Spanish Literature

Paper Summary:

The characters in "...And The Earth Did Not Devour Him" by Tomas Rivera, "The House on Mango Street" by Sandra Cisneros, and "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago, all deal with the problems in the creation of an individual identity between two geographical and metaphorical spaces. The elements of language, class, and race are intricately involved in this cumbersome process. This paper shows that the characters in these novels find themselves fighting both an external and an internal conflict. It shows how, in all three of these stories, the merging of two cultures proves to be a challenge in which finding a balance is of utmost importance. Finding the balance between the past and the future becomes the only hope the characters have for understanding and claiming their identity.

From the Paper:

"Another issue of identity that Esperanza faces is the issue of racial prejudice. She attends a carnival with a girlfriend, Sally, who has somewhat of a bad reputation with the boys. A boy, believing her to be promiscuous like her girlfriend, forces himself on her. She is scared and humiliated and feels as though she has lost her innocence. In this segment the dangers of racial prejudice arise when her attacker says, 'I love you, Spanish girl." These words have an echoing impact in Esperanza's head, and are repeated several times. These words symbolize the attacker's assault not only on her womanhood, but on her own individual identity as well."

More papers on Spanish Literature:

• Research Paper # 97531 : "Death in Spanish Literature"
• Analytical Essay # 35368 : "The Spanish Novel"
• Poem Review # 90083 : " Robert Browning's "Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister"

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