Mother Tongue by Demetria Martinez - Essay Example

? Introduction Mother Tongue is a powerful novel by Demetria Martinez that concerns an individual who gives asylum to a refugee from El Salvador. Thecomplication is that the individual, Mary/Maria, has ulterior motives for her guest, and sees her guest as somebody who would complete a missing part of her. All her hopes and dreams for the future are tied to this man, without consideration of who he was or what he has gone through. This is the main way that communication and culture barriers leads to the tragedy that is this novel, for it is a tragedy – in the end, Mary loses Jose Luis, although, it turns out, Jose Luis actually did not die. Mary, however, keeps a piece of Jose Luis through their son, also called Jose Luis, so all is not lost. But the communication gap between the two parties allows Mary to paint Jose Luis like a blank canvas, painting her hopes and dreams for the future upon him. Meanwhile, Jose Luis understands the situation perfectly, and also understands perfectly how Maria has distorted the situation. The novel also has pointed commentary about the war in El Salvador, along with indicting the immigration policies of the refugees of this war. Through it all, however, the culture and communication gap cause problems in the relationship, and, ultimately, the relationship does not survive because of it. Discussion The perception that Mary had of Jose Luis certainly did mistranslate his reality. The reality of Jose Luis was that he was, literally and figuratively, a tortured man. Because of his torture, and his desire to return to his homeland, as well as the emotional torture that Jose had gone through, Jose could not and would not be the knight in shining armor that Mary desperately wanted and needed in her life. In Mary's world, in her reality, Jose was a romantic figure, and it was literally love and first sight - “Love at first sight, this is how I explained the urgency that would later shed its skin and reveal pure desperation” (Martinez, 1994, p. 10). However, it is clear that Mary needed to fall in love with Jose, or any man who came along to pay her attention, as she did not have a very good image of herself and virtually needed a man to complete here. For Maria, Jose was somebody who could rescue her from her “ordinary life” and ordinary name, Mary. Mary also saw men as “mirrors what allowed me to see myself at different angles. Outside this function, they did not exist” (Martinez, 1994, p. 13). In other words, Jose was a means for escape for Mary, for she viewed her very existence as being mundane and worthless. Men are the reflection for her, as they give her a chance to perhaps see different sides of herself, sides that are more exciting. This is the reason why Mary soon became “Maria,” both because she wanted to become more like Jose Luis and presumably because the name Maria sounds much more exotic than Mary, and Mary was desperate to see herself as somebody she was not. She was thus transposing and projecting her narcissistic dreams of herself onto Jose Luis, which distorted his reality and undermined what he had really gone through in life. He was not a romantic man in shining armor, who would be able to reflect a better reality for Maria. Rather, he was a tormented, damaged soul who could never truly give Mary what she really craved, and this was unconditional love and excitement. Not that Mary did not have some realization of reality, even in the beginning. It just didn't really set in for her, for she continued to see Jose Luis as a romantic figure throughout the novel instead of the damaged man that he was. Mary indicates her at least superficial grasp of reality towards the beginning of the novel - “When desire flickered across my face, he extinguished it with talk of El Salvador, the civil war, death squads, landowners. His struggles were too large and unwieldy to be folded up an dropped into my palm like alms” (Martinez, 1994, p. 13). There is also indication that Mary's perception of Jose Luis distorted his reality because she relied upon a variety of different texts to piece together this story. Lomas (2006) states that this action of recovering her memories regarding him by using poetry, newspaper clippings, notes, letters, horoscopes, photographs, journals and cassette tapes causes her to reconstruct her past with Jose Luis in fragments instead of as a whole. Lomas also states that these fragmented texts filtered her perceptions of Jose Luis through the doctrine of American exceptionalism, which states that it is up to Americans spread their version of the truth to nations, and this “clouded her perception of him” (Lomas, 2006, p. 363). The lack of translation, at least early in the novel, leads to cultural misunderstandings between Mary and Jose Luis. At first, the lack of a