Transcript Chicano Literature

Chicano
Literature
Students: Castro, Carolina
Frascino, Vanessa
Professor: Mariana Mussetta
Subject: Literary Studies II
UTN. Villa María
2012
Topics
 Key
Concepts about Chicano Theory
How to Tame a Wild Tongue
 Towards a New Conciousness
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 Analysis
of The House on Mango Street
 Video
 Activities
 Conclusion
 Sources
How to Tame a Wild Tongue
“Who is to say that
robbing a people of
its language is less
violent than war?”
Ray Gwyn Smith
Chicano Spanish: A border tongue which
developed naturally. Change, evolución,
enriquecimiento de palabras nuevas por
invención o adopción have created variants
of Chicano Spanish, un nuevo lenguaje.
Un nuevo lenguaje que corresponde a un
modo de vivir. Chicano Spanish is not
incorrect, it is a living language.
Chicano Spanish
 Chicanos’
need to identify themselves as a
distinct people
 Neither Spanish nor English, but both
 The use of “archaisms” and anglicisms
 Linguistic Terrorism: Chicano as an
illegitimate, a bastard language (Poor
Spanish)
Some of the Languages Chicanos speak
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Standard English
Working class and slang English
Standard Spanish
Standard Mexican Spanish
North Mexican Spanish dialect
Chicano Spanish
Tex-Mex (Spanglish)
Pachuco (called caló)
Chicano Identity
 Mexicanos:
 Spanish:
as a state of soul
as a culture/ linguistic group
 Hispanic/
Spanish-American/ Latin American/
Latin: as part of the Western hemisphere
 Mexican-American:
american
as neither mexican nor
La conciencia de la mestiza
Towards a New Consciousness
 La mestiza is a product of the transfer of the
cultural and spiritual values of one group to another.
 Within us and within la cultura Chicana, commonly
held beliefs of the white culture attack commonly
held beliefs of the Mexican culture, and both attack
commonly held beliefs of the Indigenous culture.
A Tolerance for Ambiguity
 The new mestiza copes by developing a
tolerance for contradictions, a tolerance for
ambiguity. She learns to jungle cultures.
The Mestiza Way
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What did she inherit from her ancestors?
Pero es difícil differentiating between
lo heredado, lo adquirido, lo impuesto.
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“You are nothing but a woman.”
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Machismo: the Chicano suffers from
excessive humility.
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We need to say to white society:
We need you to accept the fact that
Chicanos are different.
El Día de la Chicana
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“Estamos viviendo en la noche de
la Raza, un tiempo cuando el trabajo
se hace a lo quieto en lo oscuro.
El día cuando aceptamos tal y como
somos y para donde vamos y porque
—ese día será el día de la raza.”
(Anzaldúa 87)

El retorno
“ This land was Mexican once
was Indian always
and is.
And will be again.” (Anzaldúa 91)
Sandra Cisneros
American novelist, short-story writer, essayist, and poet.
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was born in 1954 in Chicago to a Spanish-speaking
Mexican father and an English-speaking mother of
Mexican descent.
brought Chicana women into the mainstream of
literary feminism.
Bad Boys (1980)
The House on Mango Street (1984)
My Wicked, Wicked Ways (1987)
Woman Hollering Creek and Other
Stories (1991)
Loose Woman (1994)
Hair/Pelitos (1994)
Caramelo (2002)
Vintage Cisneros (2003)
Sandra Cisneros
The House on Mango Street
“By reaching deep into her Chicana-Mexican
heritage and articulating sensations of displacement and
longing, Sandra Cisneros has created a lasting tribute to
those who must conquer similar battles as she, and has
thereby left a lasting friend for all who have let their
imaginations build a house all their own.” (GradeSaver,
“Biography of Sandra Cisneros: List of Works, Study Guides & Essays.”)
