Inhabiting the borderlands: hybridity in
U.S. Puerto Rican literature
Liesbeth Vermont
Faculty of Arts and Philosophy
2007-2008
Supervisor: Dr. Leen Maes
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I know who I am, and who I may be if I choose.
- Don Quixote
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Motivation
I chose this subject as it incorporates my interests in the specific situations of immigrants,
seen from within, and the Hispanic minority within the United States. It is a fascinating
subject since it unites two very different cultures, languages and literary traditions. It
transcends traditional American literature and traditional ideas about immigration,
assimilation, ethnicity, identity, gender behavior, literary forms and nationhood. The idea of
working on minority literature dawned on me during Prof. dr. Berthold‟s classes which
focused on the position of minority groups in American culture.
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Acknowledgments
Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisors dr. Leen Maes and Prof. dr. Kristiaan Versluys
for their encouragement, suggestions and help. Thanks to Prof. dr. Kristiaan Versluys for his
help in defining my subject and his suggestions in approach, and dr. Leen Maes for her
enthusiasm, encouragement, suggestions, and corrections.
Furthermore, I especially thank my parents for all the opportunities they‟ve offered,
and their emotional and financial support in and outside my studies. I‟d also like to thank all
of my friends, and especially Nele Lievens and Yannick Moulin for their support and at times
necessary distraction, and Laura Verheyde for the occasional translations.
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Table of contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 7
Chapter One: General Framework ........................................................................................... 10
1.1. Post-1965 immigration wave ........................................................................................ 10
1.2. Puerto Rico‟s political status ......................................................................................... 13
1.3. Judith Ortiz Cofer: biography and ideas........................................................................ 14
Chapter Two: Judith Ortiz Cofer‟s Silent Dancing: A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican
Childhood ................................................................................................................................. 18
2.1. Immigration ................................................................................................................... 18
2.2. Ethnicity ........................................................................................................................ 27
2.3. Feminism ....................................................................................................................... 34
2.4. Language ....................................................................................................................... 45
Chapter Three: Judith Ortiz Cofer‟s Call Me María ................................................................ 55
3.1. Immigration ................................................................................................................... 55
3.2. Ethnicity ........................................................................................................................ 63
3.3. Feminism ....................................................................................................................... 72
3.4. Language ....................................................................................................................... 77
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 85
Bibliography ............................................................................................................................. 89
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Introduction
In this dissertation, I address the phenomenon of hybridity and the borderlands, as described
by Gloria Anzaldúa in her work Borderlands/La Frontera (1987), in third wave immigrant
literature, and more specifically in U.S. Puerto Rican writing. I analyze the theme of hybridity
in Judith Ortiz Cofer‟s Silent Dancing: A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood
(1990) and Call Me María (2004). Both these novels describe the development and the
hybridity of a young immigrant girl‟s identity, who is faced with immigration. These novels
are particularly interesting as they oppose different types of immigration, namely singular,
reversed and circular migration, and cover the spectrum of possible behavioral adaptations to
the new host country. They in detail cover the dynamics of ethnicity within the characters, and
introduce an innovative idea of ethnicity as fluid and voluntary. Both these novels also
specifically concentrate upon female migratory experiences and their strategies concerning
traditions. Finally, they both focus upon the development of a young artist, and thus place a
lot of emphasis on language and linguistic creativity. Although Anzaldúa‟s concept of the
borderlands is specifically related to the situation of Chicanos around the U.S.-Mexican
border, it is not limited to this physical borderland. By extension, it also applies to the
crossing of cultures, ethnicities, social classes, races, gender behavior, languages, and literary
forms. I focus upon the presence of these borderlands within the themes of immigration,
ethnicity, feminism and language as determiners of puertorriqueña identity. Anzaldúa‟s
theories are especially useful as she shares the characteristics of third wave immigration and
as she embraces hybridity within all aspects of identity, as does Ortiz Cofer. Anzaldúa, like
Ortiz Cofer, sees the inhabitation of the borderlands and an individual‟s incorporation of
supposedly oppositional traits as enrichments, rather than signals of an incompletely
developed identity.
