ANGLOAMERICAN LITERATURE 3 - MODULE 2 (De Marchi)

4th March 2021

Ethnicity in 20th Century American Literature

Ethnic authors = authors charachterised by a dual identity, since at the same time they are american, but at the same time
their ethnic backgrounds are tied by different ethnic roots

Nota: in this period the definition of american identity is still problematic

American Myths:

> the American Dream and DIVERSITY

> the Melting Pot

> E 'Pluribus Unum'

THE AMERICAN DREAM

Car = symbol of the american dream ; Financial security, MATERIAL PROSPERITY are features of the American Dream

We can trace back the notion of the american dream to the first settlers of America. Paradoxically the promise of wealth
and material prosperity is based on the oppression of the ones who first lived in America -the natives.

The notion of American Dream is complex and multifaceted.

James Truslow Adams, The Epic of America, 1931 (after the roaring 20s and the great depression of 1929 - stock
market crashed)

Adam attempts to provide a definition of the American Dream:

'That dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller of everyone, with opportunity for each according
to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us
ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of
social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are, regardless
of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.'

> Adams highlights the fact that because of this dream 'every man and woman shall be attain to the fullest..birth or
position'

The Problem We All Live With, Norman Rockwell, 1964

African american girl, dressed in white, walking. There are 4 white men marching with her.

12th March 2021

AMERICANESS > problematised by the presence of other ethnic groups > immigration

AMERICANS ALL

Of Plymouth Rock and Jamestown and Ellis Island (the very island in NYC where immigrants stopped to be
checked when coming to the US; at the same time Ellis Island is associated with the Statue of Liberty too) ; or Ethnic
Literature and some Redefinitions of 'America' by Werner Sollors.

Sollors analyses the way in which the US and american culture have tried to establish a national identity (national identity >
who's an american? Which are the features that define americaness?). Sollors claims that the establishement of a national
identity as a process - starting back when the first settlers arrived - is both inclusive and exclusive. What we can get from
Sollors is that defining what being american means is problematic. Whenever we try to define the term of american we
understand that in it there is an ethnic dividing lines.

National identity = symbolic contruction

Sollors introduces the notion of american identity and gives us an outline of how american writers and intellectuals started
to meditate on this notion and on the question: What is an american?

- Crevecoeur in 'Letters from an american farmer' (1772) > 'What is an american?'

'What then is the American, this new man? He is either an European, or the descendant of an European, hence that strange mixture of
blood, which you will find in no other country. I could point out to you a family whose grandfather was an Englishman, whose wife was
Dutch, whose son married a French woman, and whose present four sons have now four wives of different nations. He is an American,
who leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the new mode of life he has embraced, the new
government he obeys, and the new rank he holds. He becomes an American by being received in the broad lap of our great Alma Mater.
Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labours and posterity will one day cayse great changes in the
world.'

 Why C. uses the word 'NEW man' and particularly the word 'new'?

 C. does not deny that the original source is the European. It is disturbing to admit that slaves were not considered
as human beings.

 'Strange mixture of blood' --> C. remarks this in 1772. The American is hybrid, is a mixture. The hybridity of the
american blood.

 Paradoxical combination of being received (predestination) and the making a choice of becoming part of this great
mother of nation.

 MYTH OF THE MELTING POT (= crogiuolo) > C. gives us a precise description of it: 'Individuals of all nation are
MELTED into a new RACE of men..' . To be melted into something : you gain a new form but you lose your previous form.
Emphasis on assuming a new shape losing the previous one > you become part of something else, but at the same time
this process involves an element of exclusion > you have to give up some elements that previously
characterised/defined you. The process involves the idea of a great loss. Crevecoeur's perspective of the idea of the
melting pot is here somehow optimistic. History has dramatically shown us that the process of melting, the idea of creating
an american identity is somehow also negativa -you sometimes force people into a new acculturation.

Crevecoeur's words certainly highlight a process of hybridization and the concept of exclusion.
AMERICANS ALL - IMAGE (Howard Chandler Christy)

 lots of different surnames from different parts of the world.

 the represented girl is similar to the statue of Liberty. English white looking woman. Attempt to represent the
inclusive effort of the american national identity

Sollors claims the emblem of the ability of America to welcome and embrace every immigrant and on the other
hand the inclusive tension of the national american identity.

At the same time Sollors reminds us that one of the foundational myths of the US is associated with the pilgrims. 1619:
first cargo of african american arrived to Plymouth Rock.

Essay by Sollors: Sollors thinks that the american national identity was constructed from a cultural point of view, starting
from Crevecoeur, through Henry James..

Henry James : Who and what is an alien? James questions (1907) how to establish the dividing line between an
american and an alien.

Sollor's essay > elements that emerge:

> tension betweeen all the stock americans (those americans who feel their ancestors were the 1st americans), All the
stock americans can be linked to the image of the white american with the american flag and the white rifle.

> the notion of americaness involves the esclusion -and such exclusion is based on historical and cultural facts- of native
americans, mexican americans, japanese americans, chinese immigrants and african americans. Shouldn't these groups
claim that they are americans too?

> 'Plymouth Rock landed on us!' (Malcolm X) > african americans had no choice, they were forced. Migration was not a
choice.

> Dubois (african american writer) in his 'Soul of Black folk' claimed that the american beginning in James Town should be
reverse and associated with 1619 when the 1st african slaves came to America.

The myth of the Melting Pot

Imagine if you can, my dear friend, a society comprising all the nations of the worlds: English, French, German. [...] All
people having different languages, beliefs, and opinions. In short, a society without roots, without memories, without
prejudices, without routines, without common ideas, without national character. [...] What ties these very diverse elements
together? What makes a people of all this?

ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE TO ERNEST DE CHABROL (9th June 1831)

Extremely provoking meditation.

Was it not possible, then, to think of the evolving American society not simply as a slightly modified England but rather as a
 totally new blend, culturally and biologically, in which the stocks and folkways of Europe were, figuratively speaking,
indiscriminately mixed in the political pot of the emerging nation and melted together by the fires of American influence
and interaction into a distinctly new type?

MILTON GORDON, ASSIMILATION IN AMERICAN LIFE

Again, another important assumption.

When we're talking about Melting Pot we're talking also a literary work - a play -, written by Israel Zangwill,
which did not receive positive reviews, in terms of literary critic, but which became popular among people -audience.

We have a poster of this work: in it we see lines of different people, walking towards it. There's also the American flag
represented on the pot. The represented people are immigrants, who pass through the image of the Statue of Liberty.

MultiEthnic Americans

In the last decades, in which American society has been labeled 'post-racial' or 'post-ethnic' by critics as David Hollinger
-who has also (half-seriously) suggested that American society may be described as a 'quintuple melting pot' differentiated
into Euro-Americans, Asian-Americans, African-Americans, Hispanics, and Indigeneous peoples - more inclusive versions of
the melting pot have been articulated that attempt to brifge the divide between blacks and whites. Upon the founding of
the Association of MultiEthnic Americans (AMEA) in 1988, activist Carlos Fernandez quipped:

We who embody the melting pot [...] stand up [...] as intolerant participants against racism from whatever quarter it may
come [...]. We are the faces of the future. Against the travails of regressive interethnic division and strife, we can be a solid
core of unity bonding peoples together in the common course of human progress.

Currently, the AMEA is one of the most influential mixed race organizations.

> Promotion of a mixed race America

ANALYSIS OF THE DISCRIMINATION OF AFRICAN AMERICANS

THE PROBLEM WE ALL LIVE WITH, by Norman Rockwell - illustrator and painter

Painted in 1964, in the 60s (years associated with the civil rights movements). The painting was chosen for the cover of a
magazine - a widely distributed one.

The title addresses to a 'Problem' : a problem that involves EVERY American. Rockwell focuses on RACISM, exemplified by
the background in the painting > there's a racial slur (=insulto), red spotted, created probably by a tomato, which invokes
blood. The problem we all live with is racism then. It is evident that the tomato was thrown to the african american little
girl. She probably is going to school - she carries a book. On her way to school she sadly has experienced racism.

The four men are 'marching', probably protecting her. These 4 men are wearing uniforms (they wearing shields), they're
escorting this young girl to school. The young girl is Ruby Bridges, the 1st african american girl to attend a disegregated
school in New Orleans (and she still alive). Sadly she was victim of racism, as attending school, especially bu white mothers,
so she got to be escorted to school by US marshals,the whole school year. According to her, she was the only girl in the
class, because white mothers disn't want their children to attend school with an African American.

Visual symbols:

Rockwell didn't depict Ruby's original dress, he rather chose to depict this little girl with a white dress and white shoes.
Why white? White is symbol of purity. Rockwell's choice of using total white opens up a possibility of symbolic meanings:
purity, innocence. White because the issue was between black and white. So the dress symbolises a symbolic self,
suggesting the idea of integration.

The composition remarks the fact that the girl is able to walk to school.

The red spot is caused by a tomato, but evidently refers to the great loss in terms of human lives of a lot of african
americans. African americans were linched, violently killed and exposed to white audiences (linching became a theatrical
act).

19th March 2021

'This meaning is not without interest to you, Gentle Reader; for the problem of the Twentieth Century is the
problem of the color line'

W.E. Dubois, The Souls of Black Folk (1903)

DUBOIS : the first african american to get a doctor in philosophy. In the Souls of Black Folk he explores the awkward
condition of african americans in the US. African americans had to deal with the dominant culture and with the right to
create a specific identity for themselves.

When he talkes of the color line he's basically talking about the racial line betweeen whites and blacks. The Souls was
published in 1903: 40 yrs. after the end of the Civil War, 40 yrs. after the 13th amendment, nonetheless recognising that
african americans were still exposed to racism. At the same time Dubois explored and created the definition of double
conciousness > african americans, to him, experienced this double conciousness, because their identity was the reflection
of an internal conflict that african americans experienced > why? > on one hand they were forced to see themselves
through the eyes of the dominant cultural discourse (the white one); their own ability to build a specific identity was
difficult. Dubois highlights this conflict of african americans > these are americans, but at the same time their african
background should be part of their american identity.

AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY, A TIMELINE

 1619: the first African American indentured servants (indentured servitude - a white spread practice, according to
which an indentured servant would work for yrs. without getting a salary, he would have paid for his freedom through his
work) arrive in the American colonies: a Dutch ship brings 20 Africans to the British colony of Jamestown (Virginia). By
1690, every colony has slaves.

