(This is my post on Padilla’s work and Islas. Dropbox did not allow me to open the “Mosquita y Mari”.)

Arturo Islas’ novel The Rain God is not praised in Chicano literature due to its unsavory characters and the threat people believe they have on the Chicano community. Islas presents a story composed of a main character, Miguel Chico, which comes across as gay. His uncle is called a coyote, which is a middle man for the Chicano labor workers and the American looking to contract these cheap employees.  His father is a character which is presented as being either too macho or not macho enough.  His father’s character is insecure with his role.  Miguel’s relationships, particularly with other men, are ruined by his father’s hyper masculinity. He has trouble trusting other men. Miguel’s mom is unloving and racist. All of these characters are personalities that exist among the Chicano community but Chicano literature could not accept his book.  Islas was strong supporter of the Chicano Movement and he believed that there was not one ideal type of Chicano. He believed that people did not have to be a pachuco or migrant worker to be called or identified as a Chicano (Padilla 2009). There are themes of sexuality both for men and women and “Islas claimed to be interested in examining relationships between sexuality and masculinity rather than in championing a particular notion of sexual identity”(Padilla 2009).  Throughout his novel, Islas never confirms if any of his characters are indeed gay. There are only references to being gay but the reader is left without knowing. Islas does not represent openly gay Chicanos in his work and this is one his failures. He carries the closeted Chicano identity throughout his work and never addresses issues of openly gay Chicanos.

How do you feel about the closeted nature of Islas’ work? Does this bother you or do you understand his choice in writing The Rain God as he did?

-Bridgett Gonzalez

The character I most fascinating in the book So Far From God was that of La Loca. I found her interesting because she was different than the others. I thought it was interesting that she didn’t like being around human but rather animals,I think a lot of us could relate to some aspect of this, i know for myself sometimes i would just rather be around my cat than to go out with friends. I also really enjoyed the aspect about her and that she pushed boundaries of being the traditional Chicana, unlike her mother. I found it funny when they mention shes allergic to people, because I always say things like that, when i dont feel like being around others, maybe thats why i was so drawn to her character because i found relate to so many aspects of her life.

What character do you feel you identified yourself with most, and why?

The novel, So Far From God author Ana Castillo discusses a lot about roles that Sophia and her daughters Fe, Esperanza, Caridad, y la Loca play throughout the novel. In the beginning of the novel, Sophia takes on the role of being the mother who provides support and economical well being for her daughters and herself since her husband abandon them. Despite her husband Domingo leaving her, Sofia did not give up on life and continues to go no matter the circumstances. Sofia demonstrates her masculine side by becoming the men of her house while still having to be a caring mother to her daughters. Even with the death of her daughters Sofia find a form of resistance to be a strong Chicana despite the obstacles. However, throughout the rest of the novel, the women and her daughters all go through life changing experiences that completely changes them and their ways of living. Sofia and her daughters Fe, Esperanza, Caridad, y la Loca represents the struggle that women have to face in life. The women went through a series of emotional and tragic struggles. For example, Caridad who struggles with the abandonment of her husband Memo, she is also brutally attacked which causes a tremendous impact in her life. While Esperanza, Fe, and la loca have their own experiences throughout that completely shape their lives as well. As I observed the women of the novel, I come to think that the issues that these women go through are similar to the contemporary issues that women continue to face today. What does the class think? Do the issues of the women in the novel connect to today women issues or gender roles in Chicana or Latina women today?

