AMERICA IS IN THE

HEART Day 2
 PATTERN-GATHERING FOR
RESEARCH Q#1
“They waved good-bye to me…and I leaned far out the
window, waving to them. It was good-bye to my brother
Leon and to the war…; good-bye to his silent wife and
all that was magnificent in her.”
(end of chapter ONE!)
“This incident was actually the beginning of my
father’s struggle…” (27)
“This family tragedy marked the beginning of my
conscious life…” (29)
“it was the end of…the bitter days of childhood…” (30)
“It was the beginning of my intellectual life with
Macario…” (32)
 TODAY’S RESEARCH Q#1

Why is Bulosan forever announcing

beginnings & endings of things? What is
the arc of this story?
 BILDUNGSROMAN
Individual
youth  maturity
novel of formation/education
leaves home
individuation vs. conformity
rises in station
“finds place” in society
 AMERICAN “IMMIGRANT”
NARRATIVE
rural village
long journey
empty-handed
arduous struggle
“finds place” in new land
accepted into social order
AMERICAN “IMMIGRANT”
NARRATIVE
CONVENTIONAL
NARRATIVE ARC
 Does Bulosan’s story arc
look like this?

•“We arrived in Seattle…” (99)

•“It was the beginning of my life in America, the
beginning of a long flight…” (101)
•“‘This is the beginning of your life in America’”
(111)
COMPETING NARRATIVE
IMPERATIVES:
Bildungsroman Naturalist narrative
Immig narrative

EN T
CO NT

O R M N T
F NT E
CO
 OSCILLATING PATTERN
(BULOSAN’S FORM & CONTENT):

(99)
“Everything seemed familiar and kind—the white
faces of the buildings melting in the soft afternoon
sun…”
 PATTERN REPEATS:

“I was in flight again, away from an

unknown terror…” (119)
“I felt as though I had discovered a new
world” (127)
“I was going back to the beginning of my
life in America. I was going back to start all
over again” (151)

hitting restart
AMERICAN DREAM

 mythic story: land

of opportunity
?
 material barriers to
inclusion
 yet, invincible
idealism (104)
 IDEALISM/DESPAIR MANIFESTS
STRUGGLE BETWEEN:
Genre Lit. tradition
“triumph Flickers of
of the humanity—&
individual” agency (112)
toward
humanity’s
demise?
(135)
 TODAY’S RESEARCH Q#2

What to make of representation of

women in book? Why so polarized,
and what does that mean?
 WOMEN AS:
GLORIOUS PROMISE
(77-78) rapturous
(102) delicious
(105) diaphanous
divine/ideal
 OR WOMEN AS:
VICIOUS TRAP
1. marriage
 (78) nightmare transformation
 (89) helpless men
 (103) inexplicable
 force of nature
*as if forces of land/labor
exploitation
 …TRAP CONT’D

2. money
 (105) cheats
 (116) predators
 (118) flee!
*as agents of social-economic
conspiracy
 NEXT RESEARCH Q’S

 Considering its oscillating pattern, where

does this story end up?

 Why attribute so much agency to female

figures?
Capacity for an individual to act
in the world, to make meaningful
choices, & effect their will or
wishes in the world
 As you read for next time:

What is the nature of the shift between

parts 2 & 3? Does it interrupt the
oscillating pattern?
Differences between narrator’s
attitudes/perceptions about men as
compared to women