"...y no se lo tragó la tierra"

I'll begin by saying that this book was not at all what I expected, as I'm sure many of you have found. My first impression, as I always judge books by their cover, informed me that it would be a fairly easy read, perhaps even a childrens book about a migrant boy in Mexico. I was definitely surprised when I started reading it and realized that it was not quite that at all. Although I was right in the sense that it is about a migrant boy living between Texas and Mexico (?) it is definitely a little more advanced than most childrens novels. I suppose if it was read in English, it would perhaps target a younger audience.

Anyway, I decided to do some research on Tomas Rivera because I find that prior to reading, knowledge of the author can make the "big picture" a lot easier to understand. This was definitely the case here. After learning a bit about him, his life, and his experiences, it made the book a bit easier to understand and relate to. Like I'm sure many of us will mention, the style and structure in which the novel (?) was written did really confuse me at first. I have a feeling everything will come together at some point in the book, and things will start to make sense. I think it's clear that we all need to have the general idea that the novel is a collection of short stories/experiences of this boy. Perhaps the reason the chapters seem so mixed up is because this is truly the way he remembers his life, as a big bluur of experiences and thoughts.

I quite enjoy the way Tomas Rivera writes these long, semi confusing dragged out sentences, some of which seem to be in Spanglish, or in this case what I like to call "Tex Mex". The language used is very colloquial Mexican which I love and makes me laugh. As for the story, Rivera wants us to have extreme compassion for the main characters position and the hardships he faces in his difficult life in the South, and as a Latino living in the United States. He makes us realize that many things haven't changed since the time this book is set in, and we currently still face a lot of issues relevant to the novel.

Jose Marti Readings

Having read very little of Jose Marti's works in the past and not knowing much about his life, I went into these ones thinking he was simply a Cuban patriot, how wrong I was! I've realized from these readings that he is definitely a very patriotic writer, perhaps for Cuba, but definitely for the United States. As we saw from these short stories, he has a very intimate connection with life and the social aspects of American society.

Although these were tough to get through when it came to the level of difficulty of Spanish, I actually did enjoy reading them. Marti's amazing descriptive ability is most definitely one of the essential components in the way he writes. It truly astonished me the way he was able to describe the most simple situations, figures or people with sentances which were seemingly like poetry. He uses many beautiful Spanish words - some of with which I was familiar, most of which I was not - to express his feelings and surroundings. I'm quite certain I am not alone in saying that he does an excellent job in paiting a detailed mental picture for the reader, which makes the experience all the more enjoyable, as I found myself being as enthusiastic as he clearly is.

His writings about New York and it's surrounding areas show that he was quite passionate about the city. As Jon mentioned in class, Marti was a story teller for many Latinos as his articles were published in Mexico and Argentina (and perhaps all over Latin America). I assume he exceeded expectations when it came to describing North America and it's inhabitants to the foreigners to the south with excellent ability to entice and entertain his audience.

Span 322 - "Who Would Have Thought It?" Blog # 2

Having completed the second half of the book, I now feel that I have a somewhat different set of opinions and thoughts about the novel as a whole, especially when it comes to Ruiz de Burton's writing style. As I believe we have established in class this is a novel criticizes the aspects of class, race, religion and gender in 18th century American life.

First off, being aware of how highly critical this novel is, let's ask the important question of; Is this criticism really valid and sufficient? I strongly believe that this is fundamental to the way we judge the aspects of the novel. We must take into consideration who the target audience is. We, being young, generally liberal Canadians in the current time period, now apply very liberal approaches to society as a whole. For example, if you were a Nazi in Germany during the holocaust, you wouldn't think "I'm such an awful person, what on earth am I doing?" My point being, it is almost certain that if an American, in the 18th century read this novel, it would probably just seem like a sad story with a happy ending. Perhaps he/she would say "Hackwell seems like a fairly dodgy character"

That being said, this novel facilitates a very easy environment for us to judge these New England families over their racist and sexist lives because of the way we currently live ours today. If we examine an example of something which is currently universally accepted, like the fact that same sex marriages are illegal in 48 states. In this case, there is a minority who is critical of this, Canadians and Californians for example, however thinking about whether it will be the same in 100 years, the majority would probably disagree, and say that it will be legal nation wide.

I won't let this get too lengthy. Overall I found the ending to be slightly dissapointing. I'm assuming I'm not alone in saying that it wasn't as exciting as we all had hoped for, even though Lola and Julian ended up living happily ever after in Mexico.

Span322 - Who Would Have Thought It - Blog # 1

Although this novel examines the very interesting topics of gender, class, race, and the social structure they form in everday life in the United States during the mid 1800's, the way in which this particular work is written I find quite pedestrian. The author uses an extensively descriptive style, and at times trails off onto subjects which seem unrelated to the ideas and arguments she is trying to present to the reader. Evidently the themes presented include the effects of the American Civil War on middle-class 18th century Americans and race as a key factor in society.

The interesting part of the underlying theme of the novel, is the fact that in the big picture, we are presented with a selection of diverse New Englad families whom are being affected by a war fought over the abolishment of slavery and racism. Meanwhile the author focuses on one of these families, and almost compares it to their personal situation on a smaller scale using Lola's character. In her writing Maria Ruiz de Burton flaunts these democratic Americans fighting to abolish slavery - and racism - while they in a sense fight their own personal battle with the race of this Mexican girl; more specifically Mrs. Norval.

While reading the first half of the novel, we lightly witness the integration of Lola into this family, and her effects. Mrs. Norval, evidently racist and true upholder of Puritan morality, forms a relationship with Mr. Hackwell clearly represents her low self esteem and a perfect example of a woman of that time who truly did need the direction of a man. It is easy to witness her stupidity as she lets him take advantage of her obliviousness and utter trust for men. Overall, Ruiz's use of irony and satire creates an interesting novel, although the subjects it discusses do not reach their galvanizing potential.

Span322 - Introduction

Hola!
Hey guys,
My name is Kaan, and I am a transfer student from the University of Victoria. This is my 3rd year of studying, but my first at UBC. I have recently returned from a year of studying abroad in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico. This experience inspired me to learn more about Latin American culture, as I learn't and experienced the cultural diferences throughout the Americas.
I loook forward to the discussions with regard to the texts for this class, and hearing the opinions and arguments of everyone.