 1793: rise of cotton industry in the SOUTH: increased demand for enslaved Africans

 1831-1861: approximately 75.000 slaves escape to the NORTH using the Underground Railroad (system of mutual
help, given by northener white abolitionists to slaves in order to escape from the South). In Huckleberry Finn : slave =
nothing but a piece of property

 1846: ex slave Frederick Douglass publishes the anti slavery North Star newspaper

 1849: Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery and becomes an instrumental leader of the Underground Railroad

 1850: Congress passes another Fugitive Slave Act, which mandates government participation in the capture of
escaped slaves

 1857: The Dred Scot v. Sanfrod case: congress does not have the right to ban slavery in the states; slaves are not
citizens

 1860: Abraham Lincoln is elected president, angering the southern states

In the yrs. before the Civil War a number of events lead to the election of Lincoln and to the Civil War > defeat of the
South. 1863: in the midst of the war Lincoln proclaims the emancipation for all the slaves in the rebellious territory = all
slaves in the South are declared free. Lincoln's proclamation of emancipation was a very clever move in terms of war affairs
. North vs. South, slaves in the South can do whatever they want. 1865: the war ends, the South is defeated and has been
physically destroied, Lincoln suggests the possibility of a peaceful reconstruction.

1865: the Civil War ends, Lincoln is assassinated, slavery is ABOLISHED in the United States of America. The abolition of
slavery equaled freedom, nbut did not equaled to the same civil rights of white people. The bitterness of the South (white
southerness) did not disappear and concentrated on new organisations, such as the Ku Klux Klan, formed in Tennessee.

 1866: The Black Codes are passed by all white legislators of the former Confederate States. Congress passes the
Civil Rights Act, conferring citizenship on African Americans and granting them equal rights to whites.

 1868: the 14th Amendment is ratified, defining citizenship. This overturns the Dred Scot decision.

 1870: the 15th Amendment is ratified, giving African Americans the right to vote

 1879: thousands of African Americans migrate out of the South to escape oppression

 1881: Tennessee passes the first 'JIM CROW' SEGREGATION LAWS, segregating state railroads. Similar laws are
passed over the next 15 yrs. throughout the Southern States: racial segregation in the schools, parks, graveyards, theatres
and public transport, so in public facilities. African Americans were forced to live a separate life. The best facilities were all
made available to white southerners. African Americans were pooreer than ever before, living in the South, being subject
to racism and segregation and racial violence (linching and burning of African Americans) and being deprived of civil right.

 1896: Plessy v. Ferguson case: racial segregation is ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court. The 'Jim Crow' laws
are validated by this ruling, barring African Americans from equal access to public facilities.

 with the turn of the century start to change: 1909 the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP) is established. Its main goal is the abolition of alla forced segregation

 1910-1930s: Harlem Renaissance = artistic centre of African American cultural awakening and activism

 1954: Brown versus Board of Education of Topeka: Supreme Court rules racial segregation in public schools
uncostitutional = every African American child had to be given the opportunity to go to white schools, for example Ruby
Bridges

 1955: in Montgomery, Alabama, ROSA PARKS (1913-2005) is arrested for breaking a city ordinance by refusing to
give up her seat on a public bus to a white man. This defiant act gives and marks the beginning of a wider awareness when
it comes to the Civil Right movement.

 1957: Martin Luther King Junior, together with other activists, establishes the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, a leading engine of the Civil Rights Movement

 1960: Ruby Bridges goes to school in New Orleans

 1963: MLK's speech 'I have a dream' in Washington DC

 1964: the Civil Rights Act is signed, prohibiting discrimination of all kinds and this marked a turning point

 1965: the Voting Rights Act is passed, outlawing the practices used in the South to disenfranchise African
American voters

NORMAN ROCKWELL (1894-1978)

Supporter of american values, for everyone. 'The common places of America are to me the richest subjects in art'. He
perceived himself as a visual commentator of American society.

Another painting of Rockwell is 'New Kids in the Neigbourhood' (1967). The new kids are evidently new African Americans
kids, who are moving through a white place. Innocence in terms of racial and cultural prejudice of children. The white
children are looking at the black kids with particular curiosity. Here too the black children are white dressed.

LANGSTON HUGHES (1902-1967)

From the South, Missouri. His parents were divorced so he was brought up primarily from his mother's family. He joined
the Harlem Renaissance, of which he was one of the most important activists. This Harlem Renaissance is called the golden
age when it comes to the cultural background of African Americans. We're talking about literature but also about MUSIC,
so basically visual ART. It was the way in which African Americans had first the opportunity to letting people hear their
voices.

Hughes was particularly fond of an interest in music (blues and jazz). He decides to entitle his first collections of poems
'The Weary Blues' because blues was to him a particular important artistic expression for African Americans. Blues, to
Langston Hughes, is 'ironic laughter mixed with tears'. In terms of form blues was extremely versatile according to Hughes,
who perceived it as a form of music. Hughes's poems let us hear the musical tradition of blues.

1926 Hughes publishes his first collection of poems, The Weary Blues, and the essay 'The Negro Artist and the Racial
Mountain', where he criticises the compulsory confront with white identity in order to be a successful poet.

One of the most important themes that Hughes explored in his works is the theme of the MULATTO : a mulatto is the
result of a mixing between races (African American and white). When it comes to a mulatto obviously the problematic
definition evolves around the question 'What is black?'. The ' ONE-DROP RULE' was used to define whether a person is
black or white. According to this rule a single drop of black blood makes a person black; a mulatto is an offrspring of a pure
African individual + pure white, plus it is a hybrid and a racially mixed; miscegenation (racial mixing, so social or sexual
relations between whites and blacks) was illegal in many parts of the United States. The term miscegenation was first ised
in 1863 in a pamphlet titled 'Miscegenation: The Theory of the Blending of the Races, Applied to the American White Man
and Negro' by Paul Heike.

'CROSS' by Langston Hughes

The Tragic Mulatto theme is analysed. According to A.P. Davis the Tragic Mulatto 'denotes a light-colored, mixed blood
character, who suffers because of difficulties arising from his bi-racial background'. Sometimes a mulatto is so light-colored
that it could be 'mistaken' for a white.

Hughes was very interested in this theme. He wrote a play named 'Mulatto', a short story 'Father and Son' and an opera
libretto 'The Barrier'. Hughes's interest on the mulatto theme and on the theme father-son is thought to be a preojection
of his personal relationship with his father.

'Cross' was published in The Crisis, a magazine, in December 1925, and then included in the 1926 collection 'The Weary
Blues', suggesting that he particularly valued this poem in terms of simbolic meaning.

What does the title mean/suggest? The first idea that comes to mind is a cross-breed, so a cross in terms of races. Cross
could also suggest the cross brought by Jesus. The idea of being crucified is associated with the idea of prosecution. Cross
also means angry, in british english, so Hughes could be angry because of his mixed racial heritage, so because he was a
mulatto. Cross also has a cross roads; in the blues the cross roads is a powerful symbol. So this crossing can refer to the
speaker's crossing over from anger to forgiveness.

The word cross is interestingly not mentioned in the poem. So the title wants to suggest the multifaceted experience of a
mulatto being.

My old man’s a white old man

And my old mother’s black.

If ever I cursed my white old man

I take my curses back.

If ever I cursed my black old mother

And wished she were in hell,

I’m sorry for that evil wish

And now I wish her well.

My old man died in a fine big house.

My ma died in a shack.

I wonder where I’m gonna die,

Being neither white nor black?

The language is straightforward and quite simple > Hughes probably wants to make his message as clear as possible. It's
the kind of language you would find in a blues song, there are no sophisticated words (examples: 'shack' or 'ma').

It is notable that there is a speaker, which becomes a persona, evidently a mulatto.

In terms of structure the poerm has a regular structure (3 quartains, 12 lines), the 1st 4 lines are presented as facts; the
last 2 lines sum up the conflict as a question to which no answer is given.

There is musicality through the use of rhymes and alliterations (letter M : man, mother, my and letter W). The musicality is
associated with the sound pattern of the poem.

The message is extremely disrupting and disturbing, cause it reflects the speaker's anger towards his parents. The speaker
is left with this question: where am I gonna die and where am I gonna be buried?

Being bicultural often implies being both white and black, but the speaker's feeling is quite the opposite: the speaker does
not feel white nor black.

The speaker goes through a process that implies anger first, and then accceptance of the fact that their parents are not
guilty for who they were and for their skin color.

The speaker harbors a feeling of anger towards his father, especially in the first stanza: 'If I ever cursed my white old man..'.
Right after the feeling of anger changes > 'I take my curses back.'

Again then there's anger towards his mother too. He wished she were in hell, but then he wishes her well. He thinks that
their parents are guilty for getting engaged, although it was illegale, but then he comes to accept the fact that his parents
did the best they could.

3rd stanza: social gap between African Americans and white Americans: this gap is described by saying that his father died
in a fine big house, so we clearly understand that the speaker's father was wealthy, while his mother instead died in
poverty, in a shack (tugurio), because of her skin color. So we can understand that mother and father died in 2 different
places, so they weren't probably married nor even a couple.

Bases on the terms used by the spaeaker to address his parents, we can think that he was most affectionate to his mother,
because he calls her 'ma'. Maybe he was brought up by his mother. 'My ma' = very affectionate term.

The speaker has lost both parents: the loss of parents signifies an abrupt break with your own roots. It's an abrupt passage
to adulthood. As an adult his main preoccupation is where he is gonna die. The word WHERE -is he gonna- die suggests
also in what kind of wealth and house he is actually going to die. So the question he asks himself is also a question about
his economic situation. The speaker cannot provide an answer, and the question is constructed around the idea of
exclusion > we can be both white or black, but he personally feels that he's excluded from each community. 1925-1926 the
mulatto speaker, a tragic one, perceives his double identity as a mechanism that is going to exclude him from
opportunities, stability ecc.

According to Davis, Cross is the very first writing by Hughes where he begins to explore the tragic mulatto theme. Here
there are some clues that suggests that, for example the dual identity and its acceptance, the afther-son relationship, the
theme of rejection, this last one not so evidently clear here, but it's probably already there.

manca lezione 26 marzo e 1 Aprile

26th March 2021

'MULATTO' by Langston Hughes

A mulatto participates to both ethnic groups but at the same time he/she is excluded from both of them.