On the contrast, as I previously mentioned, the women in the novel come to face tragic life events. The novel illustrates other issues such as religion, psychological issues, heartbreaks, and death. Throughout the novel, the women encounter death. For example, Fe and Esperanza are both women are killed. Esperanza encounters death while working across sees while Fe dies from cancer caused by chemical exposure. However, Esperanza comes back home in spirit after her death but Fe does not. While reading the novel, the most interesting part of the novel is to see that Esperanza come back in spirit. Throughout the novel, Esperanza is seen as the good daughter that helps her mother Sofia with her sisters. Sofia looks at Esperanza as the daughter she can count on because of the mother and daughter bond (47). While Fe is the daughter is more distance from her family. Fe is portrayed as being “too ashamed of her family” because she did not want her family to meet Tom (31). I though it was interesting I got see that how both Fe and Esperanza are portrayed different but Esperanza is the sister that comes back to the family in spirit. I think that Esperanza comes back in spirit because she was helpful person to her and family while Fe was more distance had a different attitude that isolated herself from than her sisters and her mother. I believe that Esperanza spirit comes back for her family upon her death while Fe’s did not come back she was not as close to her family like her sister. Why do you believe that Esperanza spirit came back in spirit and Fe does not?

Ana Castillo’s So Far From God explores the lives of a Chicana/o family in Tome, New Mexico.  The book’s chapters are considered “episodes,” and each episode represents the different struggles and successes of the characters. Although this family has a close bond, each member carries different values and life perspectives. Sofi, the mother, is woman who had to learn how to be independent out of necessity. She left her home and married at a young age. She had four daughters (Esperanza, Caridad, Fe, and La Loca) with Domingo but their marriage eventually dissolved because of his addiction to gambling. He continued to make life difficult for his family since he wanted to gamble personal belongings and property. Apart from suffering the loss of her husband, Sofi also had to deal with the death of La Loca. During this time, she wondered what debt she owed God for making her suffer so much heartbreak. Sofi proves her resiliency and strength by refusing to give up anything to Domingo and supporting her family through tough times.

Through the novel, Sofia’s daughters struggle with their identities and this causes them to live in pain, suffering, and insecurity. Esperanza was the contemporary Chicana with the family who went against the traditional lifestyles her culture often imposed on women. She pursued a degree in Chiana/o studies and was determined to make a change in her community. Although one would think she was a strong, independent woman, her partner’s toxicity caused her to doubt her passions from time to time. Although she was able to leave the relationship, her life was still cut short because of masculine entities. She was sent to Saudi Arabia to report war events and her life was taken (along with others) because of the violence. Caridad was the daughter that followed the traditional values of her culture and ended up losing her identity once she lost the man whom she felt completed her existence. She had an abortion once she found out she was pregnant with his baby and soon began behaving like the “bad woman.” This “bad woman” behavior involved her going to bars late at night and bringing different men home. She then experienced a rape and her faith in men diminished completely. She decided to reclaim back her existence by exploring her spirituality and was on a mission to find inner peace. Unfortunately, exploring her identity and sexuality led her to the decision of ending her life with her lover Esmeralda since they thought that was the only way they can break free from control and judgment. Fe represents the daughter who assimilated into white culture. She got a hold of a career at a bank and developed a relationship with Tom. It seemed as though she had achieved the middle class life she always wanted but this ended once Tom left her. She would later marry her cousin but one could tell that she was miserable up until her life was taken by the chemicals caused by the military industrial complex. Finally, La Loca was the daughter that resurrected after her fatal accident. She is the figure in the family that maintained traditional skills in order to keep her culture’s values and history alive. In my opinion, I feel like she has ability to see the hypocrisy and malicious intentions in people which makes her want to keep her distance from humanity altogether.

One of the most intriguing parts of the story is how Esperanza was able to come back as a spirit, but Fe was not. Both girls led very different lives but patriarchal ideologies and US nationalism controlled their lives one way or another and eventually caused their deaths. Esperanza had so much love for the work that she did and although she loved her culture, she knew changes needed to be made. I think she was able to come back as a spirit because her work on Earth and among humans was not over yet. She always had a strong sense of determination so she wanted to make a difference even as a spiritual entity. Fe was disconnected from her culture and did not care much for staying in contact with them since she was miserable for most of her life. There was no reason for her to come back with the living since living was not something she enjoyed herself; her work on Earth was done and over with. It was time to leave it completely.

Questions:

Do you think spirituality can make a difference in someone’s journey towards healing?

