Analysis of Puerto Rican Poetry - Essay Example

QUESTION ONE Ed Vega, portrays Amelia Santiago; as part of the Puerto Rican community as revealed by Quinonez in Chingo fire. They outline the life of a Porto Rican man seeking greener pastures in the United States in an attempt to transform their lives (Ma?rquez, 53). Eventually, they are disappointed. They outline the torching of the Spanish Harlem, Santeria, illegal citizenships, poverty and socialism. Both authors define the dictatorship faced by the characters and their stereotypic nature towards groups with diverse features or mode of living. QUESTION TWO In his poem, ‘Puerto Rican obituary,’ Pedro Pietri urges the New York Puerto Rican community to switch to their own imaginations instead of turning to the televisions that are only filled with American influence. As reflected from the tone in the twenty third stanzas, the author makes several suggestions to the New York Puerto Ricans. He argues that the Puerto Ricans should solely rely on Latina souls as the sole religious background for their race, and not on the bibles. The New York Puerto Ricans ought to have learnt from the manner in which their fellow citizens were buried shamefully; “without underwear’s” as he claims. Pedro concludes his poem by stating that, living the Puerto Rican mode of life; where beautiful people work, sing and dance together is way much better. The weather conditions are favorable and they do a need a dictionary to communicate to each other. QUESTION THREE Most Puerto Ricans in the poem went to America with dreams of living a luxurious life, and earning hefty pay, only to end up as well trained janitors who were laughed at. Those from the island spent their last days working as porters, maids, factory workers, stock and shipping clerks, messenger boys, and mailroom assistants. They only ended up in their island cemetery after all the hard work. The situation is no different from the case in ‘Chango fire’ by Quinonez. Quinonez narrates of the life of Julio Santana as he struggles for better employment to sustain his life. He encounters similar difficulty associated with racial background and ignited by dictatorship and socialism. QUESTION FOUR Pillar is the character mostly associated with magic in the story. Pillar came across a ‘bota`nica’; where the paraphernalia of Santeria were sold. The seller gave her instructions on how to perform a ritual as she was supplied with the required items. Despite her attack by some boys in the park she was able to get home and perform her ritual. The ritual revealed that she should go back to Santeria with her mother. Lourdes also some magical encounters; as she was an auxiliary policeman she would encounters her father’s spirit on a regular basis. Felicia suffers physical abuse from her husband Hugo Villaverde. Hugo constantly vanishes from her life; he later on infects her with syphilis. Felicia attempts to kill him in his sleep by dropping a torched rag on his face; Hugo decides to disappear completely. At an early age Felicia befriended the high priest daughter; Herminia Delgado. She helps guide Felicia into their religion. Felicia constantly descends into madness: During her second pregnancy, after the death of Ernestro, of which she had to leave Santeria. She did not know her identity and she suffered memory lose for months. After the death of her third husband, Felicia returned to Santeria and embraces priesthood. QUESTION FIVE In relation to revolutionary affiliations; Celia portrays an unwavering support for El Lider and the revolution. She uses her role as the Santeria judge in the peoples court, to suppress creative work. She only gathers support from her son Javier. Her perception distances her from Lourdes, Felicia and Pillar of whom she was close to. Lourdes is also distant from her own daughter Pillar due to her anxiety for the pro U.S. patriotism. However Lourdes defends her daughter when she painted a punk statue of liberty for those that were not veiling. The impact of this political division was so significant that Pillar could not visit her grandmother and mother in Cuba. Her mother was a strong activist for El lider but, Felicia blames El lider for her husband’s death. Political division ultimately led to isolation: Lourdes returned to Santeria but, she was neither close to her husband nor her daughter, Celia was later left alone in Cuba. In this story, the three generations all had diverse views to the revolution; the older generation highly supported it while the younger generation opposed it for different reasons. QUESTION SIX Pillar has a close relationship to her grandmother, Celia. During her birth, she inherited a mission from her grandmother; recording the family history. This desire to record using her imagination links her to her grandmother. At the beginning of the novel Celia gains comfort when she learns the Pillar records everything (Garci?a, 7). When Pillar returns to Cuba to be with her grandmother, Celia welcomes her saying “I’m glad you remember, Pillar. I always knew you would” (Garci?a, 218). Celia’s death signified a hand over of authority to Pillar. QUESTION SEVEN There is an extensive use of footnotes in the story; "Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao". In addition to the story, a majority of the characters a redeveloped in the footnotes, narration of Yunior’s story proceeds in the footnote. The use of these footnotes reminds a reader of the additional factors to a story as opposed to the general overview. Footnotes also have the effect of providing a historical background to a story; the references to Rafael Trujillo’s reign from the 30’s to the 60’s. QUESTION EIGHT As the main character in the book, Oscar is mainly motivated by his affection towards science fiction; at least it is the main area the he is successful. He is also motivated by love, he was willing to stand up for Ana and prevent the physical abuse from Ann’s boyfriend. He is unreliable/ untrustworthy; by telling on her sister to their mother Oscar portrays some sense of unreliability. Oscar also portrays suicidal traits; he attempts to kill himself by jumping of the bridge due to his break up with Jenni. QUESTION NINE The novel preludes with an explanation of the fuku; which refers to the curse and doom that relates to the new world. It also defines zafa which is a counter spelling for fuku. The narrator claims that this story is his form of doom or curse. From this perspective, it can be concluded that the narrative is defined by pessimism; the main character did not believe that at some point things would change for the better. He attempted suicide, and gave up his writing whenever his relationships did not work out. This eventually led to his death at the end of the novel. Works Cited Ma?rquez, Roberto. Puerto Rican Poetry: A Selection from Aboriginal to Contemporary Times. Amherst, Mass: University of Massachusetts Press, 2007. Print. Garci?a, Cristina. Dreaming in Cuban. New York: Ballantine, 2011. Internet resource. Read More