In Mulatto the theme of the rejection of the mulatto, and primarily the mulatto son, is widely explored by Hughes. Like in
Cross we have a speaker who exposes his dramatic condition. We have a feeling of rejection, and this time, the rejection
theme is emphasised through the voices of the mulatto's father and the mulatto's half-brother.

I am your son, white man!

Georgia dusk

And the turpentine woods.

One of the pillars of the temple fell.

You are my son!

Like hell!

The moon over the turpentine woods.

The Southern night

Full of stars,

Great big yellow stars.

What's a body but a toy?

Juicy bodies

Of nigger wenches

Blue black

Against black fences.

O, you little bastard boy,

What's a body but a toy?

The scent of pine wood stings the soft night air.

What's the body of your mother?

Silver moonlight everywhere.

What's the body of your mother?

Sharp pine scent in the evening air.

A nigger night,

A nigger joy,

A little yellow

Bastard boy.

Naw, you ain't my brother.

Niggers ain't my brother.

Not ever.

Niggers ain't my brother.

The Southern night is full of stars,

Great big yellow stars.

O, sweet as earth,

Dusk dark bodies

Give sweet birth

To little yellow bastard boys.

Git on back there in the night,

You ain't white.

The bright stars scatter everywhere.

Pine wood scent in the evening air.

A nigger night,

A nigger joy.

I am your son, white man!

A little yellow

Bastard boy.

COMMENTS:

The poem was published in a collection of poems entitled 'Fine Clothes to the Jews', which was published in 1927.
The poem was initially not so popular, above all because of the presence of racial slurs. African American thought that the
use of racial slurs could have increased the prejeudices by white people. Racial slurs have a specific purpose: to emphasise
verbal violence African Americans were exposed to.

In terms of structure it is a dramatic dialogue, which implies a dynamic of call and responds > refers to a
communal ritual of worship that is still typical in African American culture. So the use of the dramatic dialogue puts
emphasis on the oral element of the African American culture (in music too it is a typical genre, when it comes to rap or
hip-hop).

In the dialogue there are three main speakers: a mulatto, the mulatto's father, the mulatto's half-brother. Hughes
changed his tone while reading different voices, conveying different emotions at the same time. We can assume that the
half-brother is white, so he comes from a different mother. The specific voice of the narration focuses on the description of
the southern-landscape (ex. turpentine, the moon ecc.).

ANALYSIS:

The poem begins with a declaration of one's identity and a cry for recognition. There's difference between Cross
and Mulatto: Cross represents the speaker's uncertainty, anger, confusion. The structure of Cross also reflected the
emotional restraint of the speaker. Things are different in Mulatto: the first line of the poem reflects the speaker's voice
and the speaker's will to assert his own identity. The speaker also wants his identity to be validated by what he calls his
father, who evidently is white. The other important element is the focus on a father-son relationship, so a relationship
between two males. Through the use of the adjective 'white' the speaker implicitly suggests his own difference in terms of
racial identity comparing to his father. Although he is different from his father, he still wants to be identified by bpoth his
parents.

Then, the tone abruptly changes starting from 'Georgia dusk..' : there's a voice dexcribing the landscape,
apparently idillac. The expression Georgia calls our attention to the fact that the whole poem is settles in the South : life in
the South was extremely problematic, because of a dramatic past and because of the fact that there still was
discrimination, so there's a clash between the apparenlty idillic representation of southern nature and the real conditions
of Southern African Americans.
 'One of the pillars of the temple fell' : the temple could be the temple of white racial purity, so one of the pillar can
be read as the representation of the white father who had sexual intercourses with an African American woman.

And the father answers 'You are my son! Like hell!' : with these 2 sentences, emphasised by the exclamation
marks, the father's reaction reflects the complete rejection of the mulatto son. The father immediate answer that the fact
that he and his son share the same blood is terrible.

We then have again a 'beautiful' description of the Southern landscape: 'The moon over the turpentine woods [...]'
: the yellow stars are representative of the yellow bastard boy, who will be mentioned by the father throughout the poem.
So the countless yellow stars become a representation of the many mulattos, which evidently populate the night and the
history of the southern States. We then go back to the father's lines 'What's a body but a toy [...]' : here the father is
talking through a circular movement (starting with 'What's a body but toy' and finishing with 'What's a body but a toy' =
what's the body of yout mother but a toy?) ; what the father expresses here is an extremely derogative approach towards
the mulatto's mother. Evidently, the body the father is talking about is the body of a mulatto's mother, and the body is
compared to a toy, a mere source of entertainment and pleasure. Hughes emphasises the racism embodied by this
description with specific terms : 'juicy bodies of nigger wenches' --> body = mere source of sexual pleasure , plus the term
nigger is a racial slur. These lines are a syntesis of the representation of the violence that African American females had to
deal with, which sadly brought them to dehumanization. The mulatto's mother meant nothing to him. The use of the word
'black' is used one more time to emphasise the race difference.

In the midst we find 'The scent of pine wood stings the soft night air' so another description of the landscape.
According to a freudian intepretation this line conveys the idea of a fallic imagery, of a penetration, obviously a penetration
of the father in the mother, whose outcome is a mixed one. It was simply a moment of pleasure, in which the African
American woman was completely dehumanised -this emphasised by the racial slurs.

Being a bastard in those yrs. meant that you were excluded from the white community and sometimes also from the black
one, because you were mixed.

The rejection is intensified by a 2 generation rejection : the mulatto, who's claiming his identity, experiences his
father's rejection, but also his half-brother's rejection: 'Naw, you ain't my brother [...] Niggers ain't my brother' : the half-
brother employs the same racial slurs used by his own father > denial of the mulatto's identity, two generation rejection.

The theme of rejection is clearly intensified by the use of racial slurs. Hughes probably wanted to achieve the effect of
disgust, knowing that his poem would have be read by white people too. The words also convey a sense of anger, as the
poem depicts the sad reality of the time. This is a very disturbing poem, especially in the lines in which the white father
exposes the sexual intercourse. These lines suggest that the sexual intercourse was a pure mechanical act, the mulatto was
not a product of love.

'Great big yellow stars ...' : the stars represent mulattos, and here it is the southern night represented.

'Git on back' = go back .. 'you ain't white' : rejection of both father and half-brother. What's the speaker's
reaction? > 'The bright stars scatter everywhere ...' : now positive adjectives are associated to the stars, the stars are now
bright. If something is bright it is difficult to not see it. The stars shine, become bright, it is impossible not to notice them,
and in addition to that they scatter (disperdersi), so they're everywhere. So, throughout the poem, there is a
transformation of these stars.

The final words of the poem belong to the mulatto (I am your son, white man! A little yellow bastard boy) : the
dramatic dialogue ends with the mulatto's will to have himself recognised, noticed. I am your son , white man , and there
are so many of us mulattos that sooner or later you will have to recognise me and see me.
 Both Cross and Mulatto are linked by the theme of the tragic mulatto. What differences/similarities are there
between the two poems? In Mulatto the speaker knows who he is, while in Cross he doesn't actually know it and asks
himself what type of person he is. Cross is the starting point of te meditation on the tragic mulatto: he really doesn't know
who he is. The element that connects the two poems is that in both of them is present the fact that the white parent is the
father. The mother was subject a double discrimination: as a woman and as an African American.

In Mulatto the mulatto recognises who he is: a little yellow bastard boy, son of a nigger night and a nigger joy. When some
African American readers read this poem, Hughes was a known among his reading public. Some AA readers feared that the
use of racial slurs and dehumanization of the mulatto could this might ignite racism. On the other hand, other AA reader
and intellectuals appreciated Hughes's writing and way of representing things in terms of POETIC REALISM. Notice that the
poem conveys a clash betweeen two males, the white father and rejected son. But the rejected son stands up for his own
rights and faces his own father's racial attitude.

MARTIN LUTHER KING

Born in 1929 and dead in 1968, assassinated in Memphis - Tennessee. He came from the deep South. He clearly
experienced, being a Minister in the South, the gap between the idea of a promised land for AA, and the real challenges for
AA living in the deep South. In 1955 King became the president of the Montgomery Improvement Association :
Montgomery was the city in which Rosa Parks refused to give the seat to a white man on a bus, from this fact was born the
Montgomery Improvement Association.

King was extremely carismathic, he was a minister. He was inspired by the idea of non violence applied by Gandhi, he
believed that the struggle for human rights should include both black Americans and white ones. White americans had to
participate to the movements.

 'I HAVE A DREAM SPEECH' 28th August 1963

The speech was televised and broadcasted on the radio.

Being a minister performance is important : emotional flow has to be conveyed!

The speech was delivered in 1963 in Washington DC : the occasion was a mixed one: on the one hand the centennial of the
Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln, on the other hand it was a march on freedom. The location was very
important : the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC.

INTRODUCTION of the speech

The video was introduced by a very famous spiritual 'We shall overcome', which was sung by all African Americans.

The Lincoln statue together with the big swimming pool and the obelisque is the heart and the symbol of American
democracy.

MLK was introduced as the MORAL LEADER OF OUR NATION and as a DOCTOR, which highlights the level of education and
the importance of academic achievement.
People clap/applaude and cheer very joyfully and every time the people would respond cheering, and through the typical
CALL AND RESPONDS : typical interaction between the preacher and the audience. The audience, right from the beginning,
participates to King's speech, and of course King makes people involved, as much as he can.

This speech is also one of the finest examples of the use of rethorical devices : the speaker relies on the combination of
three elements, ethos, logos and pathos, to convey and deliver his message. ETHOS is the attempt to establish credibility
and thus trust : in order to do it, King mentions the history of the US, thus saying 'I am credible and basically validated by
the presence of our great father, Abraham Lincoln' ; at the same time, through LOGOS King has to convince the audience
showing evidence of what he is claiming; the PATHOS of the speaker appeals to emotions and common values the speaker
shares with the audience, and King immediately establishes a relation based on pathos with his audience since the
beginning of the speech is marked by King's expressing his joy and happiness about the fact that he is there with the
audience today, celebrating America.

'I am happy to join with you today..' : the beginning of the speech is based on pathos, on emotions. He does not
establish hierarchy : he's just one out of many. He shares a meaningful experience in the bistory of the US. By using 'our'
and 'we' he clearly conveys this idea of inclusiveness, showing empathy and establishing an emotional connection with the
listeners. Remember that King was a minister preacher, so he knew how to use rethorical devices, how to express and
pose.

