“They wore homemade dresses and huaraches…”

In reading part I of The Crossing I was not surprised by the familiar representation of Mexicans. Like in most other pieces of writing that portray Mexican characters a great deal of stereotypes are revealed, the majority being pretty accurate descriptions of Mexicans considering the setting of the story, yet several questions were raised in my head regarding the author’s motives for focusing on particular details when presenting these characters.

Nonetheless, I was pleased to see that McCarthy did not fail to present the different types of Mexicans that live; poor, wealthy, ignorant, intelligent, wicked, and kind. Throughout part I Billy encountered characters such as Don Arnulfo, poor yet wise and kind so far as we can see. He fills Billy up with knowledge and advices him in matters of life however, the detail that he is a “brujo” is not left out. Why? Oh well he MUST be a brujo because a poor, old Mexican cannot possibly be wise and have intelligent thought because all Mexicans are lazy, uneducated, and only good for working, right…? Billy later comes across other Mexicans, one is Jaime, the town’s “curandero” I suppose who helps Billy cure the wolf’s wound. Here I noted McCarthy’s insistence in calling Jaime “the Mexican” rather than by his name. What was his purpose for doing so? Further in the story Billy meets two female Mexicans, an old lady and her young daughter-in-law who is pregnant. In this occasion I questioned McCarthy’s motive for introducing these two stereotypical Mexican characters. “They wore homemade dresses and huaraches…The woman had on a black shawl or rebozo about her shoulders…Their skin was dark like an indian’s and their eyes coal black” pg. 85 McCarthy capitalized on their ignorance by focusing on their inability to differentiate between a loba and a perra plus their lack of education about their own bodies. The girl was pregnant at such an early age on top of that was smoking. Moreover the two are aware of their ignorance, “sabemos lo que sabemos, the old woman said. Si, said the girl. Lo que es nada.” Yet they were content with this or atleast knew that this was their role as women, to know and ask nothing, just rear children. .Then more towards the end of part I Billy encounters the two riders, the town’s “authority”, who McCarthy describes as “dressed in dirty chino workclothes…and they rode at an insolent slouch.” Why this particular description? We know that Mexico is known for their lazy, corrupt policemen and political leaders but why does McCarthy feel it necessary to include it in his work?

Wolves: The GREATER Challenge

Machismo? Interesting explanation for the desire to hunt the wolf, reasonable too considering that we are talking about men sharing a border with Mexicans, the true role models of machismo so seen at least in the eyes of many. Yet it is apparent that machismo is not all that leads men to hunting; the challenge, knowledge gained, and feeling of accomplishment are perhaps what truly drives men to hunting, particularly a wolf. Particularly a wolf possibly because of the realization that wolves are considered by many to be extremely intelligent creatures, perhaps even wiser than certain men.In The Crossing Billy learns from Don Arnulfo, the “brujo” that the wolf is more than just a creature with fur, claws, and sharp teeth. The old man states, “the wolf is a being of great order…it knows what men do not” it is “una cosa incognoscible”. They have their own minds and own feelings like humans, yet they are still just animals, savage and ferocious, a threat to human beings, and therefore a great hunting option. And what better option to men who seek a great challenge, a challenge that will surely earn them the respect of other men who are aware of the knowledge and value the wolf possesses? Indeed an accomplishment worth reaching no matter how “machista” or not one may be.

“Calidad. Quality” What does it equal?

What is it that makes one human being “superior” to another? Or are we all equal, if so what makes us equal? In “Never Marry a Mexican” what made it appropriate for Clemencia to say that her father a Mexican had married down by marrying her mother a Chicana but would have married up if he had married a white woman from el otro lado”? Could it be the material things we own that give us value and make us superior?

