Sandra Cisneros- "My Name"

            Although I am far from being fluent in speaking Spanish, the name Esperanza is derived from the Spanish verb esperar which can be defined as to hope for or to wait for. In relation to Cisneros’ vignette, it is understood that to wait, or the act of waiting is associated with a sense of sadness. “It means sadness, it means waiting” (10). Esperanza, who inherited her name from her great-grandmother describes the story of her great-grandmother, and expresses a sense of despondency from this inheritance. Esperanza is fully aware of the herstory behind her name, and often times wonders in curiosity the way her great-grandmother looked out the window her whole life, on whether her fate will turn out the way her great-grandmother’s did.

            From Cisneros’ work arises a strong sense of feminism and gender role stereotypes. Through our most commonly understood ideologies like the institution of religion as well as the social construction of gender, women are expected to be delicate, patient, and fragile. Ironically, these were all of the characteristics that Esperanza’s great-grandmother was not. “She was a horse woman too” (10). Esperanza’s great-grandmother was a strong woman, and perhaps a rebel. It can be comprehended that because her great-grandfather essentially forced his wife without her consent to marry him, that Esperanza’s great-grandmother was as stubborn as a horse too. In the era in which Esperanza’s great-grandmother lived her life, it was expected for women to marry, have children and inherently become the property of their husbands. “Until my great-grandfather threw a sack over her head and carried her off. Just like that, as if she were a fancy chandelier” (11). Her great-grandmother may have been many things to her husband: fancy maybe, a chandelier perhaps, yet once legal documents were in place, it was now certain too that she was now property. Once married, women like Esperanza’s great-grandmother were nothing more than a possession, and no longer could exercise their own will. Her great-grandmother knew this, thus being the reason why she never forgave him.

            This work offers a lot to its readers on the beliefs of Sandra Cisneros. Although she may or may not call herself a feminist writer, her vignette “My Name” offers a lot on the gender stereotypes in which Chicano women fall victim to in their patriarchal society. Something as simple as a name carries a lot of significance to it because a name is nearly the primary source of our identity. Cisneros demonstrates the power behind a name, moreover on a much grander scale: the power behind the history of a name, and in Esperanza’s case the herstory behind her name. Esperanza’s voice has demonstrated that there are several components that comprise the act of naming- and among the many is a person’s fate. A name truly has the potential to hold a person’s fate.

Family Ties

Baca’s poem, “Family Ties” addresses many complex issues. Perhaps, it is even fair to say that components such as its syntax, imagery and themes are equally as complex as the poem itself. As the title suggest, Baca writes about a middle-aged man with a wife, and two sons attending a family barbeque, in which three generations are comprised from: the young, middle-aged and the elderly. Because there are essentially three different generations, this poem expresses the issues amongst them all, and also allows us as readers to understand the family unit, and how the narrator feels towards them.
            As early as the very first, few lines of the poem we can begin to analyze the three generations of the family that are referenced. “I play with a new generation of children, my hands in streambed silt of their lives, a scuba diver’s hands, dusting for buried treasure” (4-7). In the context of this passage we can comprehend a sense of hope that the narrator has for the youth. The imagery he uses and the scuba diver’s hands digging for treasure perhaps suggest the endless possibilities the youth are entitled to as being American. Like a body of water that is forever flowing, the children and their outcomes are unlimited.  
            For the middle-age Baca explains that their issues stem from their profession on the farms. “Tempers ignite on land grant issues” (14). From this text we can gather that the narrator’s generation of cousins, sisters and brothers feel unhappy with the conditions of which they are subject to work under. Probably they feel entitled to land grants from the governments, while the elderly whom are tossing “horseshoes on the lawn” are content with their circumstances as immigrant Americans  (16).

When carefully scrutinizing this poem, it can be concluded that the syntax creates a lot of meaning. For instance, when referencing the difference in the generations like the children, or the aunts and uncles, we can see that each start a new line. However, when we look at certain lines, there exists different themes, yet they coexist in the same line. “…uncles and aunts surround taco and tamale tables. Mounted elk head on wall, brass rearing horse cowboy clock” (9-11). This passage is critical to analyzing and comprehending because within the context it is referencing both Hispanic/Chicano culture (ex: tacos and tomales), as well as Western American culture (ex: elk head, cowboys). Furthermore, when we look at the syntax, it appears to be blended together in one line, which can symbolize the blending of cultures. For immigrants from another country arriving to America, it is a common thread for them to feel the necessity to adopt the new and abandon some of the old. The syntax of these few lines is representative of this understanding.

I’ve read this poem probably a hundred times in just a few short days and I have constantly had to ask myself why the narrator felt a lack of love and connection with his family. In questioning this theme, it was concluded that perhaps the narrator feels uneasy with the idea of being given a fraction of something by a white man. While the “sons and daughters” become angry over land grant issues, the narrator specifically separates himself and chooses not to include himself in this discussion over government reparations to his people. In fact, all throughout the poem never does the narrator use pronouns like “we or us” when describing his extended family, instead he uses “they and them” (ex: “they arrive…” ). For the readers this directly demonstrates the separation the narrator feels from his family. Perhaps the narrator feels disconnected from his family because he refuses to settle for a false representation of freedom, given to his people by the white man. Maybe, land grants, in the narrator’s opinion do not represent the true definition of freedom. On the contrary, true freedom, real freedom is one that the narrator absolutely “cannot afford” (25). It is the “grass clearing” behind the “abandoned rock cabins in the mountains. It’s the “sunlit pasture” in which his children dream of, where they play tag and run aimlessly and innocently in an open field.