Right after King has to establish what we call ethos, so he has to make himself credible, when it comes to the audience.
The host of the event has announced King as the moral leader of the nation. King establishes a direct connection with the
occasion of 100 years before - the emancipation proclamation - in order to make himself credible. 'Five score years ago, a
great American .. ' : King never mentions Lincoln, but uses metaphorical devices in order to make people understand that
the person he's talking about is Lincoln. King suggests that there is a sort of symbolic passage between the moral leader
Lincoln and himself. In this very paragraph language an tone are elevated and sophisticated; emancipation proclamation =
a great beacon light. '..who had been seared in the flames of ehitering injustice .. ' : the flames here refer to the flames of
hell and the physical wounds and scars of slvery. King does not only talks about slavery, but the people present that day
themselves had been or were being psychologically and emotionally burned by racism and segregation, so the flames were
still there. In addition to this, some scholars has seen another meaning in this sentence : maybe a reference to the
despicable and inhuman act of cross burning, which was a modus operandi of the KKK (the Koux Kloux Klan). So there is a
wide range of symbolic meaning attached to the image of the flames.

Notice the use of metaphors associated with light / day and darkness / night: the emancipation proclamation is a beacon
light compared to the new day, which puts an end to the dark night of the history of slavery.

The paragraph is permaeted by a deep sense of the past. In the paragraph that follows King stands up saying that in the
PRESENCE nìthe negro still is not free. So King makes a distinction between past and present. 'But one hundred years
later ... ' : notice the use of anaphoras, repetitions, which generates a specific sound pattern that leads to a semantic and
emotional climax. Another important metaphor used to distinct the past situation with the present is the use of 'manacles
(manette) of segregation and the chains of discrimination' : those objects, illustrative of the past slavery until the Civil war,
are transposed into the present and become the meataphors through which the current situation of segregation and
discrimination is depicted. So one hundred years later there are still chains, which are not as visible as the chains worn by
the slaves, nonetheless they are still there and as brutal as the chains of slavery. In 1960 white middle class Americans
enjoyed prosperous condition in terms of way of living, and this is exactly what King wants to point out. In a vast ocean of
material prosperity experienced by white Americans, African Americans live on a lonely island of poverty : evidently AA
have not been given the same opportunities and they represent the poor in the midst of material wealth. In the 1960s :
study of American poverty in the 1960s, this study revealed an astonishing number of poor American living outside of
urbanised areas and in the South.
1st April 2021

The speech was delivered on the radio and on TV, which means that gave the possibility to many Americans to listen and
watch to the speech.

The official occasion was the commemoration of the centennial proclamation, which happened in 1863, 100 years before,
during the Civil War. King's meditation on the difficulties that African Americans still had to deal with, so segregation and
disegregation in the South, exclusion from the American Dream, thus exclusion from the possibility of happiness and
prosperity that was given to white Americans.

King's speech is regarded as a masterful example in the use of rhethorical devices : he constructed - through ethos, pathos
and logos - a speech that was addressed to an audience made of both white and black americans. Logos is logical thinking.

King was able of sharing empathy by suggesting the fact that he was talking with his own people of their own conditions.

Another important element is INTERTEXTUALITY: King's speech is permeated by references to religious texts and culture
which was shared by the African American community, for example the Book of Exodus. References also to hymns ans
songs which characterised the slaves' experiences. King wanted white people to feel involved and participant of the
process of gaining more civil rights for African Americans.

King immediately establishes an emotional relationship with the audience. He wants the audience to be emotionally
engaged. Right after there's a swift change in the tone of the speech > he introduces the figure of Abraham Lincoln,
referred to as a great American. The fact that Lincoln get mentioned ,using the metaphor of the shadow, establishes a
connection between his own figure and the one of Lincoln (the statue behind him).

The speech is sadly still appliable to the contemporary times, as still today there is discrimination towards African
Americans.

We highlighted King's introduction, based on the exploitation of EMPATHY: King's immediately establishes emotional
contact, by expressing his own feelings ('I am happy..'), in order to emotionally engage the audience. Righ after there's a
swift change in the tone of the speech and King employes the formal rhethoric of the past to introduce the figure of
Lincoln, never directly mentioned: the fact that King mentions him using the metaphor of the shadow establishes a
connection between himself and Lincoln. King needs to have Lincoln's validation of his position, underlying the fact that
the emancipation process has not come to an end. By doing this, King gains the audience's trust.

Right after, with the start of the 3rd paragraph, the tone of the speech changes: King emplyes informal diction to discuss
and describe the present for African American. King highlights the injustice African American have to deal with. In
parargraph three it is evident that King uses metaphors to refer to slavery, especially in the mention of terms such as
'chains, cripple, manacles'. These chains are moral discrimination, they are economical, the island of poverty, but also
social discrimination: AA are represented by King as the outcasts of American society. The 3rd paragraph ends with a
strong biblical reference: '..and finds himself in exile in his own land' : to be in exile refers to the Book of Exodus from the
Old Testament, that features the plight of the Jews who are enlsaved in Egypt. The Book of Exodus also chronicles the way
in which Jews were able to struggle for their freedom and to let out from slavery by Moses. AA identified with the plight of
the Jews and their exile in their own land, hence the fact that AA culture and religion is permeated by reference to Moses.
Many blues songs refer to Moses, because Moses is the essential figure in the exodus (Go down Moses for example).

At the same time there is a sharp contrast between the idealism of the 2nd paragraph, so the idealism of the emancipation
proclamation, and the realism used to describe the conditions of AA.
'So WE've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition [...]' : to cash a check is an expression taken from everyday
life, that means 'incassare un assegno', a very common practice in the US until the spreading of credit cards. Particularly
interesting is the fact that King knew that he was talking to simple people, so he knew he had to use practical and simple
metaphors to explain what he meant, for this reason he uses words which are/were used in everyday life. So here the
national capitol represents a bank, which gives out money, not physical one, but metaphorically justice, freedom and
happiness. The money is represented by those values based on equality, which are declared and reinforced in the
fundational texts of the United States of America.

'When the architect [...] was to fall heir' : the metaphor based on economics business transaction continues, to cash a
check is linked to the idea of the signing of a promissory note (cambiale); promissory notes were widely used in the 60s, it
would be a sort of agreement signed promising the payment of a specific amount of money. At the same time King
recognises the importance and the authority of the founding fathers who wrote the Constitution and the Declaration of
Independence, by calling the ARCHITECTS of OUR Republic: he does not separate AA from other Americans; AA are part of
the architecture on which America is based. However there is a problem, as these architects kind of have to pay when it
comes to African Americans: the promissory note featured freedom and equality. 'This note was the promise that all men
would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' : this check has been evidently not
fully cashed, because African Americans still face injustice.

In the paragraph that follows King continues with this metaphor. When AA get to the bank to get this check, you try to cash
the check and the bank teller says that you won't be able to cash the check because there are insufficient funds or at least
unavailable to you. The bank of America shows that he's got insufficient funds for African Americans (remember that
funds, thus money, are freedom, justice and happiness).

'It is obvious today that America [...] Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad
check, a check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds.' : a bad check, in colloquial language, is a check that cannot
be cashed because the person who's signed the cash has not enough money in the account to pay. So a bad check is a
FRAUDE: America has given African Americans something that is sort of a fraude. King intertwines a metaphor based on
ordinary life and everybody in the audience has probably experienced a bad check, so everybody could easily understand
the metaphor. Dealing with money was something very close to everybody's experience in the audience.

'But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt' : King here highlights the fact that as an American he cannot
believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. The problem is not the lack of funds -symbolical money- but rather they're in
vaults (cavò), and these vaults must be available for every African American, 'and so we come to cash this check'. King
highlights the proactive attitude of African Americans, who do not remain home waiting for the check to be delivered, but
they rather MOVE, 'come here today' to cash the check. The theme of the unpaid check creates a vivid and visual imagery
connected to the idea of the unpaid obligation of equality, freedom, justice been given to African Americans. This image
was familiar to those who struggle with money, and King himself underlined the fact that the South itself is a poor land,
above all when it comes to African Americans, thus this image is very familiar especially to African Americans.

Clearly, King wants his people to be active, to take action, at the same time he doesn't want the other Americans excluded,
because, as he just remarked, other Americans inherited that obligation. This obligation is legal (stated in the fundational
papers of the nation) and moral spiritual.

We can see how the use of repetitions, which conveys an emotional climax and confirms the message King wants to
convey, is repetedly exploited in the next paragraphs.

In the next paragraph King highlights an importat element of his struggle and the Civil rights movement, that can be
summed up by this expression : THE URGENCY OF NOW : action miust be taken now, now it is the time to abolish
segregation, to make sure that every AA can vote. Gradualism, doing things step by step, is not their thing. Now is the
keyword. The word 'urgency' is repeated over and over. Remember that King is talking at the end of August and ends this
paragraph saying 'This sweltering (soffocante) summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent ..': the word 'sweltering'
underlines the fact that AA are being suffocated by the white regime. Note that the sentence (this sweltering summer) is
taken from Shakespeare > INTERTEXTUALITY!

The urgency of now is connected to the specific day mentioned by King: 'Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a
beginning'.

Just to remember, King had been inspired by Gandhi, who used pacific resistance in order to gain rights, and King clearly
believed in this approach and this is made clear by him in the following paragraph. He believes AA should believe in what
he calls 'SOUL FORCE'. 'But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the worn threshold (soglia)
which leads into the palace of justice' : metaphor = if you are on a threshold it means that you are about to enter
something. 'In the process ... deeds ... bitterness and hatred' : 'drinking..hatred' is a line taken from the Corinthians.

'Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force' : this was his own idea and
of many of his followers.

At the same time though King was aware of the fact that if you were white and you were listening to the speech, you
would have feared the consequences of it. There was a sense of uncertainty that was creepening America society. 'For
many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their freedom is
inextricably bound to our freedom' : the idea of brotherhood is made clear here, King call 'em 'white brothers'. The
expression brother is usually used for a relation based on blood, but still King calls them brothers, he doesn't make
distinctions. King says that 'we are one', faithful to the notion e pluribus unum - out of many one. 'Their freedom is tied up
and bound to our freedom' (metaphorically speaking). King reverses the use of this vocabulary and inscribes a positive
meaning into it. The chains here are not negative chains anymore, but rather chains that bond each other. One cannot walk
alone, cannot march alone. 'We shall overcome/we cannot turn back'.

