My final project is in 3 distinct installments. This is the first, and is largely a commentary on race and its implications for those of us whom may be racially mixed. In this inaugural piece, I engage the complexity of living … Continue reading
Category Archives: Their Dogs Came With Them
(nehta.org) Within Their Dogs Came With Them there is a constant recurring motif of isolation throughout the novel amongst all characters and situations. Segregation of communities created by the freeways and helicopters, the loss of parents, siblings, and friends is … Continue reading
This Los Angeles Times article follows the search for the final resting place of a Jewish Yiddish author named Lamed Shapiro. He is buried at Mount Zion Jewish cemetery in East Los Angeles. This cemetery was a place … Continue reading
Their Dogs came with Them is an emotive story that describes the maladies assaulting the lives of the inhabitants of a forgotten, yet resiliently vibrant, East LA neighborhood. Amid the racism, poverty and violence of a “world that had nothing … Continue reading
“They came in battle array as conquerors, And the dust rose in whirlwinds on the roads. Their spears glitted in the sun and their pennants fluttered like bats. They made a loud clamor as they marched with their coats of … Continue reading
In chapter six of the novel, Viramontes introduces Ben as a quite shy, young boy who is a boy around twelve years old. Having no mother around anymore, Ben’s father instructed him to buy a pair of shoes in an hour by … Continue reading
I found it interesting in the interview we listened to in class as well as wondering myself where the title of Helena Maria Viramonte’s book came from. I started with the epigraph at the beginning of the book: … Continue reading
In the interview with Helena Viramontes, she describes East LA as being ostracized and excluded from the rest of society. This social distance is also present, both literally and figuratively, in the novel. In a literal sense, the city … Continue reading
In her Article entitled “Isolation and Stigmatization in the Development of an Underclass: The Case of Chicano Gangs in East Los Angeles” Joan W. Moore traces the development of youth gangs in East Los Angeles. She identifies four key instances … Continue reading
As I was doing research for this post, a response by Helena Maria Viramontes during an interview with La Bloga really stuck with me: “I realized that the structure of the novel began to resemble the freeway intersections … And like … Continue reading