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Firstly, I propose a general framework providing additional insights into the
characteristics of third wave immigration and Puerto Rico‟s special political status, which
distinguishes immigration from Puerto Rico with immigration from other Latin American
countries. Furthermore, I shortly sketch Ortiz Cofer‟s life, and go into deeper detail about the
general characteristics of her work and her ideas concerning immigration and
transnationalism. Within the discussion of the migratory experience, I focus upon the
representations of Puerto Rico and the United States as these are greatly determined by the
immigration and its pull and push factors. Also, the memories and representations of these
places are strongly linked to the dynamics of assimilation to the new host country. In these
novels, the different characters present a range of different manners of adaptation, some of
which are more successful than others. This adaptive behavior is closely linked to the
dynamics of ethnicity as the assumption of different ethnic identities gives rise to different
behavior with regard to the host country. In both novels, the dynamics of ethnic identification
within the parents and their offspring are contrasted. Whereas the parents adopt a single
ethnicity, conform to traditional ideas about ethnicity and immigration, the children espouse a
hybrid and multiethnic identity. Feminism is a central theme in Ortiz Cofer‟s work as it
centers upon women‟s strength and power, and their defiance of the duality in traditional
gender roles. She does not solely depict Puerto Rican traditions for an exotic effect, but more
importantly questions the role of traditions in general. Feminism is linked to ethnicity and
immigration in that the migratory experience compels characters to rethink traditional gender
roles and to cope with different expectations in female behavior. Both novels are contrasted
through the dynamics of power between the parents. Lastly, language is also a central aspect
of both Silent Dancing and Call Me María: like the other themes discussed, language resides
in the borderlands through the novels‟ hybridity within language and literary form. Also, as
these novels concern the development of a young artist, the importance of language and
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linguistic creativity in the character‟s development and emancipation process will be
discussed.
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Chapter One: General Framework
This introductory chapter proposes a general framework for the more detailed analyses of
Silent Dancing and Call Me María. As both these novels frame within the third great
immigration wave, a detailed description of this migratory wave and of Puerto Rico‟s political
status provide additional insight into the different aspects of these novels. Lastly, a short
biography and sketch of Ortiz Cofer‟s literary characteristics and ideas frame the two novels
discussed in Ortiz Cofer‟s work.
1.1. Post-1965 immigration wave
Both novels discussed in this thesis frame within the characteristics of the third great
immigration wave to the United States. Although Ortiz Cofer‟s Silent Dancing: A Partial
Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood takes place in the 50s, it does share many
characteristics with the post-1965 immigration wave. Also, as explained below, the
immigration from Latin America was initiated before 1965 and thus partly precedes the
official boundaries of this new immigration wave. Payant has addressed the issue of third
wave immigration extensively in The Immigrant Experience in North American Literature, as
does Massey in The New Immigration and Ethnicity in the United States. The third great wave
has its roots in the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act that abolished the immigration
quota set up under the National Origins Act of 1924 (Massey 638). These amendments took
act in 1968 and initiated a third great wave of immigration. Whereas former immigration
waves brought mainly northwestern Europeans (1830-1860), and southern and eastern
Europeans (1880s-1920s), this third great wave introduces immigrants originating mostly
from third world countries, especially from Latin America and Asia (Payant xviii-xx). Even
before the abolishment of immigration quota, immigration from Latin America, and especially
Mexico, was on the rise as immigration from these countries was not regulated by the quota
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set in the 1924 National Origins Act. The 1965 Act did not increase immigration from Latin
America, but rather restricted it by placing immigration from these countries under the
20,000-per-country limit. However, the Act removed the ban on immigration originating from
Asia, thus unleashing an unexpected flow of Asian immigrants. Unlike the predominantly
European immigrants in the first and second immigration wave, these new immigrants are
overwhelmingly non-European: half come from Latin America, one third originates from Asia
and only 13% of third wave immigrants originate in Europe. It is important to underline that
official immigration figures underestimate the true immigration situation as these do not take
into account undocumented immigration. This undocumented immigration became
increasingly important during the 1970s and 1980s and is especially significant for
immigration originating in Latin America. Massey interestingly claims that assimilation
processes will appear very different for third wave immigrants than they did in the past for
first and second wave immigrants. These first and second wave immigrants benefited from
two factors that are unlikely to hold for these third wave immigrants, namely the economic
boom and the long hiatus in immigration, which limited the influx of immigrants to three
generations. This economic growth allows immigrants to improve their status within
American society, while the limitation of the immigrant influx allows them to quickly adapt to
American culture without the continual influence of the culture of origin brought by new
immigrants. Furthermore, third wave immigrants differ from the mainly European immigrants
of the two former great immigration waves in that they come from distinctly non-European
cultures, bringing with them “different religions [...], unusual „exotic‟ languages, and different
customs” (Payant xx). More importantly, these new immigrant groups “are mostly nonwhite,
or at least darker-skinned people whom white Americans perceive as „colored‟” (Payant xx).