In this next paragraph King describes what reality was for African American, in a straightforward manner, describing the
different types of racism and dicrimination they had to face. Sadly, little progress has been made (G. Floyd). '..and a Negro
in NY believes he has nothing for which to vote..' : this means that they didn't feel represented. In NY the right to vote was
given, but one didn't feel represented so one didn't feel the need to vote. 'until...'justice ...stream' : biblical reference to
the book of Amos.

'I am not unmindful...' : 'jail cells' reminds us of the police brutality. 'creative suffering' the creativity of your suffering must
be transformed into the creativity of your protest. The invitation that King makes is to go back to their homes and fight in a
non violent way, to take action. > 'Go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia...' when it comes to the South King names in
detail every State in which there was strong discrimination and racism. In contrast, when it comes to the North, it is
homogeneous when it comes to poverty. The central message is that one has to go back home, where its roots are, with a
new awareness, in order to take action and make creative protest. 'the valley of despair' is an image taken from one of the
most popular songs in the Bible, that is 'The Lord is my shepherd', by all means considered one of the songs that most
convey hope (religious reference). Back to the time of slavery religion was one of the main source of hope.

And then begins the part of the I have a dream refrain:

'I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.' : King
exploits and capitalises the notion of the American Dream. 'It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream'. American
dream should be open to everybody. 'We hold these truths to be self-evidentthat all men are created equal' = quotation of
the declaration of independence. Then King quotes Georgia and Athlanta. Georgia and Athlanta was the heart of the
confederacy during the Civil war. Georgia was regarded as the quintessential representation of the slave system.
'I have a dream ... by the content of their character' = by their inner selves

He then mentions Alabama, one of the most racist states and one of the most segregated states. Ward Callace Junior (its
governor) a great supporter of segregation.

While King is talking he interposes the refrain I have a dream, plus in his voice there is a rising tone, which leads to the
conclusion of the speech.

'I have a dream that one day every valley...see it together' > taken from a byblical passage, particularly from Isaiah. The use
of anaphoras builds up the climax. He reinfroces the notion of brotherhood: as he mentions this idea, he has to mention
something culturally relevant for white Americans as well. He mentions 2 texts which: John Winthrop and a patriotic song:
because K. knows that he must engage the white part too, with his speech. He knows that all is a matter of brotherhood,
and that white people has to feel engaged in the situation. K. skilfully uses one of the fundational texts of the myths of the
creation of the United States.

'My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of libery, of thee I sing. Land where my father died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from
every mountainside, let freedom ring.' > K. uses a song that was patriaotically white, but by doing this he tries to feel
involved the black ones, in order to convey again the idea of brotherhood. That's a patriotic song, that refers to the first
settlers and the American revolution. K. makes sure that his physical descrition is all inclusive, he tries to be
omnicomprehensive of every State.

Conclusion:

'And when this happens, and when we allow freedom to ring ... Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.' : K. wants to
convey the idea that nobody is going to be excluded from the American dream. Last line of the speech: WE generates
empathy, in order to make everyone feel the sense of freedom.

JOHN FANTE (1909-1983)

His family came from Italy. He was a 2nd generation Italian American, so his family was from Italy, but he was born in 1909
in Denver, Colorado. In the 30s he moved to LA, where he began his career as a writer. He also wrote screenplays for
Hollywood. Most of his writings evolve around the notion of identity, particularly American and Italian ones. An Italian
American male, who's been intepreted as Fnte's alter ego, is thetypical character presented by the author. This character
deals with his double identity but at the same time tries to feel and be involved in one of the two. To some extent, in the
South, Italian Americans were compared to African Americans.

'ODYSSEY OF A WOP'

Short story published in a magazine, the American Mercury, in 1933. Regarded now as one of the most iconic writings
focusing on IDENTITY, and the differences between identities.

The TITLE: the title conveys the idea of a voyage, because of the reference to Ulysses' voyage. Ulysses = hero who has to
overcome obstacles in order to go back home (Itaca), which can be compared to finding his own identity, finding where he
belongs to. The Odyssey, in terms of narrative, falls into the cathegory of epic. The character's goal wants to return home, a
place both physical and metaphorical. Fante, through this title, is somehow suggesting that in the text there actually is a
hero.

We have a 1st person narrator. Home has a metaphorical meaning, that's gaining a deep sense of belonging. Our hero
demonstrates the need of belonging to a specific ethnic group, and our hero wants to feel involved and perceived
American. Another provoking element is a sharp contrast featured in this title. An odyssey is the epic voyage of an epic
hero, but that is the odyssey of a WOP: the term wop was a derogatory term used in the US to identify Italians. The word
wop possibly derives from the word 'guapo', associated with 'camorrista' or 'delinquente'. Interestingly, Fante takes these
two conflicting terms putting them together in the title. The word 'wop' is used many times in the text.

The process through which the narrator has learnt o used the word wop derives from the way in which Italian Americans
perceived themselves, having experienced a double identity and conciousness.

'The Odyssey of a Wop' ; such title come from the same reflection on discrimination and ethnicity and play on the contrast
between the use of discriminatory expressions to define the supposed protagonist and hero of the story, thus introducing
the reader to what appears a mainstream point of view just to reverse it through narration and glimpses to the ethnic
character's personal pain'.

Bordin, 'The marginalizing effect of ethnic expectations: J. Fante's 'Asian writings'

'Personal pain' : the protagonist experiences an intense emotional struggle, as he needs to feel the belonging to
mainstream American culture, the same one which defines him a 'wop'. The main character is at war with himself.

SECTION 1

'I pick up little bits ... he was a good little Wop' : the expression 'good little Wop' is conflicting (in my view). His father was
perceived in a derogatory way: the use of this expression partially dehumanises his grandfather, turning him in a type, a
character that can be controlled. His grandfather was pitied. The one who uses this expression is basically looking down at
this man, looking at hima s part of a little multitude.

'You too, Wop!' ... he calla me Wopa' : do notice how Fante tries to reproduce in the best manner the tone and the accents
of the people there. '...hanging from his head.' : th grandfather passively accepts the insult, doesn't react and goes home,
while his son (the narrator's father) reacts and gets engaged in a fight, deescribed as the fight between two beasts (they're
aggressive, they bite each other), and to the eyes of the narrator it seems like his father is proud of being Italian and wants
to defend his honor.

9th April

Nota: the story evolves around the themes of immigration and identity.

The very first part of the story talks about his father and his grandfather. His grandfather is described and defined as a
'good little wop', a lable that gets attached to him and that conveys a feeling of pity rather than of admiration, because the
gf is presented as a man that passively accepts racism towards him. At the same time, on contrast, the father of the
narrator has a violent reaction -he bites a piece of ear- and combats as if he were a beast. The person who fights against
the father has a surname that suggests that he's got english origins. Clearly the narrator seems to be ashamed of his
grandfather's passive behavior. The feeling of shame will characterise most part of the story. Such feeling is characteristic
of the narrator's feelings, when it comes as his Italian origins.

SECTION 2

This passage gives us the idea of 'DOUBLE CONCIOUSNESS'.

'From the beginning ...' : 'Dago' was another derogatory term used to address to Italians. The narrator's mom uses
derogatory terms taking on the same perspective ethnic racism shares. WOP and DAGO are the identificative terms for
Italians.

'..to her they contain the essence of poverty, squalor, filth' : by using these words, offending terms, both the mother and
the narrator implicitly the ethnic racism these words represent. This Italian mother is very similar to Hughes's essay 'The
negro artists and the racial mountains': in such passage the other says 'Don't behave or don't act like a nigger', thus taking
on the prejudices associated to them and to ethnic racism. In this case 'Don't be like that. Don't be a wop.' > paradoxical
message, that is 'Don't be Italian. Don't let them recognise you as an Italian, because Italians are referred to poverty,
squalor, filth.' This example shows us how language and the use of language has an influence on the way in which we
perceive ourselves and. No wonder the narrator will try part of his life trying to conceal his origins. On the other hand, the
narrator has a father who's extremely proud of his Italian origins, so within the process of construction of identity there
actually is chaos, as within his own family there is being contrasts, especially between the figures of his mother, his father
and his grandfather. The narrator gets the feeling that italianess corresponds to being poor, filthy and squalid.

And then, in the next passage, our narrator, evidently a child, goes to the local grocery store: the passage reveals again the
kind of racism our narrator is exposed:

'He pretends to hate the Irish...egg' : these detalis are trivial and convey a specific attitude act by the grocer. How does the
narrator interpret these episodes? The grocer disn't like Italians, or at least he had racist behaviors towards them.
'Straightaway ... My stomach expands and recedes, and I feel naked' : notice the racism between the different ethnic
groups. Among them there is racism too, that can be noticed from the fact that the father addresses to the Irish grocer
with derogative terms. At the same time the emotional pain of the narrator becomes physical pain; when it comes to be
regarded as an Italian, he feels physical humiliation. 'He feels naked' : metaphor that conveys the idea of feeling exposed,
because of his ethnic identity being recognised.

As a sort of reaction to the racism he's dealing and because of the fact he's a child, our narrator STEALS: he enjoys stealing,
because that is a way the narrator has in order to paying him back. It's a revenge towards discrimination. He does
everything he can to HURT the grocer and his business. He like wants him to physically suffer. Notice Fante's emphasis on
the word 'his' to remark tha fact that it is the grocer's property, so the racism's property. The narrator mocks the grocer's
daughter because of her physical defect, that is the meanest way to attack somebody.

Remember that we're dealing with an odyssey! As time passes and the story continues, the narrator finds out that Italians
themselves use the derogative terms used by other people to define them:

'As I grow older I find out that Italians ...' : the narrator attends a parochial school, which is frequented by a larg parts of
Italians, but our narrator is ashamed of revealing his origins. 'I enter the parochial school with an awful fear that I will be
called a Wop.' : the narrator compares his surname to others' and is relieved by the fact that his surname could be
confused with a French surname. He begins to loathe (intensively despise his Italian heritage). He doesn't even wants the
company of other Italian children. He desperately wants to be American. Remember that school is the first community we
attend. Complete rejection of his origins, of him being Italian. This narrator tries to conceal every clue that could lead his
American friends to the conclusion that he is Italian. When it comes to the way one eats, food can be symbol of one's
nationality, so our narrator is even ashamed by eating his Italian sandwich publicly. A simple sandwich becomes the sign of
Italianess, the sign of the fact that his mother is not American, the sandwich becomes the reflection of the narrator's
ethnic identity.

