Pre-reading tasks

Prepare for a discussion on Native American and Chicano

literature

The first Native American literary texts were oral. The texts connect
the Indians with the land and its life through spiritual kinship with
living and dead relatives of Native Americans, with plants and animals.
The history of literature written by American Indians in English
parallels the history of white migration across the continent. The
exploration and settlement of the whites was followed by the arrival of
missionaries who converted the Indians to Christianity and taught them in
religious schools.
The first Native American writer to publish in English was Samson
Occom. At the age of 16, he began to learn English, converted to
Christianity, became an Indian schoolteacher, and later served as a
missionary to the New England Indians. 1771 A Sermon Preached at the
Execution of Moses Paul, an Indian.
The first novel published by a Native American was The Life and
Adventures of Joaquin Murieta (1854) by John Rollin Ridge. Ridge
decided to fight the injustice suffered by the Indians by focusing on the
Mexican folk hero Murieta, a social outcast who defeats his enemies using
both his sharp mind and blazing guns.
For many Native Americans, the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries
was marked by dispossession of their ancestral lands, population decline,
and incarceration on reservations. Fearing that their oral traditions would
disappear forever, some Native Americans began to record their tribal
legends and tales, as well as personal stories, in an effort to preserve their
history and culture for posterity:
Zitkala Sa (Gertrude Bonnin)
Old Indian Legends (1901)
American Indian Stories (1921)
Hum-is hu-ma or Mourning Dove (Christal Quintasket) (1888-1936)
Co-ge-wea; the Half Blood (1927)
 Coyote Stories (1933)
Chicano literature, or Mexican-American literature, refers to
literature written by Chicanos in the United States. While its origins can
be traced back to the sixteenth century, the bulk of Chicano literature dates
from the United States' annexation of large parts of Mexico in 1848
following the Mexican–American War.
The definition of Chicano or Mexican-American ancestry covers both
Mexicans who moved to the United States and US-born people of Mexican
descent. The last group includes people who lived in Texas, New Mexico,
Arizona, and parts of California.
Chicano writing or Mexican-American writing includes those writings
in which the writers' sense of ethnic identity or Chicanismo
fundamentally enlivens their work through the presentation of
Chicano characters, cultural situations, and speech patterns.
Jovita Gonzalez, Mexican American, Texas. Dew on the Thorn,
Women Who Lost Their Soul and Other Stories.
Thomas Rivera is an American writer of Mexican origin, Texas. He
wrote Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote: A Migrant's Tale. Rivera is the
founder of Chicano literature.
Rudolfo Anaya is a Mexican-American writer from New Mexico.
Known for his 1972 novel Bless Me Ultima, Anaya is considered one of
the founders of modern Chicano literature.
Stephanie Elizondo Grist is a Chicana author and activist from South
Texas. Her books include Mexican Enough: My Life between the
Borderlines.

Sherman Alexie Indian Education

Find information about Sherman Alexie.

Sherman Alexie is a contemporary American writer, poet and

screenwriter of Native American origin. He is best known for writing the
film Smoke Signals (1998) and the autobiographical novel The Absolutely
True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007).
 Alexi was born and raised on the Spokane Indian Reservation in
Washington State. At 18, he left the reservation and went to college at
Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Two years later, he
transferred to Washington State University at Pullman, where one of his
professors, Alex Kuo, convinced Alexie to publish his poetry. By 1993,
Alexi had published 4 books and gradually began to acquire the status of
"the voice of a new generation of Native American authors." His poems
have appeared in the pages of Vanity Fair. Alexie's real breakthrough was
a review of his book The Business of Fancydancing 1993 in The New York
Times, in which critic James Kincaid called him "one of the leading voices
of modern lyric poetry."