Although the southern European immigrants also encountered racism in the late 19th and early
20th century, it does not compare to the degree of racism encountered by contemporary
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immigrants. An additional difference is that, unlike the earlier immigrants, third wave
immigrants are able to maintain close ties with their family and countries and culture of origin
through modern means of communication. Additionally, Latin American immigrants are
united through their use of Spanish, whereas former immigrant groups were scattered among
different nations and languages, making English the lingua franca among these first and
second wave immigrants (Massey 646). In the United States, their common language
interestingly overarches the otherwise distinctly different cultures and ethnic identities and
gives rise to a new ethnicity, namely Hispanic or Latino (Portes and Rumbaut 158). This new
U.S. Latino identity thus slows the assimilation process as Latin American immigrants
identify themselves first and foremost with other Latino immigrants, rather than with
mainstream American culture. Also, many of these immigrants live in ethnic enclaves and
thus continue with the customs of their native lands. Although many third wave immigrants
consider themselves American, they consciously choose not to assimilate to certain aspects of
the American lifestyle they consider undesirable for themselves and their children (Payant
xxi).
First and second immigration waves are associated with traditional immigration
patterns, namely a “single, one-way, and permanent change of residence” and reverse
migration (Duany 161). Third wave immigration in contrast introduces circular migration, by
which immigrants move “back and forth, or circulate, between their places of origin and
destination”. These “two-way, repetitive, and temporary moves” are especially the case for
Mexican and Caribbean immigrants, among which Puerto Ricans whose circular migration is
facilitated by their U.S. citizenship. Therefore immigration from Puerto Rico also precedes
immigration from other Latin American countries. Due to their frequent relocation, Puerto
Ricans could be considered transnational, rather than international. The differences in
geography, climate, religion, ethnicity, cultures, and languages are sufficiently large to create
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symbolic frontiers between the United States and Puerto Rico, yet legally they are not
different nations (Duany 166).
1.2. Puerto Rico’s political status
Officially known as Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico is an unincorporated
territory of the United States. Duany states that it is “neither a state of the union nor a
sovereign nation, but a dependent country with limited autonomy under the current
Commonwealth status” (Duany 163). Puerto Rico is thus officially part of the United States,
yet it does not hold the same rights with regard to representation in Congress. This political
situation started in 1898 when Spain ceded its colony of Puerto Rico to the United States. The
U.S. was welcomed by the Puerto Rican population as they expected either becoming an
independent nation or a fully incorporated state of the Union. The 1900 Foraker Act however
reduced Puerto Rico to an unincorporated territorial possession of the United States and left
little hope for self-government. The Foraker Act soon caused resentment and anger in the
Puerto Rican population. This discontentment led to the more liberal Jones Act in 1917 which
did not change the Puerto Rican political status as an incorporated territory of the United
States, but did provide “for a larger measure of self-government, including an elective insular
legislature” (Fliess 636). Moreover, the Jones Act granted the Puerto Rican population United
States citizenship. To this day, Puerto Ricans hold U.S. citizenship, but they are still not
entitled to vote in presidential and congressional elections on the island.1 Even though they
can vote in the Primary, Puerto Ricans residing on the island are not entitled a vote in the
general presidential elections. In Congress, Puerto Rico is represented “by an elected resident
commissioner who has a voice, but no vote, in the House of Representatives in matters
1
As Puerto Ricans hold U.S. citizenship they are entitled to vote on the mainland, but these elections are not
held on the island.
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affecting Puerto Rico” (Fliess 637). The strongest obstacles withholding independence are
economic rather than political factors. Independence would mean economic ruin for Puerto
Rico, as it holds a dense and rapidly increasing population and is almost completely devoid of
natural resources. Puerto Rico is thus a nation both in- and outside the United States. Legally,
it is a part of the United States, yet they are separated by a cultural, linguistic, and ethnic
border.