'Occasionally now I hear about a fellow named Dante.' : Fante kind of downplays the importance of D.Alighieri, as he
wants to represent the perception of the narrator. When this narrator finds out that this Dante is Italian and calls him 'ugly
bastard'. Dante, who's the quintessential of American culture, becomes an ugly bastard.
The narrator is ashamed of his own parents.

'One day I learn from my mother...I go back to bed, disconsolate and disgusted.' : the narrator is in a desperate need to
modify his own background, he's disconsolate and disgusted, as he hears the answer of his mother. He is facing the harsh
of his background. Violence is used to gain recognition and acceptance, by the narrator. His father approves his son's
violence, but doesn't realise that such violence is a way to camouflage his own frustration towards his origins.

Another visible sign of 'italianess' is the HOUSE: italians try to display their own ties to their origins through photographs,
furniture, paintings in the house. We can see this in. 'I am nervous when I bring friends to my house; the place looks so
italian...' : clearly the hairlooms are cherished by his father, because they are the emotional ties to his father's
mothercountry, but again to the narrator's persepctive they are clear sign of 'italianess', and all his friends can see that.

The other element that define this 'italianess' is LANGUAGE. This can be noticed through the grandmother's attitude and
language. Th egrandmother doesn't speak english very well, so her accent reveals that she's not American. 'I begin to
think that my grandmother ...now they all know that I'm an Italian' : the narrator even pretends to not know Italian,
when his friends are with him. He rejects any visible sign of 'italianess'. BUT when there are exclamations, these are
written in Italian, and it happens because and when one's frustrated: when one's frustrated tends to pronounce
exclamation in his/her own mother language, that's usually the one deeply linked to emotions.

SECTION 5

Painful realisation: after parochial school the narrator begins to attend a jesuit academy, frequented by many Italians. Our
narrator experiences an epiphany, as he realises that his father is Italian and proud of it, undeniably.

'I look up at him in amazement ... but he looks exactly like a Wop (=squalor, filth, poverty) ... carrying a blanket...I'm
crying right now' : with this epiphany our narrator realises that it is impossible to take away one's background. He cries
because he has come to realise that he is Italian as much as his father, he is his father's reflection > mirror-like mechanism.

He whispers his father's name, because he doesn't want other people to hear that. In terms of process of building a fake
identity for himself, has reached the climax. It is not true that his parents were born in LA and Chicago, so he's deeply
rejecting and concealing his background. After realising he's indeed Italian, as he sees himself in his father, he decides to
reinvent a new identity for himself. Furthermore, the registrar, a priest, says that this academy is full of different ethnic
groups: Wops, Kikes (Jews) and shanty Irish > each label carries a negative sense inside. This lets us understand the high
level of racism that not only the narrator but also other different ethnic groups had to deal with.

And then, the narrator continues with this rejection, to the point that this rejecting his origins actually becomes the sign of
his origins. 'I am a bad Latinist. ...fail hopelessly... abandon the language.' : notice the repetition of 'fail' > the narrator is
failing his exams thus he is actually failing himself.

The word Wop becomes the quintessential representation of everything negative about Italians.

When we come to SECTION 7 the narrator comes to realise who he is, as he knows another Italian who, like him, tries to
hide his origins, ashamed of them.

'Time passes, and so do school days. I am sitting on a wall along the plaza...' : Fante chooses to make the scene take
place during a mexican fiesta, another cultural sign, but of another culture. Our narrator casually meets this person, they
keep on talking and our narrator senses that his interlocutor is Italian. A couple of time after, or narrator sees Rocco. This
one, the plaza man, is hiding something. He is ashamed of being Italian. 'Animale codardo' > whenever emotions are
involved, Italian is the chosen language, again. For the first time, the narrator sees himself projected onto somebody else's
attitude. 'The plaza man looks at me with peaked eyebrows ... apron' > like himself, the narrator sees someone hiding
from his background; this one looks like a God: the narrator associates for the first time being Italian with something
positive. Our narrator finally reconnects with his own family through male figures. Through the description of these
Italians, the narrator finally accepts himself and connects to his Italian origins > 'I seem to have come home' : he's finally
come home.This return has come without trumpets and thunder, but through the almost casual recognition of himself,
being reflected onto the attitude of someone else.

'If I were you, I'd get rid of him' : the narrator is harsh towards the plaza man because there is a transfer, there's almost a
process of a butterfly coming out of the cocoon, with the need of getting rid of everything. 'There's no sense in
hammering your own corpse.' : the idea of a 'corpse' is associated with a dead person; the use of this metaphor refers to a
process of RE-BIRTH, which occured in these last lines, and to a break with the past attitude. The narrator has come to
acceptance through metaphorical death and re-birth. There is this idea of 'home coming', which relates to the Odyssey of
Ulysses.

LESLIE MARMON SILKO (1948 -)

Native american writer. Born in Albuuquerque, New Mexico. She's got a mixed descent: she grew up on the Laguna Pueblo
reservation, so she became familiar with that tradition. Living in New Mexico, she also has Navajo relatives (?). She
publishes 'Laguna woman' in 1974, a poetry collection, 'Ceremony' in 1977, a novel, and 'Storyteller', that's a collection of
poems, short stories which are folk tales at the same time, and photographs, published in 1981.

'LULLABY'

We're gonna read 'Lullaby', taken from Storyteller, which depicts the CLASH and the DISSONANCE between native
american culture and white american one. Clash, meaning the negative consequences that the encounter between
these two cultures bring. At the same time, the act of storytelling, according to herm becomes an act of survival in
terms of cultural identity. Native cultures can survive as long as their stories are told. So significative is oral and writing
culture, as an act of remembering, which is an act associated with white culture.

When it comes to native american cultures, the perception of time is circular: past, present and future all come together
within a circular movement: that is an important element, which is relevant in Lullaby too, as in the story there is a
continuous shifting between past and present. Present, past and future co-exist. The story narrated in Lullaby is a story of
death and re-birth, but the perception of death is different from our Western culture. Death is percieved as something
positive, that convey re-birth.

Another important element is the depicition that Silko makes of the encounter between the two cultures.

16th April

 The central figure is Aya, an old woman, who resisted to white dominant culture, through her life

 One of the central issues for native American writers is the struggle native Americans had to face once colonists
arrived, so natives were forced to migrate, to leave their lands behind and look for a new home, both individual and
communal, in a land they initially inhabited
 The other central element is the notion of TIME. This one, in mative American culture, is a circular notion.
Present, past and future are connected and the lines that divide them are always blurred. 'Yesterday's happenings are part
of today, just like tomorrow's happenings are part of what is taking place now. Nothing is really distant as a distant past in
the indigeneous way.' (quotatiob by Simon Ortease) > we wil notice, through the experiences and memories of Aya, that
her past and present experiences are connected

 Another element is that the history of native Americans is a mosaic of stories, both individual and communal,
which are intertwined. Each individual perceives him/herself as one piece of the community. The idea of recognising
yourself in the tribe is much important

 Emphasis on oral communication : storytelling becomes an act of survival and resistance. Native American
culture is primarily an oral culture; natives maintain the oral quality and the central role played by storytelling. At the same
time, one of the main issues, amongst contemporary native American writers, was to create, through the act of writing, a
way in which natives could cope with the alienation of their condition

The story is part of 'Storyteller' (1981). The story offers us a 3rd person narrative and chronicles the life of Ayah, a navajo
woman, and her husband Chato. The story is set during a winter night. Her husband has problems with alcoholism, and as
Ayah finds him understands that he's probably going to die. Through Aya's memories, Silko exposes the plight, the
struggles of Native American people, and touches upon the issues created by the fact that natives have been
discriminated. Another important element is the intimate connection between the individual and nature. The individual is
part of a whole, and this greater whole is represented by nature. This connection is constantly experience by Ayah.
Another important point is the way in which all spaces contain stories: Ayah moves looking for her husband, and each
space contains a short story/episode of Ayah's life with Chato.

'The sun had gone down ... and her life had become memories.'

Two elements:

1. The story begins with the description of a winter landscape (iy is snowing); Silko establishes a connection between the
image of the snowflakes and the symbol of a new wool. Ayah is a member of the Navajo tribe > within this tribe weaving
(intrecciare, tessere) is a central element especially for women. Weaving is central in the story; Ayah is a weaver, and the
weaving of wool is also a reflection of the ability to weave stories. The only way Ayah can survive (npot only physically, but
mostly culturally) is through the act of WEAVING stories, so telling and remembering them, which are one story among the
other native americans' ones. Through the image of the weaver Ayah is immediately placed in the Navajo background. This
act of weaving is symbol of the Navajo-changing-woman, which is what Ayah is.

2. She's an old woman, so her life had become memories: different layers are combined: the now and the past. Ayah
reconnects the threads of memory and tries to make sense, through memory, of her own painful experience of life (a life
characterised by suffering and loss -of children).

'She sat down with her back against the wide cottonwood tree, feeling the rough bark on her back bones...Yeibechei
song..'

Yeibechei song is a ritual song. Here we can see the way in which Aya is ONE WITH NATURE, her detail lean in against the
wite cottonwood tree, becoming one with it. Aya is absolutely not threatened by what is going to turn into a storm: 'Out of
the wild she felt warmer...a few feet away.'
In order to keep herself warm Ayah takes out a blanket. Since we've discussed the fact that weaving is particularly
important in the Navajo culture, we'd expect a beautifully weaved blanket, but instead we find an old Army blanket. This
is the 1st clue that is illustrative of the dramatic and painful relationship between white American culture and native
American one. This army blanket belonged to Aya's son, who was in the Army; we later find out that Jimmie has passed
away during war.

'Ayah pulled the old Army blanket ... and it was unrevealing on the edges' : the edges of the blanket UNREVEAL. An old
blanket's colour can fade, but this is symbolical of a past far gone and of an emotional unrevealing, a pain associated to
this blanket. Navajo women are used to wear their colourful blankets : Silko reverses this imagery, by presenting our Ayah
wearing an old Army blanket.

'She did not want to think about Jimmie. So she thought about the weaving..' : the act of weaving connects Ayah to her
childhood, to her mother, to her community.