Vocabulary practice:

Find in the text, translate within the context the following words:

1) recess, Then it was a Friday morning recess - Тоді була ранкова

перерва в п’ятницю
2) weakling, other top-yogh-yaught kid, another weakling - інший
крутий (?) малюк, ще один слабак
3) scrawny, a picture of her riding a broom with a scrawny cat - фото,
на якому вона їздить на мітлі з худим котом
4) sawdust, the ball landed in the dirt and sawdust - м'яч
приземлився в бруд і тирсу (опилки)
5) quilts, mother started two hundred different quilts - мама почала
(виготовляти) двісті різних стьобаних ковдр
6) punch, Throw the first punch," Stevie said - Завдай перший удар, -
сказав Стіві.
7) square off, Indian boys, walked out into the playground as they
squared off - Індійські хлопчики вийшли на дитячий майданчик, коли
вони прийняли бойову стійку/заспокоїлися
8) trooper, a white Washington State trooper - білий солдат штату
Вашингтон
 9) noose, everything looks like a noose if you stare at it long enough -
все виглядає як петля, якщо дивитися на це досить довго
10) mascot, Indian ever to play for a team with such a mascot - Індійці
коли-небудь гратимуть за команду з таким талісманом
11) valedictorian, I walk down the aisle, valedictorian of this farm town
high school - Я йду проходом, випускник середньої школи цього
фермерського містечка.

Find in the text, and explain in English the meaning of the following
phrases:
1) to have a puppy crush on someone, so ugly that no one ever had a
puppy crush on her – to love sb, often during childhood and early
adolescence
2) cut braids, told my parents to either cut my braids or keep me home
from class - to punish, discipline someone

Translation exercises (in written form):

Translate in written form paragraphs from 7 to 16.

First Grade
My hair was too short and my US Government glasses were horn-
rimmed, ugly, and all that first winter in school, the other Indian boys
chased me from one comer of the playground to the other. They pushed me
down, buried me in the snow until I couldn't breathe, thought I'd never
breathe again. They stole my glasses and threw them over my head, around
my out- stretched hands, just beyond my reach, until someone tripped me
and sent me falling again, facedown in the snow. I was always falling
down; my Indian name was Junior Falls Down. Some- 3 times it was
Bloody Nose or Steal-His-Lunch. Once, it was Cries-Like-a- White-Boy,
even though none of us had seen a white boy cry. Then it was a Friday
morning recess and Frenchy Sijohn threw snowballs 4 at me while the rest
of the Indian boys tortured some other top-yogh-yaught kid, another
weakling. But Frenchy was confident enough to torment me all by himself,
and most days I would have let him. But the little warrior in me roared to
life that day and knocked Frenchy to the ground, held his head against the
snow, and punched him so hard that my knuckles and the snow made
symmetrical bruises on his face. He almost looked like he was wearing war
paint. But he wasn't the warrior. I was. And I chanted It's a good day to die,
it's a good day to die, all the way down to the principal's office.
Second Grade
Betty Towle, missionary teacher, redheaded and so ugly that no one
ever had on her, made me stay in for recess fourteen days straight.

Перший клас
Моє волосся було занадто коротким, а окуляри уряду США були в
роговій оправі, потворні, і всю першу зиму в школі інші хлопчики-
індіанці ганялися за мною з одного кута дитячого майданчика в
інший. Вони штовхнули мене, закопали в снігу, доки я не міг дихати,
й думав, що більше ніколи не зможу дихати. Вони вкрали мої окуляри
і підкинули над моєю головою, на мої витягнуті руки, так що я не міг
до них дотягнутися, поки хтось не підставив мені підніжку мене і не
змусив знову впасти обличчям у сніг. Я постійно падав; моє
індіанське ім'я було Джуніор Фолс Даун (Який падає донизу). Десь
три рази це були «Кривавий ніс» або «Укради-його-ланч». Одного
разу це був Плач-Як-Білий-Хлопчик, хоча ніхто з нас не бачив білого
хлопчика, що плаче. Потім була п'ятнична ранкова перерва, і Френчі
Сіджон кидав у мене сніжки, тоді як інші індіанські хлопчаки
катували якогось іншого малюка, ще одного слабака. Але Френчі був
досить самовпевнений, щоб мучити мене самотужки, і в більшості
днів я б йому це дозволив. Але маленький воїн у мені того дня
заволав (прокинувся) і повалив Френчі на землю, притиснув його
голову до снігу і вдарив так сильно, що кісточки моїх пальців та сніг
залишили на його обличчі симетричні синці. Він виглядав майже так,
ніби на ньому було бойове забарвлення. Але він не був воїном. Я був.
І я скандував "Це хороший день, щоб померти, це хороший день, щоб
померти" всю дорогу до кабінету директора.
 Другий клас
Бетті Таул, вчителька-місіонерка, рудоволоса і така потворна, що
ніхто ніколи навіть в юності не закохувався в неї, змушувала мене
залишатися на перервах чотирнадцять днів поспіль.