common language between the two serves an important purpose to Maria, in that it keeps her more or less in the dark about the plight of Jose Luis. This allows him to be a stranger to her, and this is a good thing for her - “Weeks or months after his arrival, he asked me, do you want to know my real name? I said no. No. I feared the authorities. But even greater than fear was my need for him to remain a stranger, his made-up name dark glasses he must never take off. Because making love with a stranger is always good. Even if you've known that stranger for a very long time” (Martinez, 1994, p. 13). What this implies is that Mary is in love with being in love, and the choice of man does not really matter to her – anonymous is actually preferable, because the person is a blank canvas upon which Mary is able to paste her own hopes and dreams, as well as interpretation of the person. The man ceases to become a reality, but, rather, becomes the reality that Mary is able to put onto him. This implies that Mary not knowing Jose Luis language was a good thing – while is leads to cultural misunderstanding, as it must, this is not a bad thing for Mary, as his culture is really an inconvenience to her. She would rather project her own cultural values and beliefs upon him, to make him more like her, therefore more like somebody who would want to be with her. Maria's misunderstandings of Jose Luis also lead her to be suspicious about when Jose Luis did not come home or did not call. For instance, there is a scene where she is making a list because he did not call – the list consisted of such mundane topics as a reminder to steam her face with lavender and to do meditation. Another time she was waiting for his call, looking at the kitchen tablecloth and counting the red and white checks on the cloth to take her mind off of Jose Luis' disappearance - “When he didn't call, my world shriveled. Fetal position. Blistered finger pad. Or when he called and didn't say, I love you, I shattered, then mistook a piece of me for the whole, a mistake that disfigures women's lives time and again” (Martinez, 1994, p. 60). There was an implication that perhaps Maria thought that Jose Luis was having an affair, as he was invited out to dinner by a volunteer who was obsessed with El Salvador. However, Jose Luis was helping out with the sanctuary movement during these periods of time. These moments of panic that Maria feels when Jose Luis doesn't come home is further proof that there is a communication and a culture gap between them – Maria is thinking like a sheltered American woman, assuming that Jose Luis is having an affair, and this is how her perspective of somebody from a completely different background leads her to interpret certain events. The reality is that Jose Luis is doing things that are furthering his own cultural background, things that help others in his culture. The culture gap is thus shown in these events. Vigil (2009) states that the misunderstandings that come from the lack of true communication between the lovers stems from an unwillingness to see one another as representative of their respective communities (Vigil, 2009, p. 55). This is in line with the Sapir-Wharfian hypothesis, which states that “language serves as a schema through which the world is understood and interpreted” (Koslow, 1994, p. 575). In other words, the use of language is a kind of filter through which one's experiences are processed. Because the lovers did not have a common language, they processed one another's experiences in different ways, in line with the Sapir-Wharfian hypothesis. In Virgil's view, Mary does not see Jose Luis as being a representative of his community, which is the displaced refugees from El Salvador, perhaps because she saw him as the savior and knight that she was looking for. It is less clear that Jose Luis does not see Mary as being a representative of her community, however. Just as it is not really clear exactly what Maria's community really is. She has Soledad, who is her mentor and has experience with men from El Salvador and Latino men in general, but, other than that, Maria does not seem to be a part of any community. Maria seems rather lost, in fact, untethered to any one community and untethered to anything resembling reality. Therefore, Virgil's statement that the misunderstandings on Maria's part stems from her lack of realization about Jose Luis' community would probably be accurate, her statement that this is the reason for Jose Luis' misunderstandings would not be. Another reason why Virgil's statement about Jose Luis' misunderstandings stem from his inability to grasp Maria's part of the community is because Jose Luis appears to have a perfect understanding of Maria, despite the limited language between the two of them. This paragraph will answer the question of how Jose Luis