'On the tall wooden loom set into the sand under a tamarack tree for shade...bright yellow and red and gold.' : here we
have finally the representation of weaving within Navajo culture, an act carried on by Navajo women, from a generation to
another.

'...on the hogan's sandy floor' : the process of remembering is a process that helps her to reconnect with her past and
with her own identity.

And then we're back to Ayah's present. Remembering is a source of peace for her > 'She felt peaceful remembering'

Evidently Ayah goes back with her mind to the moment in which she gave birth to Jimmie, who died in a helicopter crash.

'..walked to the old stone hogan together...and to her it became all the same birth. They named him for the summer
morning and in English they called him Jimmie.' : Jimmie's birth is nothing else as all the other births, he's one out of
many, as it will happen with Chato's death, one death among the others. Each death merges into the deaths of the other
men and women of the community. Birth and death are just two different moments of the same circular movement. Here
we also have the first clue referring to the use of two different languages: Jimmie's real name is not that, but a Navajo
name, which, according to Silko, we're readers are not allowed to know or something like that.

'It wasn't like Jimmie died...and told them that Jimmie was dead...but it wasn't likely because the helicopter had burned
after it crashed.. Spanish too.'

First of all, the description of the way in which the news of Jimmie's death was delivered by official authority is perceived
by Ayah. It is portrayed as an outcast, because Ayah cannot speak English and because of this she often lacks the means to
interpret what is going on around her. Since she does not speak English, we're seeing here the police car through her eyes.
So, she doesn't know what this car represents. This suggests the conditions in which many natives had to live, as she
names this car a 'box car-shack'. This native American couple was actually displaced, they were living in a car shack. The
man in kaki uniform is probably an officer, who gives the message of Jimmie's death. Aya stood hiding and watching, while
Chato is the negotiator between the two cultures, as he speaks both English and Spanish. He connects Ayah's family to
white culture, and because of this he pays the price. Chato becomes the representation of the consequences of a forced
clash between the two cultures. Ayah, who's mantained her native identity, by refusing to learn the language and to take
their customes, will be the one who survives.

'The white man looked bewildered; ... ' : we're told that Chato speaks navajo with Ayah, that is the way they
communicate. The loss of Jimmie is the consequence of Jimmie joining the white men army. Then there is another loss that
Ayah experiences beacuse of white society: this loss sees white men the ones responsible of it. Ayah loses two other
children. The most dramatic element is that without knowing it is Ayah that signs the papers of social services to 'take her
children away'.

Silko points out the language barrier.

Ayah signs the paper: example of miscommunication, on behalf of the US government. Ayah senses the threat but she
wants the doctors to go away so she does something that can push them away. By signing the papers she doesn't realise
that she's accepting her children to go away.

Ayah, who's an intelligent woman, right after her signing, istinctually grabs her children and runs away, up to the hill,
hiding, until Chato comes back and explains to Ayah that she has signed her children away. She hides > nature is a shelter.
Jimmie could have helped Ayah.

Note: Ayah's walking is reminiscent of the trail of tears : the trail of tears was the long walk experienced by the Cherokee
nation, who were forced to migrate from their lands to the reservation in the West, created by the American government
for them, so they were displaced. Ayah's walking towards Chato is a replica of the painful walking of all the Cherokee and
many other natives in the trail of tears.

Ayah's life and personal story are rooted in navajo culture.

'It was worse than if they had died...her children were without her.' : the loss of Ella and Danny is more painful than
Jimmie's loss, because Jimmie CHOSE the army, and dying is considered as part of life, while Danny and Ella had been taken
away, they had been displaced. Ayah blames Chato for this loss obviously, because he was the one who told her to sign the
papers, and remember that Ayah resists white culture in any possible way. Ayah's signing her children away is given
historical resonance, as it is compared by Silko to the way in which native american chieves signed treaties and agreements
with the US government, without fully knowing of the consequences of such signing and hence losing their lands. Many
times the US government didn't live up to the promises made in such agreements.

'Ayah hated Chato..' : we see Ayah's perspective. Silko gives us an intense description of the loss that Ayah's been
suffering. 'To see how white man repaid Chato's years of loyalty and work' sarcastic sentence, white men get rid of him
because he's become like useless. Not only is Chato fired and immediately replaced, but he, with Ayah, is kicked out of his
(their) house.

ALCOHOLISM: Silko presents us this other issue, present at that time. Chato pretty much dies of this problem.

Chato and Ayah cannot support themselves, but with this pale blue check they receive each month, however this check is
spent by Chato on alcohol. Ayah has maintained her identity, and this can be seen in the scene in which Ayah enters the
bar and the white customers there recognise her difference and at the same time fear her, because she's maintained her
strength.

Notice that the word 'Indians' is used as a derogatory term. Notice that Chato speaks Spanish too, futher than English and
Navajo language, and that allows him to enter the bar. As Ayah enters the bar she enters 'stormy', leaving the door open,
and with pride. Ayah is dehumanised by the perception of the white men > she is compared to a spider, an insect. This
comparison can be also a comparison of Ayah to a spider woman: in Navajo culture the spider woman is a holy figure that
weaves the Navajo culture, telling stories.

Danny and Ella have been brought back by a government offical, who's very nervous because she doesn't know
how to deal with native Americans > Ayah can perceive the way in which her daughter perceives her.

We come back to the present and we see how 'She felt stisfied that the me in the bar feared her.' : she has teeth
clenched tight, an image that refers to wildness. The money is all gone and Ayah thinks about there is no money left, bu
she accepts reality for what it is and finally finds Chato, who's been reduced to a homeless drunk. We readers also realise
that Chato is still drunk and confused, calling Ayah with his sister's name.

Despite the resentment Ayah has harboured towards Chato, she is able to feel compassion towards him, realising
he's extremely weak and that he has to rest. When the storm passes Ayah realises that Chato is 'freezing to death'. Notice
that the word death is never really mentioned, death is seen as one moment of the great circle of life and as a moment
that reconnects each man's faith to his own birth. And this also explains the title of the story, Lullaby. You would usually
sing a Lullaby to a new born child. The word is reminiscent of Ayah's babies, the children she has lost. Furthermore the
word is also reminiscent of the lullaby Ayah sings to her dying husband. It is a lullaby because Ayah sees Chato's death as a
passage moment, as a moment that happens during life, a circle made of birth and death.

'She could see it descend out of the night sky.. Ayah knew that with the wine he would sleep.' : Ayah thinks that the wine
could be like a poison for his husband, who would not feel the death. In this very moment she connects her husband's
death to the birth of her babies. At this point memories are not important anymore, Ayah does not remember if she sang
this song to her children, but what is important is that she is singing it right now to her husband.

Sweet end.

This lullaby accompanies a child's sleeping and a man's dying. It defines the native american view of life and the ciclic
nature of life, and connects people, the land and a mythic time, marking the moment of Chato's death, which transcends
time and becomes one with the deaths and the births of all native Americans within the tribe. Apparently it is a tragic
ending, but is narrated as just one moment in native American culture, and shows the strength of myth, which is able to
transcend time. Ayah is evidently a piece with herself, with her own husband, and with the many losses she has suffered
through her own life.

 the connection with nature is part of native American culture; Ayah feels one with nature, each time she has to
face hard things, she tries to find shelter in nature

 the tribe ritual > singing of the lullaby = ritual, that becomes a response, through which Ayah and other native
Americans try to cope with their condition, that is alienation, and resist to white culture

AMY TAN (1952-)

Asian american writer. She comes from a long tradition of Asian American writers. She was born in California.

She became widely known when she published 'The Joy Luck Club' in 1989, particularly interesting because of its
STRUCTURE: it is a collection of stories which represent the relationships between four Chinese women and their Chinese
American daughters. We've got a representation of the contrast between Chinese culture and second generation Chinese
American. Representation of the contrast between generations. The novel is structured in a geometrical way because it
imitates the rules of a Chinese game called 'mah-jong': it's got 4 players, who play four hands each > the novel is divided
into four main parts, each of which subdivided into four separate stories, each told by a different narrators. Important is
thus the multiplication of the number FOUR who is representative of the four Chinese mothers and of the four Chinese
American daughters. The mothers were born in China and migrated to the US while the daughters were born in the US, so
they have to deal with the origins of their mothers, although they feel American > clash between different cultures.
 23th April 2021

'TWO KINDS'

It is part of the book 'The Joy Luck Club' (1989), immediate success and very popular among American readers. The book is
a collection of stories, which represent eight voices (four Chinese American daughters and four Chinese mothers). The
frame structure of the book revolves around Jin-Mae-Wu, also called June, the main character of the story, and her
mother, who has recently passed away. This mother created the tradition of the Joy Luck Club: every week the four women
would play the 'mah-jong'. When the mother dies, June takes on the tradition of the mah-jong. Interesting is the
interconnection between stories and the relationship between mothers and daughters.

'My mother believed ... instantly famous.' : these very first lines define the essence of the American Dream: through
these lines Amy Tan gives us the perception of the American Dream perceived by immigrants. 'You could work for the
government..' : financial security; 'You could buy a house..' : the idea of the possibility to own your own house and the
subsequent creation of American subdivision is one of the image that characterise the american dream. In addition to the
idea of material prosperity we have the idea of fame. Since June's mother cannot make that happen for herself she
projects this dream onto her daughter. But what distinguishes the 2 women is that June's mother has a strong belief in the
possibility of the realisation of the american dream.

June's mother talking: what can we notice about her language? Her talking is somehow something that you don't hear
from a native speaker > Amy Tan chooses to characterise the mother's speech in the way in which somebody who's a
chinese heritage would actually speak in English > LANGUAGE IS A DEFINING ELEMENT IN THIS STORY. We will see how
June's mother uses her Chinese accent when she's emotionally engaged in something. So the characterisation of the
mother happens through the way she talks. Amy Tan has tried to reproduce the same way in which her own mother talked.

'But she never looked back with regret...' : June's mother is illustrative of the story of many immigrants, forced to leave
their country and to come to the US with the hope of create a new life.

And then begins the process through which June's mother identify what kind of prodigee her daughter should
become:

At some point June reacts to what she perceives as an imposition and decides that the way to create her own identity is to
reject her mother's projection on her.