Discussion tasks

1. He did not fit into the reservation, although he was an Indian. He

states that he wore USG glasses in first grade = he didn't look like the other
students in his school. While he enjoyed studying, playing basketball, and
liking white girls, his fellow students were addicted to other things, such as
his cousin sniffing glue.
2. He is trying to show what is expected of him, and that people can
fit this stereotype, and he was different from everyone.
3. Stories about his studies and life in general both on the reservation
and outside it. For example, he talks about home schooling and household
chores, his life experience and the knowledge he gained while on the
reservation (his reasoning about racial stereotypes - not just one race or it
does not matter who commits the crime in the reservation).
4. At first he was different from other Indian boys, that he did not look
like them. Their long hair indicated that they were Indians, but he, with
shorter hair and glasses, did not match their views. In second grade, his
teacher associated his braids with being Hindu, as if it were something
important. His parents' reaction to the event makes him proud of his
heritage, and finally in twelfth grade, his hair symbolizes how he embraced
and presented his heritage.
 1. To convey the process of growing and gaining experience of Alexie
himself. This shows his progress and personal growth. It also gives the
writing a more narrative or declarative style.
2. As a general statement, a brief description of what this part of his
life was like for him. It acts as a conclusion.
3. It was his last year of school on an Indian reservation and his
introduction to a world beyond what he had known all his life.
4. It shows how the life he left behind, the people he could grow old
with are still together, but he's not part of it.
5. For example, in first grade, he was usually the victim until he got
angry enough to hit the bully. He contrasts the nickname of white boys
who cry with the fact that they have never seen a white boy cry. The
comparison is that the author is still the same boy with the same feelings
both before and after he hit Frenchy.

1. His point is that his teacher is racist but he is still proud to be

indian.
 2. What he means is that no one ever spoke to him, and as a result, he
would be surprised if anyone spoke at school at all.
3. "This morning I pick up the sports page and read the headline:
INDIANS LOSE AGAIN. Go ahead and tell me none of this is supposed to
hurt me very much." - no one likes the Indian team and the fact that all the
racists are against him at school.
4. Paragraphs 29 and 31 show that Alexie is playing basketball both
physically and mentally. The identical sentence structures show that his
physical and mental attitudes are similar but very different from the glue
sniffing cousin in paragraph 30, giving up on life. In paragraph 70, Alexie's
visionary life of opportunity as a class graduate contrasts with the lack of
opportunity of his illiterate "farming town" peers. The result is an
evaluation of the choice made by Alexie.
5. If any of the following words are unfamiliar, be sure to look
them up in a dictionary: horn-rimmed (у роговій оправі); symmetrical
(симетричні, однакові); scrawny (кістлявий, худий); circulated,
intercepted, confiscated (поширений, перехоплений, конфіскований);
ultimately (зрештою); anorexia, bulimia (анорексія, булімія);
commodities (зручності); diabetes (діабет); valedictorian (випускник).

