Essay # 1 assignment details can be found here (or click on link at top of blog). Please email me with questions. Also — see reading/response assignment for this week below.
For Wednesday, please read:
- Christina Rossetti, “Goblin Market” (come prepared to discuss in class)
- Judith Cofer – “Beans: An Apologia For Not Loving To Cook” (handout) & “The Story of My Body” (emailed to you)
For Friday, please read:
- Mora, Pat. “Legal Alien” & “La Migra”
- Morales, Aurora Levins. “Child of the Americas” (emailed to you)
For this blog response, please discuss the ways in which Cofer, Mora, and Morales explore the relationships between ethnicity and the body within their writing. This is a free-writing exercise, so there are no particular questions to respond to, but be sure to take note of any similarities and/or differences, whether in theme, context, or style. Compare and contrast these pieces of work (and be sure to touch upon at least two of the four pieces) while writing your response.
13 responses so far ↓
marycreed // September 14, 2008 at 2:22 pm |
“American but hyphenated”
Both Mora and Morales explore the dimensions of self-identity through the body. The body acts as a tool, a supposedly clear means of classification in which to define oneself, to hold fast to, or to hide behind. However, in America, which is like a tree with no roots, sprouting fruits of every color, branching off and intertwining, the classifications become indiscernible. In “Child of the Americas” the speaker begins to list off various ethnicities; classifications based on the body in attempt to sort themselves into sensible units to identify with but cannot fit entirely into any one particular grouping or ethnicity. The body communicates that it is more than one. In the last stanza the speaker is able to compile all that she is into saying “I am new. History made me.” which corresponds back to who “America” is.
In “Legal Alien” Mora writes from how she is viewed by the world more than how she views or defines herself as Morales writes. The poem focuses on the duality of the speaker’s identity. She is both Mexican and American affectingly making her neither. She says she is on “the fringes of both worlds” insinuating that she cannot immerse herself fully into either worlds, but is instead only able to partially partake in both cultures, “masking her discomfort” she endures her state.
The speaker in Mora’s poem ends in defining herself as “bilateral” two separate parts unable to merge. Morales ends with the statement “I am whole” embracing her undefined definition of herself as a mess of everything making her a truer image of America.
bgray11 // September 14, 2008 at 8:02 pm |
Morales poem “Child of the Americas” exemplifies a great relationship between ethnicity and the body. The speaker of her poem provides us with different images of history she has come to see formed in America. Morales uses words such as “Spanglish” to lead the readers down the pathway of ethnic expectancy. The speaker also tells us, even though Morales is made of different ethnic backgrounds and she is confused whom to call herself, she realizes being made of all these ethnicity, picking just one would be insensible. To find her self-identity she would need to understand that the way we are made up does not actually make us. The way we see ourselves is who we really are. Giving the readers the conclusion we make up who we really are; the little pieces don’t matter, just the whole.
In Cofer’s poem about “beans” she takes on the problem of women suffering at the stove. She compares the making of beans as a kind of grueling task to the body. She uses a sense of feminism to battle the statement “women are expected to do…” in her poem. The women in her poem almost seem to ignore all aspects in life such as “love”, to carry on the cooking of beans. This story allowed me to see the backstage or hidden thoughts in women. She seems to not like cooking because it is almost expected for her to do so as being a women. To feed the men and then her/themselves.
This connects with Morales’ poem because it seems they both have a sense of bewilderment in self-identity. Morales is caught between what she actually should be called and Cofer what is expected of her as a woman. They both show the “two-sides” of America. The side of ethnic expectancy and the side of gender roles.