'At first my mother thought I could be a Chinese Shirley Temple' : Shirley Temple was the very first American child star, she
was the quintessential representation of American childhood, she was extremely popular as a child. Interesting is that
June's mother chooses this Shirley Temple, the quintessential representation of Americaness, to think about her daughter.
Nonetheless the attempt to make her daughter a Chinese Shirley Temple fails.

'You look like a Negro Chinese..' : obviously here is presented a stereotype. It reminds us of Hughes and Fante's 'wop'. The
idea of double conciousness that Dubois explored. This sentence establishes social hierarchy, in which African Americans
are at the bottom. On the 1 hand June's mother tries to turn her daughter into the white stereotype of Shirley Temple, but
when the attempt fails, she uses the expression 'Negro Chinese', which reflects the idea she has of herself, she as the last
valuable Chinese, because she has taken in the white stereotypes/ mentality. At first June wants to make her mother
happy, but then she realises that the only way to grow is to rebel. Cultural and generational clash. June cannot live up to
the white stereotype, but her mother is stubborn, resiliant and continues with her dream of her daughter being a
prodigee.
'Every night after dinner my mother and I...searching for stories about remarkable children.' : her mother gets these
magazines from the houses she cleaned > the author skilfully builds up a layer which defines the social status of this
Chinese family, ehich was the same as many other immigrant families. There is this sort of 'cinderella story' which she
applies to her daughter, the creation of a new self. The second tipe of talent the mother applies to her daughter is a
knowledge prodigee. June feels her mother doesn't accept her for who she is, so she cumulates a sense of anger and
disappointment towards herself and her mother.

'And then I saw what seemed... I won't be what I'm not' : it is through her own resistance that June finds her true identity.
She kind of prevents what she could be.

Finally, June and her mother are watching a very popular show: by watching the show her mother has an epiphany: a
Chinese child playing a piano and she decides that her daughter is going to excel in piano playing. 'Ni kan, my mother
said...like a proper Chinese child' : the Chinese girl playing the piano is the quintessential representation of Chinese and
American features, to her mother. June's mother is stubborn and decides that her daughter is going to become a piano
prodigee, because she's fully absorbed the notion of american dream > if you work hard you can be anything you want. On
the other hand June is becoming disillusioned and reacts a question to her mother 'Why don't you like me the way I am?'
> June's mother responds with a very strong Chinese accent; she wants her daughter to become the best she can be.
June's mother has mixed feelings and a contraddictive vision of the american dream.

'So maybe I never really gave myself a fair chance...' : June's mother wants her daughter to play piano classic. And she
pays it cleaning the piano teacher's house, an old Chinese guy, who's dead (?). June doesn't study hard. She's determined
not to try, although she could have been a good pianist. June learns to play the most discordant hymns. The word
discordant clarifies the relationship between her and her mother. 'I never really listened what I was playing. I
daydreamed about being somewhere else, about being someone else.' : remember that she's basically Chinese.

When the day of the show comes, June plays awfully, playing a piece by Schumann. She's in total embarrassment for her
mother. What's her mother reaction? June thinks that after an awful show such that her mother would stop her to go to
piano lessons, instead her mother wants her to continue to TRY to become the perfect pianist. The fact of trying makes
someone a winner, in her mother's vision. 'When we got on the bus to go home (the family doesn't own a car!) ...my
mother walked in and went straight back to the bedroom... and in a way I felt disappointed...but two days later her
mother reminds her that she has piano class' : June is shocked because she didn't expect her mother to tell her to
continue piano lessons.

Confrontation between June and her mother:

'I wasn't her slave, this isn't China. I had listened to her before and look what happened she was the stupid one' : clash
between generation. The fight continues and June spells that out 'You want me to be something that I'm not..' : her
mother chooses to use her mother tongue, chooses to express her emotions through her mother tongue. 'I wish I were
dead, like them' : 'them' refers to the two daughters the mother has left in China with regret when migrating. From now
on there is a break between them, and their reconciliation finds place only when her mother dies, and when June finds a
piano play she was supposed to play, which brings her to realise something...

'A few years ago she offered to give me the piano...You could be a genious if you wanted to.'

When she finds the Schumann's book and finds the piece 'Pleading child' and she realises that on the rifht-hand side was
'Perfectly Contented', and that these two pieces were the two halves of the same song; this could refer to the title of the
story 'Two kinds': two kinds of daughters -obhedient and dishobedient daughter. The two piano pieces are also a
representation of the binary structure of the title, that refers to the two pieces that complement each other, and of the
binary structure that has characterised June's life: mother-daughter relationship, Chinese vs American culture, binary
mechanism of success and failure around which Jing-Mai and her mother have built their lives (on success, the mother, and
on failure June). What June discovers when she starts play the 2 pieces is that she can play very well after years though,
and that the two pieces are complement, as complement are success and failure, and maybe generations.

Notice that even the titles of the two pieces are illustrative of the relationship between Jing-Mai and her mother. The
two pieces are different, shorter and longer, lower and faster, but they are parts of a whole, two halves of the same song:
this idea revolves around the binary structure of the story, the binary emotional relationship between mother and
daughter, plus these two pieces suggest the idea of reconciliation between mother and daughter <3 .

TWO KINDS = two kinds of songs, two kinds of daughters, two kinds of women, two kinds of Chinese American

SANDRA CISNEROS (1954-)

WOMAN HOLLERING CREEK

The story revolves around ABUSE, we have the portrayal of a Mexican woman, Cleofila, who crosses the border and comes
to Texas with the hope of a better life. Again we have a confrontation between two cultures: the Chicano one and the
American one. Cisneros always depicts women inhabiting the border lands, which are placed on contradictory and
opportunity. When Cleofila begins to experience married life, a nightmare rather than a dream, lives by a creek, to find
some shelter with her own child Pedrido. Right from the beginning Cleofila is fascinated by the name of this creek and tries
to find the origins of it. She finds out that the original name is 'La Gritona', the woman who screams, so she connects the
figure of the hollering woman to 'La LLorona', a mythical figure whose ghost can be seen near rivers, water, streams.
According to folclore 'La LLorona' was originally a mestiza who got pregnant and killed her children. Cleofila emotionally
develops throughout the story and if inititally she associates the image of the hollering woman to 'La Llorona', onto which
se projects her own marriage story and abuse, at the end of the story instead the hollering woman is transformed into a
screaming woman, whose screaming/hollering is an act of freedom, which represents Cleofila's finally finding her freedom.
Cisneros plays with cultural symbols and shows us how a cultural symbol - the symbol of Llorona, a negative one - can be
turned into a newer and more positive interpretation of womanhood and the symbol of liberated woman.

'The day Don Serafin gave Juan Pedro Martinez...He had said, after all, in the hubbub of parring: I am your father, I will
never abandon you.' : Cleofila is clearly loved by her father, but within the patriarchal system she's just a piece of good, an
item, to be carried across a border, the Mexican one. Cleofila crosses the border and goes to US because she's been
married to another Mexican, who lives in Texas. Cleofila is a very naive woman, at the beginning of the story, who reads
her life according to the interpreation of reality and romantic story offered by popular mass media. The popular mass
media are a srot of summary of the mix betweenSouth American culture -for example actresses of telenovela- and
American culture. Cleofila's perception of American culture is a distorted one because it is a mix of South American cultural
stereortypes -the characters of telenovela- and American stereotypes. Nonetheless to young Cleofila the idea of crossing
the border sounds exotic. Cleofila experiences instead a sense of solitude, she cannot speak English, and language is a tool
through one can have access to a particular culture. She does not find happiness, but rather sistematic abuse, an abuse
that's presented as part of patriarchal culture. He husband also cheats on her, is a drunkard. The only sense of self she can
mantain is thanks to her being a mother, plus thanks to the fact that she's expecting another child.

SYMBOL OF THE CREEK : right from the beginning the creek exerts influence and attraction to Cleofila. When Cleofila
initially experiences a sense of loneliness the creek might influence her in terms of suicide.
'La Gritona, such a funny name for such a lovely arroyo...from anger or pain' : there's a clear mix of languages because
Cleofila cannot speak English. '...who knows, the townspeople shrugged...curious name' : Cleofila is tricked by this name.

Cleofila starts experiencing her life in the US and finds out that her husband is an abusive one.

'full of happily ever after.' : happy ever after is how Cleofila imagines her new life in the US.

'The first time she had been so surprised she didn't cry out to defend...' : Cisneros flly convey the pain and trauma of
abuse. The first time is shocking, and that's why she cannot react. Cisneros also depicts the abusive man's reaction to his
own abuse [...] : we're clearly told that Cleofila enters a pattern of abuse, which repeats itself over and over and over. The
only way Cleofila can stop this cycle is to run away, but nonetheless she has no tools to support herself, as she's a foreigner.

At the same time the town she's living in does not offer much help. '...and nothing, nothing, nothing of interest.' : the
town doesn't offer any sense of community; there are signs of material prosperity, but the town only conveys a sense of
emptiness and solitude. Because of suche desperation Cleofila feels there's no place to go. The two neighbors represent
the two emotions experienced by Cleofila: solitude and pain. BUT there's a third place to go, the creek. Here at the creek is
where she associates the landscape to the archetipal figure of 'La Llorona'.

'..remembering all the stories she learned as a child..' : Cleofila associates the myth of 'La Llorona' to her personal
experience. '..drives a woman to the darkness under the trees' : the darkness here is also a mental darkness. Cleofila is in
emotional pain. The abuse continues but luckily she finds a way out.

Note: remember that abuse in this society is seen as seomething justified, as it happens in patriarchal society.

'Cleofilas thought her life would have to be like that...But what happened to a Cleofilas? Notihing. But a crack in the
face.' : the crack is the wound she wears, and the result of her husband's abuse.

Cleofila finally convince her husband to bring her to a doctor. Then Cisneros abruptly changes the point of view: we have
the points of view of Felice and Graciela, who are both chicanos, but deeply Americans. Cleofila's been beaten so many
times that she's black and blue all over her body.

Luckily Cleofila gets helped by these two women: and sisterhood, female solidarity is highlighted.

Note: pickups are often associated to male drivers.

Cleofila probably goes home to her brother and her father and shares with them a different perspective of womahood.

At the very end, through the reinterpreation of the woman hollering creek, fully expressed by Felice's hollering and
Cleofila's laughing, Cisneros deconstructs the idea of femininity particularly within Chicano culture, in which women are
presented as models of suffering.