Would you blame Chicana/o or Latina/o culture for the deaths and suffering of these women?

Do you think we really have control of our spiritual entities and be able to decide where we want to spend our afterlives?

Which character do you have the most sympathy for?

In the novel So Far From God by author Ana Castillo we are introduced to a mother and four sisters. The mother is Sofia who is a very empowering women because she is abandoned by her husband which is a gambler. He gambles away several items that belong to Sofia, however, the one thing he cannot get his hands on was her house. Sofia becomes the provider of the family once she is left with her four daughters. Sofia is the one that makes sure they are economically stable. She takes on a huge role when she becomes major of Tome, through her leadership skills the community becomes more collective, and are capable of supporting for themselves. The names of the four sisters are Esperanza, Caridad, Fe, and La Loca. Each sister is very different in their own way. However, they all resemble the significance of a strong women.

Esperanza is the oldest sister, and she represents a Chicana like many of us today because she goes to college and even majors in Chicana/o Studies. She faced a rough time in her relationship with Ruben because she was only being used he only cared about himself, and saw her as an object not a real women. Caridad was the traditional Chicana/Latina. Caridad loses herself when she is in the relationship with Memo. From this “good” women image she becomes a “bad” women. She is out at bars in the night and goes home with men. Fe was very different from the other sisters because her view was based upon the white middle class. She had a job in the financial institutions. However, she faces a tragedy when she is laughed at by Tom in the altar. She then becomes this resemblance of La Llorona. La Loca was a very interesting sister. At a young age she loses her name. Her characteristics are very odd because she is allergic to people and the only individual that was able to touch her was her mother.  La Loca inherited traditional skills like cooking, cleaning, and caring.

Esperanza after she is killed comes back to her family in a spiritual form. However, Fe does not come back at all. In my perspective I believe that she no longer comes back because she abandoned her culture. She became so assimilated with the white middle class, therefore there was no point in her coming back. On the other hand, Esperanza was so always so close to her mother because Sofia depended on her so much. What do you think is the reason for why one of the sisters came back, and the other did not?

What sister stood out to you the most in this novel?

In the book So Far From God (1993), written by author Ana Castillo, we capture a story about a Chicano/a family that takes place in Tome, New Mexico. “Sofia, …a wife and mother of four girls, single handedly ran the Carne Buena Carneceria she inherited from her parents, managed all the finances, and ran the house on her own to boot” (28). Although Domingo, her children’s father, left her due to gambling issues, Sofia manages to weather the storm by taking on the role of a father and mother. As the matriarch of la familia, she constantly puts the needs of her daughter’s before her own. Although Sofia teaches her daughters to be strong independent Chicanas, each of them, except for La Loca, pursue male dominating relationships that fail due to partners who cheat and/or have commitment issues.
As a result of Esperanza, Caridad, and Fe’s failed relationships, each of them struggle to make sense of life without a male at the center of their world. In an attempt to make sense of their failed relationships, each of the girls embarks on different paths in life to fill the void of not having a man in their life. In the midst of Sofia trying to deal with her daughter’s failed relationships, Domingo, her long lost husband, pops back into their life. While he is good for nothing, Sofia allows him to come back home, as “her heart did not allow her to just put him out on the streets” (218).
In the end, Sofia’s “Domingo” tries to stiff her out of her property inheritance, but she fights to keep it, even at the expense of having to rent it back from one of the towns powerful attorneys.  Also, her four daughters all die in tragic deaths. Esperanza, the contemporary educated Chicana, who is a newscaster/journalist, dies while away at war covering a story. Caridad jumps off a cliff with her lover Esmeralda to escape the heterosexism due to her sexuality. Fe develops cancer from toxic waste chemicals that she was exposed to while working in Corporate America, and eventually dies. And, La Loca, the youngest daughter, who died when she was three and resurrected from death, eventually dies of Aids. Despite these painful circumstances, Sofia never loses sight of her commitment as Leader/Mayor of Tome. Sofia, the non-traditional Chicana, a strong woman, uses her painful experiences as motivation to address the social, economic, and political inequalities, which persist in Tome, New Mexico. She continues to be extremely committed to improving the socioeconomic conditions of the people in her community. Eventually she becomes the Founder and President of M.O.M.A.S.-(Mother’s of Martyrs and Saints). Through this safe space, she builds a bridge to connect mothers in the community who form a sense of belonging to remember their children who have died at the hands of underlying factors associated with our heteropatriarchal/capitalistic society.