izamojda // September 14, 2008 at 8:29 pm |
In The Story of My Body, Judith Ortiz Cofer wrote about her body through the lens of her ethnicity. She takes note of how her body and the way people viewed her, changed, as she moved from Puerto Rico to the United States. It seems that culturally, Puerto Ricans are more forgiving and more positive toward their bodies then Americans. She writes that, “[My] Puerto Rican relatives called me tall; at the American school, some of my rougher classmates called me Skinny Bones, and the Shrimp because I was the smallest member of my class…” She notes how in Puerto Rico, “…people were always commenting within my hearing about how my black hair contrasted so nicely with my “pale” skin.” However, here in the United States, others viewed her skin with disdain, such as the Italian shopkeeper down the street, who told her, “You PR kids put your dirty hands on stuff. You always look dirty. But maybe dirty brown is your natural color.” Cofer resolves this conflict by finally deciding to place her self worth on things like her personal accomplishments, as opposed to her looks.
Like The Story of My Body, Aurora Morales’ poem Child of the Americas also explores ethnicity through the experiences of the body. Morales proudly describes herself as a “U.S. Puerto Rican Jew” and delights in the fact that English is, “the tongue of [her] consciousness”, and that, “Spanish is [her] flesh.” Even though Morales has ancestors of African and European descent, she makes it clear that those continents are not her home. In fact, she says “I am new. History made me…And I am whole.” Morales has a unique stake in each culture, because she is happy to be all of them and none of them at the same time. This is in contrast to Cofer who seems to have given up trying to please people and decided instead, to focus on who she is as a person (I am me!).
The poem Legal Alien, by Pat Mora, like Judith Cofer’s The Story of My Body, deals with discrimination. Both poems describe the struggles that many bi-racial or bi-cultural individuals face with regards to their cultural and ethnic identities. However, unlike Judith Cofer, Pat Mora does not use the body as a vessel to explore this topic. Instead, she explores her ethnicity through her everyday experiences, such as when she is writing a memo at work, or when she is ordering at a restaurant. Though Mora is “able to slip from “how’s life?” to “Me’stan volviendo loca,” she is still not considered American by Americans, nor Mexican, by Mexicans. Mora goes on to say that she is viewed by, “… Anglos as perhaps exotic, perhaps inferior, definitely different” and by “Mexicans as aliens.” Her status as a citizen is always hyphenated. She lives somewhere in between America and Mexico.
thang08 // September 14, 2008 at 8:36 pm |
Rossetti writes a basic structure of behavior in which loves between sisters in “Goblin Market.” Many readers may recognize that her efforts are successful.
Lizzie uttered not a word;
Would not open lip from lip
Lest they should cram a mouthful in.
According to this quote, Fearing for her sister’s life, Lizzie decides to find out the goblins to purchase a therapy for her sister. The goblins throw her money back at her and abuse her verbally and physically , robbery and kicking, tearing at her clothing, and smearing the juice and pulp of their fruit on her when they see that Lizzie does not aim to eat the fruit by herself. Then, Lizzie refuses to open her mouth and returns home. She invites her sister to suck the juices from her body.
Like the sister’s love, the words “Eat me, drink me, love me;” in this poem also illustrate the meaning of resurrection of Jesus Christ. Most Christians believe that most people die spiritually since they are born. In other word, they all are sinners. They also believe that if people who drink the blood, and eat the body of Jesus Christ, they are only able to survive for the eternal death. In fact, the blood and the boy of Jesus Christ are playing the most important role in every Christian believer.
In the poem, the author compares the life of Lizzie to Jesus Christ. For example, Lizzie saves Laura’s life by sacrificing her whole life. Similarly, Jesus Christ came to this world to save people who are in the death.
Ian T // September 14, 2008 at 9:20 pm |
“Child of the Americas” by Aurora Levins Morales contains what is perhaps the most literal pairing of ethnicity to the body. Repeatedly, there are references to different ethnicities as part of her makeup: “…Spanish is in my flesh.” In the second stanza of the poem, Morales indicates that English (and by proxy the American culture) makes up her mind and thoughts. By contrast, in the third paragraph, she says that, “Spanish is in my flesh.” The lines describing her use of English that directly precede this paragraph speak of tools, blades, and crafts; while this stanza contains words of singing, rippling, flying, and roots when describing her body’s relation to her Spanish culture. She shows a base in this sort of flowing beauty when she refers to herself as, “of Latinoamerica, rooted in the history of my continent…” Morales describes her distant African heritage as part of her body as well, but she does not feel a direct connection to it.