1.3. Judith Ortiz Cofer: biography and ideas
This biography on Judith Ortiz Cofer is based on the article by Ocasio in the online Literary
Encyclopedia, the online New Georgia Encyclopedia and the online biography by the
University of Georgia. Judith Ortiz Cofer was born in 1952 in Hormigueros, Puerto Rico and
moved to Paterson, New Jersey at the age of two as her father who had joined the U.S. Navy
was permanently stationed in the United States. This relocation to the United States was
particularly harsh on Ortiz Cofer‟s mother who had difficulties adapting to American life. The
family maintained contact with Puerto Rican culture as they relocated to the island when Ortiz
Cofer‟s father was away on mission overseas. Due to this continual movement between the
United States and Puerto Rico, Judith Ortiz Cofer grew up in between cultures and languages,
an experience she recounts in her poetry and several of her novels, and more specifically in
the two novels discussed in this thesis. She achieved her Masters in English at Florida
Atlantic University in 1977 (website University of Minnesota) and currently works as the
Franklin Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Georgia, where she
also lives. Ortiz Cofer is one of the most notable Puerto Rican authors writing in English as
her work stands out of the margins and is published in mainstream academic and commercial
publishing houses. Her first novel, The Line of the Sun (1989), introduced Puerto Rican
literature in mainstream American circles. It was an immediate success and was also
translated into Spanish as La Linea Del Sol (1996). The Line of the Sun was awarded with
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several prestigious awards and received a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize. Many of her
collections of poetry and short stories appeared in independent journals and small publishing
houses that are not specifically linked to U.S. Latino literature. Her literary memoir, Silent
Dancing: A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood (1991), and her collection of
short stories and poetry, The Latin Deli (1993), incorporate her best known stories, poems and
essays. Silent Dancing received the Pushcart Prize in 1990. Both these publications focus
upon the lives of Puerto Rican immigrants in the Puerto Rican barrio in the United States and
emphasize the issues of female immigrants. Her novel Call Me María (2004), which will be
discussed here, was selected in 2005 as one of the two texts to receive Honorable Mention for
the Américas Award, which awards U.S. literary texts that succeed in authentically and
engagingly portraying Latin America, the Caribbean or the lives of Hispanic immigrants in
the United States. Ortiz Cofer is strongly influenced by her Puerto Rican heritage as she relies
on Puerto Rican culture and the Puerto Rican oral tradition in all of her novels and poetry. Her
grandmother‟s cuentos serve as inspiration for her predominantly English literary texts, and
introduce Puerto Rican culture in American literature. With regard to her grandmother‟s
storytelling, she claims that: “[e]arly on, I instinctively knew storytelling was a form of
empowerment, that the women in my family were passing on power from one generation to
another through fables and stories. They were teaching each other how to cope with life in a
world where women led restricted lives” (Acosta-Bélen 86). Although Ortiz Cofer denies
being a feminist (Pagán2), her literature can be considered feminist as she focuses upon the
specific migratory experience of women. Her most powerful characters include Puerto Rican
women who defy restrictive cultural and social conventions or who “develop survival
strategies to deal with the sexism in their own culture” (New Georgia Encyclopedia). Ortiz
2
Page references for Pagán‟s article are not mentioned as page numbers are not shown on the online version.
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Cofer stands independently from the Nuyorican3 tradition. She claims that “I continue reading
[Nuyorican writers] and supporting them. However, they do not exactly speak to me and for
me in the sense that the Nuyorican school is specific to that area. Although I lived in Paterson,
it is not the same as living in New York City, in the barrios, and in those large communities
where there is support and confirmation of culture and literature” (Ocasio 45). Furthermore,
Ortiz Cofer is a fervent defender of the idea of transnational identities, a concept that defies
conventional ideas about immigration and assimilation. Whereas traditional theories of
migration focus on voluntary and necessary assimilation to American life (Sollors), this
transnational vision on immigration allows the immigrant to “maintain his identity
independently from geographical location” (Faymonville 124). Ethnic identity is no longer
inextricably defined by geographical location. The idea of a transnational identity makes
complete assimilation less obligatory, and even undesired. It allows the immigrant to develop
a hybrid identity that unites the cultures of both his home and host country, rather than
choosing either one or the other. This transnational identity is particularly significant for third
wave immigrants, as they have the means to keep in touch with relatives and the culture of the
homeland through modern communication. Ortiz Cofer broaches the themes of assimilation
and transnational identity in all of her novels that deal with immigration. She especially does
this in Call Me María as this novel focuses strongly on immigration and the dynamics of
adaptation to the new homeland. Ortiz Cofer explores the dynamics of the migratory
experience by contrasting the different reactions to immigration in her characters. She does
this in both Call Me María and Silent Dancing: A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican
Childhood4. In Silent Dancing, the protagonist experiences difficulties to unite both Puerto
Rican and American ethnicities. Ortiz Cofer tries to offer an alternative to the difficult
3
The term “Nuyorican” refers to the Puerto Rican community in New York, and more specifically to the literary
school of these Nuyoricans.