The House on Mango Street
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Autobiographical novel
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“Lazy poems”/ Vignettes
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The problems of being a woman
on a patriarchal Hispanic society
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A year in Esperanza’s life
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Writing as a way to escape reality
Chicano Spanish
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“By the time we get to Mango Street we were six—Mama, Papa…” (3)
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Esperanza (11): “In English my name means “hope” In Spanish means
too many letters, it means waiting.”
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“A woman’s place is sleeping so she can wake up early with the tortilla
star…”(31) (a type of thin flat Mexican bread made from corn or wheat
flour.)
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“She got three last names , and let me see, two first names. One in English
and one in Spanish…” (35)
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“Cold frijoles.” (37) (A bean cultivated and used for food.)
Chicano Spanish
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“I want to be Tahiti, or merengue.
Or electricty or tembleque!” (51)
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“Your abuelito is dead, Papa says early
one morning in my room. Está muerto…” (56)
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“ I like Alicia because one she gave me
a little leather purse with the word
GUADALAJARA stitched on it,
which is home for Alicia…” (106)
Feminist Criticism
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Esperanza’ sexual awakening
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Patriarchal society denial of the
power of female sexuality
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Sexual assaults
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Esperanza’s rejection of sex
as a means of escape
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Neighbouring women’s unhappy
marriages
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Esperanza´self-defintion as a
woman and writer
Feminist Criticism
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“The waitress with the big fat hips
who pays the rent with taxi tips…
says nobody in town will kiss her in the lips
because…
because she looks like Christopher Columbus!
Yes, no, maybe so. Yes, no, maybe so.” (51)
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“Esta muerto, and then as if he just heard the news himself, crumples like a
coat and cries, my brave Papa cries” (56)
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“Sometimes the man gets disgusted. He starts screaming and you can
hear it all the way down the street. (77)
Feminist Criticism
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Ay, she says, she is sad.
Oh, he says. Not again.
¿Cuándo, cuándo, cuándo? She asks.
¡Ay caray! We are home. This is home. Her I am and here I stay. Speak
English. Speak English. Christ! (78)
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“I am an ugly daughter. I am the one nobody comes from.” Nenny says she won’t
wait her whole life for a husband to come and get her…” (88)
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“What Sally Says.” “He never hits me hard… But who believes her. A girl that big, a
girl who comes in with her pretty face all beaten and black can’t be falling off the
stairs. He never hits me hard.” (92)
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“Sally got married like we knew she would, young and not ready but married just the
same” (101)
Loose Woman
Activity
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1) Read the poem “Loose Woman” by Sandra Cisneros.
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2) How does the world see the author? Does she accept those
assumptions?
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3) How does she see herself? How does she see men? What is he
message to the world?
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4) Can you find some examples of “Chicano Spanish” in the poem?
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5) What does she mean by the metaphors “I’ m Pancha Villa”,
“I’ m anarchy” and “I’ m a woman-on-the-loose”?
Conclusion
Una Lucha de Fronteras/ A struggle of Borders
“Because I, a mestiza,
continually walk out of one culture
and into another,
because I am in all cultures at the same time,
alma entre dos mundos, tres, cuatro,
me zumba la cabeza con los contradictorio.
Estoy norteada por todas las voces que me hablan
simultáneamente.”
(Anzaldúa 77)
Sources
Anzaldúa, Gloria. Borderlands. La Frontera. The New Mestiza. San Francisco: Aunt Lute
Books,1987. Print.
Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. New York: Vintage Books, 1984.Print.
GradeSaver. “Biography of Sandra Cisneros: List of Works, Study Guides & Essays.”
GradeSaver. 19 March 2012. Web. 19 March 2012.
Lake, R. L. “Poetry analysis: Loose Woman, by Sandra Cisneros.” Helium. 12 Aug.
2009. Web. 25 March 2012.
Saenz Vanessa. “ Loose Woman Poem By Sandra Cisneros.” Vimeo.18 Dec. 2009.
Web. 25 March 2012.
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The House on Mango Street.” SparkNotes.com.
SparkNotes LLC. 2004. Web. 6 Mar. 2012.