Questions:
What are some of the themes that Castillo exposes the reader to in her book?

How does Castillo present the male characters in the book?

Does Castillo reveal intersecting exploitive relationships in her book???? What are some of the micro/macro level of exploitive relationships she reveals? (class, gender, race, sexuality etc.)

At the core, would you say that Castillo wants to expose the reader to the heavy persistence of patriarchy and capitalism in our society and how people turn to their families and communities as a means of survival?

Norma Cantú presentation A Chicana’s Life in Literature, she discusses the hybrid nation that people lived along the US/Mexico border. She grew up in a border town and shared her experiences of walking across the border back and forth in her early years. The uniqueness of the towns allowed people to actually adapt and use different Spanglish along the border. She came from a  large family, I believe of 11 children, and she shared many experiences. She acknowledges that she is a “product of bilingual education” because her first caretaker taught her how to read and write in Spanish.

She acknowledges that she has experienced the “cultural conflict and confluence,” as an example she had a photo wearing a chiña poblano outfit yet at school she is wearing a cowgirl outfit, school assimilated her into “Texan” culture. The upbringing she considered was “ethnocentric” and felt a cultural clash between Chicana and Texan. Yet when she has questioned her allegiance to either flag was she feels equal to both countries. Would it be that maintaining her residence along the border she feels that connection or if she moved elsewhere she would still identify as with both strongly?

    In Ana Castillo, So Far from God is about a Chicano family living in New Mexico and the four daughters Esperanza, Fe, Caridad, and Loca seems to foreshadow the books themes. The mother Sofi establishes a household that not only encourages but allows the women to become their true self, without any direction. Each daunter represents independent and strong women who overcome obstacle without the support of a male figure. Sofia created that space for the girls to grow and sometimes learn the hard way about not only people but life in general.The family endures hardships, especially with the death of their first daughter, Esperanza, her name, meant hope and she contributed her life to her community. What does their faith have to do with how they handle their situations? Why does the family continue to have negative events unfold?

Ana Castillo’s So Far From God presented a unique perspective. This perspective is the first hand experience of Chicanas living in the United States. So Far From God presents the story of four Chicanas living in New Mexico and the way that they live their lives. The four daughters, Esperanza, Fe, Caridad, and La Loca, all experience different things in life. The four daughters all present different ways of life but they all serve to show different Chicana perspectives. I thought that the way the book presented the story of the daughter’s was very unique and made it very easy to understand the Chicana perspective. What stood out the most to me about these readings was the ideas related to the curandera Doña Felicia. I found this part to be the most interesting. Doña Felicia is an older woman who becomes the mentor of Caridad. Felicia plans on teaching Caridad her ways of healing. In chapter three, they talk about the remedies that Doña Felicia plans to teach to Caridad. Some of the remedies that are included are those to cure mal de ojo and empacho. These ways of healing used by Doña Felicia are a good representation of the folklore concepts found in Chicano/a culture. The idea of using unique methods of healing to cure certain illnesses is a very folkloric concept. I felt that this part was a good representation of ideas that aren’t really brought up when describing Chicano/a culture. Folklore’s influence on the culture of Chicanas and Chicanos tends to be overlooked.  Doña Felicia and her healing methods serve as a representation of the folklore that plays a major role in Chicano/a culture and society. The way Doña Felicia and her teachings were presented in the book were what really stood out to me during this reading.