4
Ortiz Cofer also broaches this theme in The Line of the Sun, an autobiographically inspired novel.
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bicultural situation in Silent Dancing through the idea of transnational identities developed in
Call Me María (cfr. ch. 3.2). She is entitled to both Anglo feminist tradition, which she
discovered during her studies in English literature, and Chicana feminism, also present in
Gloria Anzaldúa‟s Borderlands/La Frontera.
The very complexity of women‟s experiences belies singular portrayals and, as a
result, while Cofer participates in an Anglo feminist tradition of reinterpreting the
roles to which women are assigned, she also participates in a tradition articulated by
Chicana feminists such as Gloria Anzaldúa, who cites the “pluralistic mode” as a
strategy used by women, as members of multiple cultural communities, to circulate a
wealth of terms that define women and their experiences (79).” (Pagán)
Ortiz Cofer relies on Virginia Woolf‟s idea as expressed in A Room of One’s Own (1929) of
financial independence and the need for personal space and time for female writers. Virginia
Woolf also provides Ortiz Cofer with a theoretical ground on memories and the writing of
memoirs and with a role model concerning feminist writing. However, next to this model for
an Anglo feminist literary tradition, Ortiz Cofer is also determined by her Puerto Rican
heritage of a female oral tradition and non-Anglo ideas of feminism, as also present in Gloria
Anzaldúa‟s ideas.
Judith Ortiz Cofer‟s work includes several books of poetry: Terms of Survival (1987),
Reaching for the Mainland (1987), A Love Story Beginning in Spanish: Poems (2005), and a
collection of short stories and poetry, The Latin Deli: Prose and Poetry. Further, she has
written several novels: The Line of the Sun (1989), Silent Dancing: A Partial Remembrance of
a Puerto Rican Childhood (1990), The Meaning of Consuelo (2003), and Call Me María
(2004). She is also the author of a collection of short stories, An Island Like You: Stories of
the Barrio (1995), and a collection of essays, Woman in Front of the Sun: On Becoming a
Writer (2000).
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Chapter Two: Judith Ortiz Cofer’s Silent Dancing: A Partial
Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood
Judith Ortiz Cofer‟s Silent Dancing: A Partial Remembrance Of A Puerto Rican Childhood
(1990) is an autobiographical novel that consists of a collection of prose essays and poetry.
The novel begins with the parents‟ marriage, and recounts Ortiz Cofer‟s early childhood
among the women at her grandmother Mamá‟s house. Later, she is snatched from this
environment to live in the United States with her mother, her younger brother and her father
who is on leave from the Navy. The family returns to Puerto Rico whenever the father is on a
mission abroad, which causes a constant back-and-forth migration between Paterson in New
Jersey and Hormigueros in Puerto Rico. Silent Dancing recounts Ortiz Cofer‟s development
from childhood to adolescence as she lives in between cultures, places, and languages.
Interestingly, none of the main characters in the novel are called by name. The parents are
referred to as Mami and Papi, and the name of the protagonist is never made explicit.
2.1. Immigration
Judith Ortiz Cofer‟s autobiographical novel Silent Dancing focuses on processes of migration
and assimilation, as does Call Me María. My discussion firstly addresses the representation of
both Puerto Rico and the United States separately. This contextualization allows for a more
in-depth analysis of the complexities of the migratory experience between both countries.