While Pat Mora also tackles the subject of mixed race in “Legal Alien,” she does it from the angle of looking at herself through another’s eyes. In the beginning of the poem, she focuses attention on her working environment where she describes her ability to accomplish her tasks. While this is the case, she makes it clear that she is “…viewed by the Anglos as perhaps exotic, perhaps inferior, definitely different…” Equally disturbing is her feeling of alienation by the culture that the gringos overly associate her with. The end of the poem shows that the way people view her affects the way she sees her place in society.
In both poems the authors associate their racial identities with their bodies. One with how she views herself and one with how others view her. The first comes away with a positive message; the second leaves us with a feeling of discomfort in the way she feels she is viewed by society.
rachel5702 // September 14, 2008 at 11:38 pm |
In both “Child of the Americas” by Morales and “Legal Alien” by Mora, what really jumped out to me is how the people in both pieces are part of so many different cultures and how they can’t all just relate to one. It’s almost like they have no real identity or no real place to call home. In “Legal Alien” Mora writes, “an American to Mexicans, a Mexican to Americans, a handy token, sliding back and forth, between the fringes of both worlds,” which shows that they are torn between two lives and can’t identify wholly to one. Similarly in “Child of the Americas”, Morals talks about how this person has so many different ethnicities within them but they can only identify with parts. What different between these two pieces is that at the end of “Child of Americas”, you get a sense of pride of the originality where as in “Legal Alien” you get a sense of disconnection.
cteran // September 15, 2008 at 12:05 am |
In, “Beans: An Apologa For Not Loving To Cook”, the author relates the waiting for beans to cook to hardships related to the society she was born into.”For me memory… waited for beans to boil”. Beans and rice is the typical dish in the carribean and is representative of that area. The title says it all, it is an apology, the cause for the conflict warranting this apology is beans. She describes the beans as “echoes of blood”, “organs”, and “jaw breaking”. She goes on to describe how this cooking process turned their mothers into “statues” and “they turned away hard from our demands for attention and love”. Coupled with this was the culmination in which the food was “offered like sacred, steaming sacrifice to los hombres” and with los hombres “la hambre entered the room”. Essentially it can be inferred that mild neglect and hunger (in spite of this act of food making) led to disdain for beans and cooking in general. she goes on to speak of her daughter and the fact that she enjoys cooking. “And i come out… my old nemesis, la hambre”. When taken away from the gloomy context of her past she has come to enjoy cooking. The interest of the daughter in cooking is indicative of the difference of environment in which her mother and her grew up, perhaps meaning a brighter future for the rest of the family.
“Child of the Americas” by Aurora Levins Morales is a poem reciting her mixed ethnic background. “I am a U.S. Puerto Rican Jew” this is a statement not all too common to hear. She identifies herself as “Caribena” connecting herself with that area and the americas. What is a “Caribena”? “I am not African… I have no home there”. A “Caribena” ethnically is a mix of these but none by itself can define her. When you add jewish to this then her last stanza links back to the first. “A child of many diaspora, born into this continent at a crossroads”, “I was born at the crossroads”
“Legal Alien” By Pat Mora speaks about discomfort and alienation that can be felt by bi-cultural individuals, specifically 2nd generation americans. “An american to mexicans, a mexican to americans” his play on the term mexican-american indicate that the specific words arent actually related. He is either mexican or american but never both at the same time. “sliding back and forth… bi-laterally” this moving back and forth indicates an apprehensiveness for the term bi-cultural. He gives the sense that people like this are subject to scrutiny from both cultural worlds and not fully accepted by either.