"How to date a brown girl (black girl, white girl, or halfie)"

by Junot Diaz

Pre-reading exercises

Find information about Junot Díaz.

Juno Diaz (1968) was born in the Dominican Republic - Santo

Domingo. The parents gave five children to the care of their grandparents,
while they themselves were engaged in providing for the family: the father
worked in the USA. When Juno was six years old, he was taken to his
parents in New Jersey.
 After school, Diaz received a bachelor's degree in English, and then
entered the university, becoming a master of fine arts.
In 2007, the most famous novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
was published.
Currently, Juno Diaz teaches literature to students at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology and continues his creative activity.

Discussion questions

1. What is the significance of government cheese?

It is a processed cheese sent to welfare recipients. In 1981, a decree was
signed promising to send five hundred and sixty million pounds of cheese,
which were stockpiled throughout the US, to communities in need.
2. Based on the evidence in the text, what is the socio-economic
class/status of the main character?
This is advice to the implied male reader to get the state cheese out of
the fridge, as well as the many items that show his socioeconomic status
(pictures of himself and his cousins in the campo). At this point, the cheese
acts as a symbol of the Junior's disadvantaged socioeconomic class.
3. Why is he cleaning the house before his “dates” arrive, i.e.
hiding the photographs, the crapped-on toilet paper, etc.?
When he hides this from girls who come, he tries to hide that side of
himself in the hope of appearing more attractive in their eyes.
4. Is the narrator racist?
He changes his advice depending on where the girl he is taking from is
from and what race she is. However, his advice to get rid of official cheese
is relevant for all girls. In fact, all girls are completely reduced to their
racial identity, and everyone from the same background is expected to
react in stereotyped and predictable ways.
5. Is the narrator sexist?
Junior's categorization process of women reflects his sexist attitude
towards women in general.
 6. Why does he “run a hand through [his] hair like the whiteboys do
even though the only thing that runs easily through [his] hair is
Africa”?
Hair is like skin—a racial factor used to exclude or include people in
certain ethnic groups.
7. What’s the political context that Diaz refers to when he
mentions the year the United States invaded his island?
He is alluding to his mother experiencing of the Dominican Civil War in
1965.
8. Why did he use 2nd person (“you”) to write the story? What’s
the effect?
In general, this can be an instruction to men, but also the Junior directs
his instructions to himself; he is both the first person subject (the "I" who
speaks) and the second person object of his address (the "you" he speaks
to).
9.Junot writes, “A halfie will tell you that her parents met in the
Movement, will say, Back then people thought it a radical thing to do. It
will sound like something her parents made her memorize. Your brother
once heard that one and said, Man, that sounds like a whole lot of Uncle
Tomming to me. Don’t repeat this.” What’s the significance of this
passage?
The passage alludes to the civil rights movement where the girl's future
parents met and slept together. This provides some backstory for the girl
and gives insight into her beliefs as she is suspected of remembering what
she said.
10. What, if anything, makes this short story “subversive”?
Struggle with the realities of the low socio-economic class (feeling
injustice on himself, Junior seemed not to understand that he treated girls
in the same unfair and racist way).

Stylistic analysis

Find the examples of the usage of irony in the text

 Junior does not want to be discriminated on the basis of race and social
position of the family, but he treats girls the same way as he divides them
into categories and gives advice on how to treat them according to these
categories.
What does the usage of colloquialisms contribute to the narration?
Immigrants arriving in the United States were expected to learn and
master the English language in order to be successful. Diaz counters this
narrative by reminding us that Spanish has been around in the United
States for as long as English, and as the number of Spanish speakers in the
United States continues to grow, it needs to be taken seriously and
understood by Americans themselves.