Well apparently Cisneros’ happens to think that indeed the material things we own and flaunt have much to do in the way one is seen and classified by others. The first indication of this is found on page 71 where she illustrates Clemenia’s father. She writes, “My father in his shark-blue suits with the starched handkerchief in the breast pocket, his felt fedora…and heavy British wing tips with the pin-hole design on the heel and toe. Clothes that cost a lot. Expensive. That’s what my father’s things said. Calidad. Quality.” In my opinion she has decided to add this detail to make a correlation between one’s superiority and ones valuable belongings as well as appearance.

And if this first example was not obvious enough she does it again on page 81. Here she emphasizes once more on this word, “calidad” as she describes Megan, a white woman, Drew’s respectable wife and mother of his beloved son. Cisneros writes, “I found myself opening the medicine cabinet looking at all the things that were hers. Her Estee Lauder lipsticks. Corals and pinks, of course….On the door hook – a white robe with a MADE IN ITALY label, and a silky nightshirt with pearl buttons. I touched the fabrics. Calidad. Quality.” It is now clear at least to me that her technique of highlighting on the term “quality” when referring to these two very different characters is to illustrate the similarity in their superiority.

“…busquese un muchacho de nuestro pueblo…”

“Mi’ja busquese un muchacho de nuestro pueblo…” (Daughter look for a guy from our own town…) this is what my father has always said to me and all my sisters.  He means to marry.  You see I never truly understood why he felt this way or what’s more I didn’t see why I should think like him.  Honestly, I thought it was nonsense. Why should I listen to and follow this absurd advice that in my opinion could be judged as racist?

Well after reading Sandra Cisneros’s “Never Marry a Mexican” I began to understand my fathers concern. You see, I come from a large Mexican family, pure Mexican blood. Both my parents were born and raised in a small town in
Guanajuato, Mexico, same place I was born. Even though we all moved here to the
U.S. when I was only 6 years old, I have attended school here and I have to a certain extent been influenced by the American culture, I have grown with the many Mexican traditions and beliefs of my parents. So as I sat reading Clemencia’s characterization of her grandfather, “big hardworking Mexican man… [not] stingy with food…and he knew what living without meant.” (page 70) I pictured my father. Then my own image appeared as I read about Clemencia’s father, a Mexican immigrant with Mexican beliefs instilled in him and as a result “found the U.S. Mexicans very strange, so foreign from what he knew at home in
Mexico…” (page 71).

Furthermore, on page 69 Cisneros writes, “my father (Mexican) had married down by marrying her (a Chicana).” At this point I realized that Cisneros saw a serious difference among a Mexican (born in Mexico) and a U.S. Mexican (born in
U.S.). It was perhaps the same difference that my own father sees and that is why he wishes for us to marry someone Mexican like us. I find that it is not simply the difference in the place of birth because both are of Mexican descent and therefore share similar cultures, but more the liberty that the U.S. Mexican grants him or herself which makes him or her be seen as inferior to the Mexican who is more traditional and concerned with maintaining old customs. All notions that are defended by a Mexican, possibly because he or she finds that these are the only valuable things a Mexican possesses as opposed to all the material things that a U.S. Mexican is surrounded with from birth and ends up spoiling them.

Could Bias Knowledge be Shaping our Cultural Attitudes?

The article, Harmony and Conflict of Intercultural Images: the Treatment of Mexico in U.S. Feature Films and K-12 Textbooks reveals much knowledge regarding the construction of intercultural images as well as the distortion of Mexican and Latin American history in
U.S. culture.  We learn that in school we are being taught only specific facts and selected views regarding the history of Mexico and its surrounding countries, possibly for the sake of keeping unpleasant history facts about the
U.S. hidden.  Depending on what teachers decide to teach about the history of
Mexico, the students are forming their own opinions about the people of that culture.  It gets down to the point where, depending on what is being taught in grade school about the U.S., Mexican War the student will either show resentment or sympathy toward those with a Mexican background.  The mass media also aids in the formation of different views toward other cultures not just the Mexican culture.  Newspapers, talk shows, and television news all shape the way we understand other cultures.  Because almost all of it is bias, we are not always taught facts but rather formed opinions and this is what makes it hard for us to judge or even try to understand people from cultures separate from ours, and this bias is what leads to the distortion of history.  

