begins her novel explaining that in a world of good and proper people rogues are useful and necessary, or else they would 'perish of sheer insanity". The story progresses ironically as the real rogues, Mr.Hackwell and Mrs.Norval (to name a few), perceive the most-honourable and kind-hearted Dr. Norval as a "temporary whetstone" due to the lack of rogues in their community of 'proper' people. It is hard to believe that the purest man, in heart and mind, has been stamped as a writer of treason and even harder to believe that the same man once proposed to the conniving Mrs.Norval!!! Although Mrs.Norval is an unbelievably shrewd woman with a huge disregard for poor Lola's feelings, she represents the common attitude towards non-whites. In modern day, Mrs.Norval may seem out of line with her crude words and selfish desires, however, her behavior was considered 'normal' when this book was written by Ruiz Burton and that the sympathetic Dr. Norval is the one whom is out of line during this time, regardless of his endless care and support for others.

Love is a strong force in this novel, inducing hearts to sway towards the good-as well as the bad. Ruiz de Barton describes in great detail the happiness and the love that surges through Dr.Norval's body when Lola embraces him with all her love. Lola has a similar effect on Julian. Julian's severely wounded state was became significantly better upon the arrival of Lola and his love for her only made him healthier. However, in Mrs.Norval's case, her blinded love towards Mr.Hackwell causes her to act most selfishly in order to fulfill her own desires, such as forgetting about the physical state of her wounded son and disregarding her sister's feelings about leaving Mr.Hackwell's side. Although her jealousy is unreasonable and her actions intolerable, her wild emotions make her one of the most interesting characters of the novel.

Although Lola is mistreated by of Mrs.Norval and the rest of the community, she soon captures all the hearts of the purest and kindest people in the novel! I am excited to see how far Lola's influences will extend.

Introducción

Anna-introducción

Hola a todos!

Me llamo Anna y estoy en mi segundo año en UBC. Nací en San Jose, Costa Rica pero crecí aquí en Vancouver. Mi especialización en UBC es el español. Me interesan las lenguas y por eso quiero aprender más lenguas y viajar. Yo quisiera ir a España algun dia y tal vez muchos otros paises. Lo que me gustaria más que nada es jugar el tennis para ponerme en forma. También trato de escuchar música, leer libros y ver peliculas de todos los idiomas. Mis películas favoritas son ‘El laberinto de fauno’, ‘El orfanato’ y ‘El Señor de Los Anillos’. Quiero saber si algunos de ustedes han visto estas películas?

-Anna