As I was reading a passage of an article, I was able to readily draw a connection between Lorna Dee Cervantes' "Refugee Ship" and the writing at hand. The excerpt is as follows:
"Choice of language frequently plays a significant role in the development of the Hispanic American writer's voice and message. "I lack language," wrote Cherrie Moraga, author of Loving in the War Years: lo que munca paso por sus labios. The use of two languages in the title itself expresses the difficulty that the author perceives in narrating personal experience in one language when one has lived in another."
This, undoubtedly, relates to the discussion that we stumbled upon last week. I feel that all of our perceptions are easily combined into this simple, little paragraph that I have discovered, purely by luck. I love when things connect! I had a 'Eureka' moment and simply had to share.
Cervantes was so torn between her two heritages that she found it necessary to include the last line in her Spanish tongue. The signifigance here is impossible to ignore.
(Sam Maliha)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
The issue highlighted by Cervantes' poem is one that is rather common, especially with the growing population of second generation immigrants in America today. I wouldn't, however, view it as being "torn" between two heritages. In some ways, Cervantes is writing of her lack of connection to her true cultural heritage (Which is how we began discussing whether understanding of a culture necessitated fluency in the language).
The language she lacks is Spanish, and it is due to a simple lack of knowledge/fluency. On the other hand, Moraga seems to be bilingual, and thus faced with an entirely different set of circumstances. Though, at a higher level of abstraction, the two authors may both be seen as dealing with identity issues, Moraga seems to be indecisive rather than alienated (Like Cervantes).
Moraga has the luxury of choosing between (Or mixing together) two languages - Spanish and English. Cervantes, however, only has English as her "language". Moraga, in essence, is torn between identifying with her English environment and her Hispanic heritage while Cervantes struggles to truly connect with her heritage.
I can't agree with your final statement. Cervantes herself says that she is a ship "that never docks". She is torn between two heritages. If she were not, her ship would have docked long ago, and she would not have felt the need (as Mr. Lazarow said) to construct her own figurative "Chicano" island between the two land masses. Maybe we should consider something new; maybe too much of a connection to both is the real problem.
Perceptions, once again..
(Sam Maliha)
I interpreted "the ship that ever docks" differently. I believe that Cervantes was not truly torn between two cultures. She had long idenified more with her American culture than her Spanish heritage. I thought that the reason that the metaphorical ship never docked was not because she couldn't choose between her cultures but because she would never be perceived by only one. That's why she described herself as a captive on the refugee ship. She did not choose to be in between, nor is she struggling to choose one culture. I thought the poem was more an expression of the fact that she would always be linked to her spanish ancestry even if she didn't idenify with it. That's why it seemed there was a discrepancy between what she saw in her reflection and what was really there. Overall, I thought Cervantes wrote about not the choice between two cultures but the fact that she could not choose between them. Not because she was torn but because no matter which she felt was more a part of her she would always be perceived as a Spanish American.
Sorry if that sounds sort of jumbled, it was just my first impression of the poem.
(Molly Dunbar)
Cervantes did not necessarily have a difficulty in narrating personal experience in one language because she had lived in another. My understanding of the phrase 'the ship that never docks' was that Cervantes wanted to emphasize that she was stuck(or lost) between two cultures. Also, I don't believe that she (if ever) lived in Mexico long enough to experience this level of confusion before she wrote the poem.
Cervantes' parents allowed only English to be spoken at home. Therefore, I don't think that Cervantes's case is applicable to the situation in Moraga's argument.
(Jennifer Park)
I think Molly's point is worth dwelling on further. The second stanza of the poem says:
"Mama raised me without language.
I'm orphaned from my Spanish name.
The words are foreign, stumbling
on my tongue. I see in the mirror
my reflection: bronzed skin, black hair."
- Cervantes, lines 5-9
It seems that in the first few lines she is saying how she doesn't feel attached to her Spanish heritage because she's been "orphaned from her Spanish name" and she doesn't speak Spanish fluently. But in the last line she looks in the mirror and sees what everyone else sees: a person of Spanish ancestry. It seems that Cervantes has "chosen" to identify with America almost by default. But, others don't see her as American.
So, I don't really think the decision of identity is one that Cervantes can make-- and on the other hand, she is the only one who can make it. That is why she is a captive on a refugee ship. Captive, implying a lack of freedom, in this case, I believe a lack of the freedom of choice in this particular scenario. (Also, being a captive on the ship would imply that she has no say in where the ship docks, therefore it never will because she's the only one who can decide where it docks. Does that make any sense?)
Emily T.
On the contrary, I feel that Lorna Dee Cervantes has no power over where her ship will dock, if it does at all. She's a captive on a refugee ship. She does not know where she is being led, and this could actually be the cause of her confusion. It seems that her mother and grandmother might have withdrawn their influence in her decision making. Maybe she desires her decision to be made for her. For now, however, she'll have to settle for her own island of Chicano, unknown to those who do not suffer from an identity crisis similar to her own.
Does she see the bronze skin and black hair only because that is what she sees in her mother and grandmother? Does she feel pressure to resemble them even though they failed to teach her the Spanish language? Maybe their lack of involvement is nothing but a burden to the author. They may have wished to set her free from expectations, but a counter effect has taken toll.
(Sam Maliha)
From the way I interpreted the poem, I don't think that Cervantes sees "bronze skin" and "black hair" ONLY because that is what she sees in her mother and grandmother. Rather, I believe that this is simply one factor behind the way she sees herself. Perhaps she actually accepts the Spanish aspects of her heritage because she understands that she cannot escape this part of her identity. This would explain why she seemingly acknowledges the color of her skin and hair.
I think that Cervantes does feel "pressure" to resemble her mother and grandmother, though perhaps in a slightly different sense. I think that the way she feels, that is, like a captive on a refugee ship, exemplifies this pressure she may feel. While she may want to drift towards her American heritage, this pressure prevents her from doing this.
(Janet Lee)
To me, Cervantes is a captive aboard a refugee ship because she is not solely of any one place: she can not dock anywhere, not America, not Mexico. Torn between the two, she can only drift in between, in a journey from one land to another. However, as Mr. Lazarow stated, Cervantes seems to have found a middle ground as a Chicano.
Cervantes does seem to consider herself American. However, she recognizes that others see her with "bronzed skin, black hair", and that no matter how much she may consider herself an American, her Hispanic heritage is impossible to ignore. Even though the poem is written primarily in English and both her Spanish name and language are foreign to her, she merely has to look in the mirror to be reminded of her Hispanic side.
However, it seems to me that the repetition of the last line in Spanish signifies Cervantes' acceptance of both of her cultural identities.
Post a Comment