In Silent Dancing, Puerto Rico is presented as a tropical paradise characterized by both
physical and emotional warmth. The protagonist associates Puerto Rico with physical warmth
as the island has a tropical climate and her visits mostly occur during the summer. The island
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is also linked to emotional warmth: the protagonist is surrounded by her large and loving
family, and their reunions are described at length. However, the paradisaical and stereotypical
image of Puerto Rico is problematized: the island is not spared of economic regression, social
inequality, and a rapid Americanization of the traditional Puerto Rican culture. With regards
to her grandfather, the protagonist mentions that “I believe he saw heaven as an island much
like Puerto Rico, except without the inequities of backbreaking labor, loss and suffering
which he could only justify to his followers as their prueba5 on this side of paradise”
(Dancing 32). This conflicting image returns in Call Me María: on the one hand Puerto Rico
is presented as a tropical, colorful and social paradise, but on the other hand it is depicted as a
country without a future.
Puerto Rico is starkly contrasted to the United States in Silent Dancing. The United
States is associated with physical coldness, emotional distance, lack of color, and loneliness.
The protagonist‟s early childhood memories are significant in this respect:
My memories of life in Paterson during those first few years are in shades of gray.
Maybe I was too young to absorb vivid colors and details, or to discriminate between
the slate blue of the winter sky and the darker hues of the snow-bearing clouds, but the
single color washes over the whole period. (Dancing 87-8)
These memories unite physical coldness and the impression of an absence of color. The
protagonist associates her home countries with opposing impressions of color: in contrast to
the vibrant colors of Puerto Rico, the cold city of Paterson in New Jersey seems to be covered
by a gray film. Life in the United States is lonely and this is not only due to external
circumstances. The protagonist is forced into an isolated position both in the family structure
and in her American surroundings: Papi warns against an emotional attachment to immigrant
neighborhoods and Mami refuses to adapt to American life and learn English. The warm,
5
A prueba is a spiritual term that denotes the test of one‟s abilities. (Dancing 30)
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socially rich life at Mamá‟s casa in Puerto Rico is the exact opposite of the solitary and
imprisoned life that the family leads in their small apartment in New Jersey. The protagonist
recounts her American childhood as “[o]ur solitary life in New Jersey, where we spent our
days inside a small dark apartment watching television and waiting for our father to come
home on leave from the navy [...]” (Dancing 75). Darkness is linked to the absence of the
father and his preference to live in the United States. Significantly, the act of “watching
television” as a mind-deadening and solitary act is contrasted to the creative and social act of
storytelling in Puerto Rico (cfr. ch. 2.4).
The American invasion of Puerto Rican culture, which is addressed in the last chapter
of the novel, indicates that the opposition between the stereotypical images of both countries
is no longer absolute. Ortiz Cofer‟s critical reflection on the Americanization of Puerto Rico
can be seen as a political statement. The following description demonstrates the hybridity of
Puerto Rican space and the inevitable dissolution of the dichotomous imagery discussed
above:
There my mother lives, at the foot of this hill; but surrounding this postcard scene
there are shopping malls, a Burger King, a cinema. And where the sugar cane fields
once extended like a green sea as far as the eye could see: condominiums, cement
blocks in rows, all the same shape and color. My mother tries not to see this part of her
world. (Dancing 151-52)
Through this image, distinctions between the United States and Puerto Rico become less
clear, but the protagonist‟s mother desperately clings onto the idea of oppositional national
cultures, which is a concept of the past as is shown by the phrases “postcard scene” and “once
extended”. Hormigueros has become a hybrid place that combines the stereotypical images of
a natural and paradisaical Puerto Rico and a capitalist United States. Hormigueros transforms
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into the borderlands between traditionally defined Puerto Rican and American culture as it
incorporates the seemingly unconciliatory oppositions of natural and urban atmospheres.
As Puerto Rico is described as a paradisaical island however lacking economic
opportunities, the main reason to immigrate to the U.S. is economic, never ideological or
emotional. This also returns in Call Me María with the exception of the reverse migration of
María‟s father, who wishes to return to the world of his childhood. The protagonist in Silent
Dancing for instance describes her uncle‟s migration to the United States as an illegal farm
worker. Many Puerto Rican men immigrate to the United States by themselves in the hope
that they will return to Puerto Rico as men of wealth in order to eventually relocate to the U.S.
together with their families. The protagonist‟s father likewise joins the Navy to be able to
provide sufficient financial support for his family, as there is little work on the island at the
time. He moves his family to Paterson, since the Navy stations him in the area around New
York.
In this novel, as in Call Me María, the act of immigration entails different and sometimes
opposing ways of adapting to the host country. Some of these behavioral adaptations are
successful, while others are not. It is important to distinguish adaptation from assimilation, as
the latter is only one possible manner of adapting to the new host country.