For instance Mexican and Latin American history are distorted in U.S. culture in the way that when certain topics are being taught to students primarily in grade school where these lessens are more limited than in higher education, the foreigner is depicted as either inferior or as the villain, particularly in battles or wars as with the U.S. Mexican War.  As a result the student grows with this false perception and as he grows he imagines all to be equal in character.

Racism in The Martyrs of the Alamo?

In my opinion the movie definitely shows some degree of racism.  It presents to us a group of rude, aggressive Mexican soldiers as opposed to loving, caring and sympathetic Anglos. Bias is definitely a part of this movie, for in the end it does aim at presenting the struggle of the Anglo group for independence from his oppressor, the unjust Mexican. From the start we are presented with selfish acts of the soldiers toward the wives of the Anglo citizens, allowing us the viewer to sympathize with them (the Anglo) and rejecting the Mexicans for their behavior.   

Furthermore, women and love play a crucial role in communicating the message of this movie, for they can be seen as the main motivators for the struggle.  For instance at the start of the movie there is not great focus on the unmerited dictatorship of Santa Anna, which was claimed to be the reason for the fight, instead we were presented with the coward acts of violence of the individual Mexican soldiers toward women (the weak and vulnerable in any movie).  In addition the movie reveals to us the great love that the Anglo husbands have for their disrespected wives; a love so strong that they were willing to die for it.  As a result, we are driven into empathizing with them (the Anglos) and this alone helps to camouflage the apparent racist depictions presented in the movie.

…for the sake of FAME

It would be a great disappointment to many to even think that Cabeza de Vaca’s narrative was written for the sake of FAME, but was it?  I am sure that the majority would argue that it was not. However, I can conclude that there are a few who would argue otherwise.  As for me, well I must admit I have my doubts considering that Cabeza de Vaca did write this narrative for the king, in a way to excuse himself from his failure in his primary mission. Therefore, I ask.  If you had been in his shoes, would you not have altered your writing in a way that favored you? Would you not select the most outstanding experiences and maybe omit a few of your mishaps?  Once again I ask.  When you take a picture, do you not purposely select what you want captured and how you want it captured in your picture accordingly to what and how you want others to view it? So I think. Should we treat Cabeza de Vaca’s narrative as a true, accurate piece of writing that depicts history as it truly happened or rather as another piece of historic writing that serves merely to entertain and spark some thought in the minds of the ignorant?  You decide.

Fear of the unknown

AMAZED. Amazed is what I became as I read pages 119-121 in the narrative of Cabeza de Vaca. I could not help but be interested in the conversation that the Indians were having with Cabeza de Vaca and the rest of the Christians about the “evil being” that they encountered some fifteen or sixteen years earlier. As I read this section I pictured this “evil being” in my head; short and bearded as the Indians described, almost human-like yet with the appearance of an animal. I must admit the chupakabras came into mind as I read. For this reason, I was even more surprised to hear the professor point out this piece of text as well as a few of my classmates refer to the chupakabras in our in-class discussion. I must say, I enjoyed the discussion, it was reassuring as well as interesting, yet I happen to disagree with the idea that this being was an extraterrestrial. Instead, I believe that this “evil being” that the Indians encountered was indeed an evil being, one with unusual powers and not from this world but from that of evil, like a spirit. I can say this because unlike several I do belive in ghosts for I as well as my family have in the past had experiences either seeing or hearing these “evil beings”. Slow indistinguishable whispers in my ear and unexplained shadows moving slowly through the hallways all help me relate to the Indians because like them, when we felt their presence our hair stood on end and involuntarily we trembled.

in a nutshell…

Hello everyone, my name is Rosa.

I was born in Mexico although I have lived in the USA for almost all my life. I do take pride in my culture and heritage and that is why I am truly looking forward to learning whatever there is to learn in this class : )

I am also looking forward to getting to know and understand my classmates views through this blogging system.