Un Rezo & Un Plano Infinitivo: Poetics and Politics

In '...y no se lo trago la tierra', "Un Rezo" a mother prays for her son away at war; she prays that he not die "como [el hijo] de dona Virignia" (14) and she professes that she will give her heart for his should anything go wrong.  This (along with many of the other stories) is thoughts of a migrant in the new world coping with trying to blend old traditions/customs with a new culture and society.

This reading made me think of Isabel Allende's The Infinite Plan.  Allende's novel is about a mexican family immigrating to america and how they cope with the differences in tradition and customs.  The main character is Gregory, a young man who grows up in america with his immigrant parents and how he is treated as a mexican-american.  In "Un Rez" the narrator and Nora (the mother in The Infinite Plan) experience the same feelings of desperation and confusion.

I really enjoyed this passage by Rivera, i found it very poetic.  The repetitious nature of this chapter (if you can call them chapters)  with the mother crying out for "Jesucristo... Virgen Maria... Virgen de San Jaun.. Guadalupe" (14) to watch over her son and to keep him safe from the bullets of "los comunistas y a los coreanos y... los chinos"; all of this adds to the poetic nature of this section.  I enjoy how Rivera ties in his lyrical writing style with political opinions... How this book is told in so many parts, that it can cover way more aspects than a typical novel would with characters and continuous plot lines.  

Both of these authors captured the struggles that many immigrant labourers went through as they resettled in America, some leading nomadic lifestyles traveling from state to state (like the discussion in the passage on page 17... "Iuta"), others coming from small towns and moving to large American cities.  The characters and narrators in both books demonstrate a will to fit in and at the same time hold on to their heritage.

Jose Marti y La Gente de Brooklyn

El Puente de Brooklyn by Jose Marti is a poetically written description of the construction of the Brooklyn bridge and it's affect on the people of Brooklyn. Marti uses many metaphors and similes to describe the many aspects of the bridge and it's towers, and cables, and it being suspended. Marti also goes into great accurate description of the bridge itself: how much it cost ("120.000,000 de libras" 424), how long ("90 pies de distancia"), how tall ("276 1/3 pies de alto")... etc.

The more important aspect of this essay is the relation between the bridge and the people it affects. This bridge, 15 years in the making, connected the people of Brooklyn with the people of New York. "Palpita en estos dias mas generosamente la sangre en las venas de los asombrados y alegres neoyorquinos" (423). These people: the Hewbrews, Irish, German, Hungarian, Blacks, Japanese, Russians and Chinese, all of a sudden had something to connect them to "un mundo grandioso, que alegra el espiritu" (425). Their lives before the construction of this bridge was disconnected from the city, and cramped and crowded where "las cabezas eminented de los policias... que ordenan la turba" (424). The people see this bridge as a step into modernity, into a new cultural society; for these immigrants it's a step closer to the "libertad" that they are seeking in this new country.

Marti strongly supports this bridge and lyrically discusses that there are no risks of the bridge failing. He also pays tribute to "[los] trabajadores desconocidos, oh martires hermosos, entrañas de la grandeza, cimiento de la fabrica eterna, gusanos de la gloria!" (430)

I enjoyed this reading, although the poetic language was difficult to get through, i thought it was a very illustrative essay with a detailed description of the people, as well as the bridge itself.

Who would have thought it.... probably not Ruiz de Burton

So i know my blog is late but in a way i'm glad it is because today's discussion changed the way i am viewing the novel.  I don't really have a thing for mrs. norval, or for lavinia or any of the other women in the book.  what i don't like is having to define the novel as being from a feminist or non-feminist point-of-view.  I just don't think Ruiz de Burton wanted future generations to look at her story as being about the power that women do or do not have.  I really see this novel as being about people and the state of the world at the time and how everyone coped with their situations.  Yes, the women in this novel play very central roles, and have a lot of power (whether it is acknowledged by the men or not) and they all know their own strength (ex 1: [pg94] mrs. cackle admires mrs. norval and the wives of the 'divines' and looks up to them because they are stronger women than she.  it takes dr. norval's generosity to bring mrs. cackle - and her family - to the same status as the other women, but she still views them as the more affluential and reports back to them regularly.  ex 2: [pg 51] ruth knows that her father has no real power in the household and that she 'enjoys managing her mother' because she holds the actual power within the family).

I am probably not the best person to argue for or against feminism but it is something that is constantly made an issue in just about everything discussed today (whether it is this class, or my US government class) and yes it is an important topic but does it have to be the most important topic? i would have liked very much for Lolita's part of the novel to be more detailed and for her to have had a larger part.  I'm a sap and really enjoyed the romance and the scandalous relations and the gossip-y nature of the women (even if it perpetuates a female stereotype).  more or less i feel i've run out of things to say for now but may continue later ....

The Big Pink Book

So far I am enjoying this book, it is far less scary than I thought it was going to be.  The characters and their reactions were human.  I had some troubles getting used to the syntax and other grammatical aspects of the book, but have found the story of the Norval's and Lolita intriguing and am looking forward to finishing the novel.   the universalism of the novel is very evident - the importance of money and status (although no one really wants to admit it) are themes that can easily be translated into modern times.  I particularly enjoyed the introductory speech made by Hackwell and his discussion with Hammerhard regarding the necessity of 'rogues' in 'good society'.  Also, I enjoyed the affection shown towards Lolita from Dr. Norval and his description of how he came to find her and her mother; how she had more romance in her short life than in any trashy novel that his daughters or wife had read.

Hi

Hi, my name is Alanna and this is my blog for spanish 322A