“Child of the Americas” is focused more on the literal ancestery that makes up the cultural characteristics of her ethnicity.”Beans: An Apologia for not Loving to Cook” on the other hand is focused on social problems pertaining to her ethnicity specifically and how it is remembered through beans which affected her senses and acted as a reminder.
“Legal Alien” and “Child of the Americas” both focus on ethnicity and multiculturalism. One embraces it celebrating this in the statement “I am whole”. While the other knowingly Accepts he cantbe part of either cultural world he lives in. “…masking the discomfort of being pre-judged, Bi-laterally”.
berniechung // September 15, 2008 at 12:10 am |
“Racism cannot exist without racists.”
Cofer talks about her perception of her own skin color through society’s lens. She has the contrast of being favored for her light or “pale” complexion in Puerto Rico to being called “dirty” in the United States. Later on in her essay, she talks about being the victim of racism when she makes a date with Ted. Without the backdrop of society, she would never have learned to see herself differently then perhaps her family or the author saw herself. She pointedly makes a comment when she is talking about “Looks” that the “aesthetic” that she had learned at home would not be the same measure that would be applied to her in “the mainstream world of school.” Later on, again society changes its mind and deems her “exotic” in college.
Morales’s “Child of the Americas” presents another way to handle how society tends to use race as a label. The different interpretations of her race are both confirmed and then torn down because she does not fit into one category better than another. Maybe the kids in her neighborhood were Puerto Rican Jewish and they tried to claim her into that category. However, she also has Caribbean and African roots as well. She decides for herself that she sits at the “crossroads” and although some people might not comprehend that notion, she is “whole” in identifying herself as an “in-between-er”. She does not have to identify with one group even though she is fully all those groups and she prefers to be an equal-parts mix of all the groups she has described.
Mora takes the racial construction even further. She also identifies that she lives in the “crossroads” and is able to describe her situation clearly. It is not about her being able to communicate in either English or Spanish or her looks or even about her as a person. The issue regarding her race is that she is “American but hyphenated.” From this point of understanding, where Morales leaves the reader, Mora turns comprehension into power. She can smoothly glide “back and forth/between the fringes of both worlds.” She understands both words and the schism that dichotomizes the different cultures.
Throughout the three texts, race comes across as a social construction. This is inferred on two different levels from the writings. First, the authors are writing about their own perception and thus they are also constructing their own knowledge of race through these experiences. Secondly, the idea of race is formed through interaction with other people. Even in Morales’ poem, where other characters are not introduced, there is the knowledge “of the ghettoes of New York I have never known” meaning that history was given to the author. Also, language whether is it English or “of garlic and mangoes” or “spanglish” marks her interaction with other people. The authors’ understanding of race and race construction allows them to define race rather than letting race define them. It allows them to become more than just Puerto Rican or just American-Mexican, but to become real people.
fazizi2 // September 15, 2008 at 12:29 am |
Both “Child of the Americas” by Morales and “Legal Alien” by Mora have very much in common. Both poems deal with adversity coming into this country and basically having to live two lives; one being from your foreign decent and the other being an American. It seems as though the characters in both poems have or slowly loosing there orginal identity and are becoming so called “Americanized”. The characters in both poems are struggling with there identity’s and describing how America changes the life of a foreingner and the struggles of pleasing the Americans and the people from your own country. For example in “Legal Alien”…”an American to Mexicans
a Mexican to Americans “. Both pieces are different in a way because one identifies on certain race and the other identifies many races for example in “Child of Americas”…”I am African, Arifca is in e me but i cannot return…I am European. Europe lives in me, but I have no home there”.. but in the end both showing the lost of slowly loosing your identity when living in this country for a certain period of time. It is sad to say this but this is actually happening to foreigners as we speak.
parkhannah // September 15, 2008 at 6:40 am |
In both of the “Legal Alien” and “Child of the America” carries similarities.
Both raised in America, and yet forigners to the country.