interprets Maria's reality, and, there is not question that Jose Luis interprets Maria's reality perfectly accurately. This is clear in his letter regarding her – Jose Luis understands that Maria sees him as a perfect God and puts him upon a pedestal because of the suffering that he has done - “I hate it when she talks about me as if I were half god. She won't give me the gift of flaws. And this is what worries me the most, that she wants me to save her” (Martinez, 1994, p. 53). Jose Luis is also understandably suspicious about Maria's quick love for him - “She talks about how beautiful our love is, how wonderful it would be if we got a little house in the Valley and brought my friends and relatives up from Salvador. Any woman who talks that way after a month into a relationship wants to be saved – from what, I don't know” (Martinez, 1994, p. 53). He understands that, in Maria's mind, he is a perfect hero, because of his bravery. Jose Luis, however, sees it differently – “I wish I could say to her, nothing I have done has required courage. When you're being shot at, it doesn't take courage to duck. Animals do as much” (Martinez, 1994, p. 51). Jose Luis also understands that Maria sees him as a form of escapism, as opposed to a flesh and blood man - “Or perhaps what she really loves is the idea of me. A refugee, a dissident, spokesman for a cause she knows little about, ignorance she seems to have made her peace with...I really think she believes if she loves me enough the scar inside me will disappear” (Martinez, 1994, p. 53). Moreover, Jose Luis was also aware that Maria was desperately looking for somebody to transform her - “she doesn't want advice. She wants a whole new self” (Martinez, 1994, p. 53). Then again, there are indications that Virgil's statement might also be correct, in that the lovers, both lovers, do not have a full grasp of the perspective that each has about the other. While this is true about Maria, and this essay has gone through this at length, it is also true of Jose Luis. However, unlike Maria, he understands her world and understands why she reacts so differently from things then he does. He also understands himself, and why he reacts in certain ways. This is obvious in the pages where Jose talks about how Maria does not understand that his world has fallen apart around him. For instance, Maria hears church bells, and sets her watch. He hears church bells and thinks of the many funerals he attended for villagers who were killed in this war. He sees life-size chalk drawings of human figures on the pavement and panics – the figures were made by children as a part of art therapy, but they took on a significance for Jose Luis that would be completely different for Maria. There is also an incident where Maria smashes a baby gourd with her foot, just for fun. This act offends Jose Luis, because he doesn't understand why Maria would perpetuate more violence in the world, when the world is already violent enough (Martinez, 1994, p. 79). Thus, Jose Luis and Maria are in completely different worlds, each unable to truly grasp the other's world, so this would lend credence to Virgil's statement, even in the face of other contradictory evidence. Thus, it is obvious that, in spite of their communication gap, Jose Luis understood Maria perfectly. He understood that she was a desperate woman, desperate to be loved and see her self reflected in a person other than herself, a person who is made perfect in her mind. He understood that she didn't really love him, so much as the idea of him. This was obvious to the reader when she fell in love with him without hardly knowing him – she loved the romanticism of it all, having a dissident in the house, somebody exotic and interesting, so that she, too, would be exotic and interesting. Jose Luis understood this perfectly. He is also aware that Maria was looking desperately for a transformation of herself, and that she saw Jose Luis as the vehicle for this. Jose Luis was under no delusions about Maria, therefore the language gap did not seem to alter his perception of her at all, for his perception of her was the reality of her. How does immigration status shape relations between a broadly defined ethnic group in the United States? The broadly defined ethnic group to which Jose Luis belonged was obviously Hispanic, which would encompass a variety of different nationalities, from Cuban to South American to Central American to Mexican. That said, different people from different countries are treated differently and this shapes relations between the Hispanic group. This is obvious early on in the book when Jose Luis, who is immigrating from El Salvador, is passed off as being an immigrant from Juarez - “When you're safely out of earshot of anyone remind him that if anyone asks, he should say he's from Juarez. If he should