My questions are:

What is your perspective on the different methods of healing, similar to those of Doña Felicia, that are used in Chicano/a culture? Do you believe that they are actually effective or just old ideas that don’t really do anything?

After watching the video on Norma Cantu she expressed what it was like for her family to adapt to Mexican culture when they were in Mexico and then to American culture when they were in Texas. She spoke about what the border used to be like that it was more of a bridge that allowed people to cross over easily and compares it to how the process to cross over from Mexico to the U.S is now. She speaks a lot of what the history was and something was stood out to me was how they celebrated George Washington’s birthday as a big extravaganza and the dresses that women would wear. Then, she compared it to how her mother dressed her and made the dress as a Chicana culture. The last thing that truly stood out to me from her video was when she mentions her brother that always played guns. That even though he was never allowed to play guns he later went to a profession that involved it. Even though he did not join because of the guns he joined because he wanted to become a scientist and joining was the only way he would be guaranteed a college education. My question for this part is:

Would you agree or disagree that a lot of people from low income families, specifically minorities, join the army simply because they can receive an education during or after? And do you think it is justified?

For Ana Castillo’s So Far From God there have been various topics that have floated my mind as I have begun to read the first chapter. First when La Loca is thought to be dead it showed the sadness that a mother feels and then how overwhelmed one must feel to only realize their child actually is alive. Secondly, as the story progresses Castillo shows the lives that La Loca’s sisters have had to live and the similarity that the three sisters have are that they try to demonstrate a woman’s life is not function-able without a man. For example, Esperanza had to choose between a man and her career but in reality she was the one supporting the lifestyle rather than both of them working together. Caridad was left when she was pregnant shortly after they had gotten married and she turned to a life that she was with any man and only for sex which one night almost left her for dead. Then Fe’s life seem as if it were perfect until she was given a letter and told that the man she was once with no longer wanted to marry her. As the story progresses from their lives it seems that they have gotten to the positives in their lives and the only thing that truly stands out is their names. Esperanza which means hope and similar to what she does in her life, Caridad is charity and Fe is faith. For this section my questions are:

How do you feel when women are constantly being asked when are they getting married or if they are in a relationship? Or why isn’t their a man in their life?

The material for this week touches on a very important part of being Chicana. We live on boarder lands and much of our identity is based on our experiences within those borderlands. Nothing is more fundamental, in my opinion, to our understanding of ourselves, and the outside world than our language. While watching the video of Norma Cantu speaking of her experience growing up in Texas the thing that struck me the most was this sense of duality, of having allegiance to both Mexico and the United States and most importantly how that duality was played out in the realm of the house and school. Growing up, I was definitely aware of these two opposing worlds. More importantly, it was this sense of having two halves that could never be a whole. I remember going to school and Spanish being shunned, although the teachers never directly told us not to speak Spanish, I remember using Spanish almost in secret while out on recess with my class mates. I also remember the frustration when my other half was lacking, when I could not come up with the English word for what I was trying to say I would almost go into fits but never thought of doing the most obvious saying it in Spanish, like wise when I did not have the Spanish word for I was trying to say I’d do anything and everything to come up with the word. I think it is beautiful and effortless how Norma Cantu can switch between English and Spanish. I would also like to note how it takes guts to do that, growing up I remember on several occasions teachers saying that it was a terrible habit to mix Spanish and English I remember two particular teachers. My 8th grade teacher, who shall remain nameless,  saying something along the lines of: “What wrong with all of you trying to ruing two different languages you are going to school to learn proper English and it is disrespectful to try to mix Spanish, makes you all look like a bunch of fools”, then years later my 12th English teacher who was going on a rant said something similar: “Listen, all of you have a huge disadvantage coming from Spanish speaking homes, this is your last year of being coddled in the universities they will not thing twice about failing any of you, we will be reading this entire year, we will read a lot, that’s the only way you will learn English”. I would like to point out that although these two events stuck with me, there were many other times where I was given the impression that I would never master English and that Spanish was not proper.

My question to the class is what is your experience with English, Spanish, and Spanglish?