Contributions of Mexican American literature

I personally have greatly enjoyed each of the books we have read during this Mexican American Literature portion of Latino Literature. I appreciated the mystical experiences of Antonio in Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima, the varying unique personalities of the four narrators in Castillo’s The Guardians and the emotional connection I felt with the creative nonfiction story of the Yuma 26 in Urrea’s The Devil’s Highway. Each of these novels provides both windows and mirrors into others experiences and my own personal worldview, values, and history.

One of the biggest contributions that Mexican American literature provides is in the distinctive perspective it offers. For me, this perspective is a window into the clashing of ethnic cultures as well as the struggle between integrating old and new traditions. For Latinos/as in the U.S., it provides a mirror of similar experiences and allows them to hear a voice that they can relate to. For example, in Borderlands/La Frontera, Gloria Anzaldua describes the variety of languages she uses and how each depends on her context of people and surroundings. She says that “it is only with another Chicana tejana that I can talk freely” (448). Her vivid descriptions provide us with new understandings of the hybridity of language in the daily life of millions of individuals.

Another contribution of Mexican American literature is its use of magical realism. Magical realism allows the reader to read an integration of realistic events and mythical events in an engaging and often seamless manner. It provides entertainment as well as symbolism. In Bless Me Ultima, the mythical nature of the golden carp creates a conflict in Antonio’s identity and perceptions of religious truth. Many Latino/a writers use the technique of magical realism for metaphoric purposes that enhance the text.

Perhaps the biggest contribution of Mexican American literature is that it gives a voice to writers whose voices should and need to be heard. Literature about the difficulty of the border offers perspectives that are too often overlooked, neglected, and pushed aside as statistics. We as readers can use these writings as a starting point to widen our understanding of diverse cultures, traditions, languages, and religions. In an interview with Sandra Cisneros, author of House on Mango Street, she describes her reasons for writing. She says that, “I felt that there was issues in the barrio that I wanted to bring to light, that I needed to bring to light - not only for my own story, but I was a high school teacher. I was a very powerless high school teacher … and the girls I was teaching, their stories resonated with me to such a degree that I had to do something so I could fall asleep at night.” It is through Mexican American authors like Cisneros that readers are able to learn about the challenges and joys in the mixing of cultures experienced by Latinos/as in the US.