Vocabulary practice

Find in the text, translate within the context the following words:

1) tia, to go to Union City to visit that tia - їхати в Юніон-Сіті, щоб

відвідати тітку (in Spanish)
2) a rope leash, kids dragging a goat on a rope leash - діти тягнуть
козу на мотузковому повідку
3) cabinet, then close the cabinet - потім закрий шафу.
4) crapped-on, Put the basket with all the crapped-on toilet - Постав
кошик з усім брудним туалетним папером
5) busted-up, Order everything in your busted-up Spanish – замов усе
своєю ламаною іспанською
6) tear gas, storing canisters of tear gas - зберігання балонів зі
сльозогінним газом.
7) mutts, the mutts corner themselves – двірняжки загнали себе в
кут.
8) nemesis, you don't run into your nemesis - ти не зіткнешся зі своїм
заклятим ворогом/відплатою.
9) flip up, cat flips up in the air - кіт кувиркається в повітрі
10) to corner, - the mutts corner themselves - двірняжки загнали себе
в кут.
 Find in the text, translate within the context the following idioms:

1) don’t sweat it; If the girl's local, don't sweat it - Якщо дівчина
місцева, не парься.
2) to watch one’s back, He sounds like a principal or a police chief,
the sort of dude with a big neck, who never has to watch his back -
Він схожий на директора чи начальника поліції, на кшталт
чувака з великою шиєю, якому ніколи не доводиться озиратися
назад.
3) sound like Uncle Tommy, that one and said, Man, that sounds like
a whole lot of Uncle Tomming to me - той і сказав: «Люди, це мені
дуже схоже підлабузництво до білих».
4) cool it - She will not want to kiss you. Just cool it, she'll say - Вона
не захоче тебе цілувати. Просто остинь, скаже вона.

Translation exercises (in written form):

Translate the following sentences:

Translate the first two passages of the text in written form.

Wait for your brother and your mother to leave the apartment. You've
already told them that you're feeling too sick to go to Union City to visit
that tia who likes to squeeze your nuts. (He's gotten big, she'll say.) And
even though your moms knows you ain't sick you stuck to your story until
finally she said, Go ahead and stay, malcriado. Clear the government
cheese from the refrigerator. If the girl's from the Terrace stack the boxes
behind the milk. If she's from the Park or Society Hill hide the cheese in
the cabinet above the oven, way up where she'll never see. Leave yourself
a reminder to get it out before morning or your moms will kick your ass.
Take down any embarrassing photos of your family in the campo,
especially the one with the halfnaked kids dragging a goat on a rope leash.
The kids are your cousins and by now they're old enough to understand
why you're doing what you're doing. Hide the pictures of yourself with an
Afro. Make sure the bathroom is presentable. Put the basket with all the
crapped-on toilet paper under the sink. Spray the bucket with Lysol, then
close the cabinet.

Зачекай, поки твій брат та твоя мати вийдуть із квартири. Ти вже

сказав їм, що почуваєшся надто погано, щоб їхати в Юніон-Сіті, щоб
відвідати тітку, яка любить тиснути на тебе. (Він став великим, скаже
вона.) І хоча твої мами знають, що ти не хворий, ти дотримувався
своєї історії, поки нарешті вона не сказала: Давай, залишайся,
неслухняний хлопчику.
Забери урядовий сир із холодильника. Якщо дівчина з Тераси,
склади коробки за молоком. Якщо вона з Парку або Пагорба
Товариства, сховайте сир у шафці над духовкою, так високо, де вона
її ніколи не побачить. Залиш собі нагадування, щоб прибрати його до
ранку, інакше ваші мами надеруть тобі дупу. Зніми усі незграбні
фотографії вашої родини в кампо, особливо ту, на якій напівголі діти
тягнуть козу на мотузковому повідку. Діти - твої двоюрідні брати, і на
сьогодні вони вже досить дорослі, щоб зрозуміти, чому ти робиш те,
що робиш. Сховай свої фотографії з афро. Подбай про те, щоб ванна
була презентабельною. Постав кошик з усім брудним туалетним
папером під раковину. Оббризкай відро лізолом (дезінфектором),
потім закрий шафу.