be deported, we want immigration to have no question he is from Mexico” (Martinez, 1994, p. 5). This is very clearly a statement that immigrants from Mexico are preferable to immigrants from other Latino nations. The comment that Jose Luis should also memorize the capital and the name of the Mexican states, as well as be familiar with a map of Mexico further demonstrates the United States' preference for Mexicans over Central Americans - “These are the kinds of crazy things la migra asks about when they think they have a Central American” (Martinez, 1994, p. 5). In other words, the “la migra” will interrogate a Central American who is trying to pass for being Mexican, presumably because the Central American will have a much reduced chance of being allowed to emigrate into this country. How might acknowledgment and consideration of language barriers improve the work of solidarity groups such as the Sanctuary Movement? In the novel, Jose Luis is involved with the Sanctuary Movement. According to Coutin, the Sanctuary Movement sprung up in the 1980s as a way to protect Central American victims of war, especially those from Guatemala and El Salvador. What occurred is that the United States government by and large refused to see these individuals are refugees, so the volunteers took it upon themselves to deem the individuals refugees, and gave them shelter and protected them. Thus, the community, as opposed to the government, became the ultimate legal authority with relation to the fates of these refugees (Coutin, p. 283). Although it is not entirely clear, it apparent that Soledad and Maria are both a part of this movement as well, as they shelter dissidents and immigrants from these countries. Soledad gave Maria advice on how to do this properly, and Maria does it. It is obvious from the description put forth by Coutin about the Sanctuary Movement that many of the individuals sheltering these immigrants and refugees from Central America might be American and not Latino or Latina, therefore not necessarily speak good Spanish. Likewise, the refugees are not likely to speak good English. Because of this, there is going to be a language gap between the protectors and the protectees, such as the language and communication gap experienced by Maria and Jose Luis in this novel. Coutin would state that it is important that language gaps are acknowledged because the major part of the Sanctuary Movement lies in the testimony of the refugees. The testimony of the refugees, according to Coutin, is the vehicle by which those who were skeptical of the movement became a true convert to the movement. The Americans who didn't believe that the refugees should be allowed to stay in the United States were transformed with the testimony of the refugees, such as the woman who testified about her son, who was captured, tortured and killed (Coutin, p. 298). Therefore, it was the language, the testimony, which made the Sanctuary Movement strong and made converts and protectors out of individuals who previously were not. Perhaps the people who gave these testimonies did not speak perfect English, or speak English at all, but if the individuals hearing these testimonies would have patience with the broken English or with having to hear the testimonies through the words of an interpreter, that person would be better able to be transformed, and this would strengthen the movement as a whole. Conclusion The culture and communication gap between Maria and Jose Luis leads to Maria, the protagonist, to walk a primrose path that she never should have walked. She should have seen the reality of the situation and not gotten involved romantically. Of course, she did, and this was her undoing. Bibliography Coutlin, S. “Enacting Law Through Social Practice: Sanctuary as a Form of Resistance,” Available at: http://www.uchastings.edu/faculty- administration/faculty/bisharat/class-website/docs/Coutin.pdf Lomas, L. (2006) “The War Cut Out My Tongue: Domestic Violence, Foreign Wars and Translation in Demetria Martinez,” American Literature, 78(2), pp. 357-387. Martinez, D. (1994) Mother Tongue. Tempe: Bilingual Press. Vigil, A. (2009) “Transnational Community in Demetria Martinez' Mother Tongue.” Available at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi? article=1082&context=englishfacpubs&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F %2Fwww.google.com%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3Dtransnational %2520community%2520in%2520demetria%26source%3Dweb%26cd %3D1%26sqi%3D2%26ved%3D0CBwQFjAA%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F %252Fdigitalcommons.unl.edu%252Fcgi%252Fviewcontent.cgi%253Farticle %253D1082%2526context%253Denglishfacpubs%26ei %3DsZ7WTsi4BqrliALJmMG4DA%26usg %3DAFQjCNEWAAt9JIoYiTcWgdmqKJ41RZ7GGQ#search=%22transnational %20community%20demetria%22 Read More