In Legal Alien, “An American to Mexicans. A Mexican to Americans” deals with struggle being an American and Mexican, can’t find her own identity, and not accepted by both cultural world.
“By smiling by masking the discomfort of being pre-judged Bi-laterally.” She just accepts being who she is and moves on.
In Child of the Americas, pretty much same as the other one, appearance wise, she is foreigner.
Even if she was born and raised in America, because her mixed ethnic background, she can’t define herself. “ I am a U.S. Puerto Rican Jew, A product of the ghettos of New York I have never known.”
They both deals duality of their ethnic and culture.
sableotey // September 15, 2008 at 10:20 am |
In child of Americas, Morales is expressing herself. She makes a distinction between her ethnicity/background which is Puerto Rico/spanish and her fluent language, English. She’s comfortable with who she is and proud of and what she’s done and been through. She’s proud that she has these different backgrounds and feels as though this is an accomplishment, to move or live in different places and adapt accordingly. Although she’s American, on the inside, intuitively speaking, she’s Puerto Rican physically. Morales has been to Europe, Africa, Puerto Rico, and the statement, “I am whole’ means that everything she’s been through and every place that she’s gone is a chapter in her life. All of these chapters make a book that completes her. In “Legal Alien”, Mora feels as though she doesn’t fit in. She lives in the U.S. but maybe she doesn’t have all of the physical features a normal American should have. Maybe she doesn’t look as though she belongs in a particular settings. Mora feels as though when goes to Mexico she is being judged through the eyes of the another being. And example would be, “You may speak Spanish but you’re not like me.” Someone may have been looking at her in a not so pleasant way to make her feel as though she wasn’t or she couldn’t possibly understand what it’s like to be them completely. She feels as though she can never be completely accepted for who she is as a whole in either countries. It seems as though she’s really self conscious with who she is and she pays so much attention to the people around that she forgets that she’s actually someone of importance and it doesn’t matter what people thinks. What matters is her feeling comfortable in her own body. These poems are similar because the authors both speak about being in or of different places other than the U. S. Physical features don’t define the person who lives inside you
thang08 // September 15, 2008 at 7:25 pm |
The author of “Legal Alien” believes that she is not suitable the place she lives in. She thinks that she does not look like many majority people in the United States. Mora also feels that Mexican people think that she is an American. The words “(their eyes say, “You may speak Spanish but you’re not like me”) illustrate about her feeling. When analyzing the quote, the author focuses on other people and she is dissatisfied for her own ethnicity.
In child of Americas, Morales is proud of being an American. Then, she satisfies because of having different backgrounds and thinks that these backgrounds are accomplishments for her life. In other words, she feels that she gets benefits as the result of moving or living in different places. She also makes clear what her ethnicity is. For instance, “I am a Child of a U.S. Puerto Rican Jew.”
Personally, my feeling was like “Legal Alien” before I came to the Unites States. My great grandfather was a Burmese, a majority ethnicity in Burma and grew up among Chin, a small ethic group. Since that time, my great grandfather, grandfather, father, and I myself felt neither the Burmese people nor the Chin people do totally accept to be a part of their ethnic. However, I have tried to adjust my past feeling that I was born as a Chin and Christian since two years ago, and I believe that I will be proud of my ethnic like “Child of the Americas” on the future.
HB // September 16, 2008 at 12:37 pm |
Both Mora and Morales trying to explore the self- identity by body and by linguistic and cultural roots.
In “child of America” Morales shows that linguistic and cultural root are the center of her power. She told that she has proud to be on an Latin-American. She told that “I am new. History made me,” means that she is advanced than anybody else. But on the other hand in “Legal Alien” Mora seems like not satisfied with her life because she is bi- lingual and bi- cultural. She seems herself in a condition where she can’t go anywhere. “ An American to Mexicans a Mexican to Americans” here in this sentence she trying to show how upset she is from her linguistic and cultural roots, where nobody want to adept her and she trying to cover it by keeping the smile on her face.
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