A large number of Puerto Rican immigrants remain emotionally attached to the island
through childhood memories. These immigrants are reminded of their homeland by food and
music. This recalling is especially noticeable in the essay “Silent Dancing” which centers
around la Navidad6: “[t]he men drank Palo Viejo rum and some of the younger ones got
weepy. The first time I saw a grown man cry was at a New Year‟s Eve party. He had been
reminded of his mother by the smells in the kitchen” (Dancing 94). Some Puerto Rican
6
La Navidad is the Spanish term for Christmas.
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immigrants cling to ethnic symbols such as Puerto Rican food and music to remain connected
to the island: “Sofrito was one of the items that women hoarded, since it was hardly ever in
stock at La Bodega. It was the flavor of Puerto Rico.” (Dancing 94) However, some of the
characters deny their Puerto Rican roots all together, preferring complete assimilation to
American society. Vida, a Chilean immigrant girl, for instance dreams of a life in Hollywood,
the ultimate symbol of American capitalist society and materialism. She tries to deny her
Chilean family and their traditions as she hopes to marry an American and assimilate to
American life. Reality however shatters her aspirations of becoming a famous Hollywood
actress, and she is forced to experience the hardships that typify the American immigrant
experience.
The protagonist‟s parents both deny one part of their ethnic identity to fully embrace
the other. However, they favor different ethnic identities. Whereas Mami refuses to adapt to
American life and solely embraces her Puerto Rican identity, Papi fully embraces his new life
in the United States. He believes that his family will have a brighter future due to the benefits
of American education and economy. They refuse a hybrid Puerto Rican and American
identity. Nevertheless, their marriage unites both respective identities, which provides a
hybrid ethnic background for the protagonist. Papi‟s wish to ensure his family‟s and
especially his children‟s future is expressed in his insistence on an American education, both
in language and behavior. He moves his family away from the Latino and Puerto Rican
barrios7, so that they can adapt to American life. Moreover, he does not wish his family to be
associated with the stereotype of the Latino immigrant: “[w]e were going to prove how
respectable we were by being the opposite of what our ethnic group was known to be – we
would be quiet and conspicuous” (Dancing 64). The protagonist‟s father denies his Puerto
Rican identity in his idealistic vision of a prosperous American future for his family.
7
The term barrio refers to a multiethnic immigrant neighorhood.
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Although his feelings and thoughts are rarely described as his daughter is both the narrator
and focalizer of Silent Dancing, Papi‟s denial of his Puerto Rican identity and his shattered
American dream deeply affect him. In his pursuit of the American dream, the protagonist‟s
father hopes to fully become part of American society and to keep from being associated with
the typical barrio immigrants: “When we had moved from the place that Paterson‟s Puerto
Ricans called “El Building,” Father had warned us that in a mixed neighborhood there would
be rules to follow. It was a “step up” from the barrio, and we were expected to behave with
restraint, he had explained, to defeat the stereotype of the loud, slovenly tenement-dweller”
(Dancing 119). Later on in his life however, he becomes increasingly silent and drawn back:
“[p]erhaps the monster over his shoulder was his lost potential. He was a sensitive,
intellectual man whose energies had to be entirely devoted to survival. And that is how many
minds are wasted in the travails of immigrant life” (Dancing 129). Papi‟s sole hope to
improve his family‟s and children‟s future demands an enormous amount of energy, leaving
him drained and exhausted. He has “forsaken his early dreams for her love, and later for the
future of his children” (Dancing 128).
The protagonist‟s mother similarly acknowledges only part of her ethnicity. She tries
to ignore her new American surroundings as she lives in the illusion of only staying
temporarily, awaiting the return to her mother‟s casa. Contrary to her husband who wishes to
completely assimilate to American culture, she “[keeps] herself a native” (Dancing 127).
Mami resides in the United States against her will, but dutifully follows her husband there.
She develops several survival strategies to survive her temporary stay in the United States:
“[a]t any place in the world other than her beloved Isla my mother would have been
homesick; perpetual nostalgia, constant talk of return, that was my mother‟s chosen method of
survival. When she looked into her looking-glass, what did she see? Another face, an old
woman nagging, nagging, at her – Don’t bury me in foreign soil...” (Dancing 128, original
Vermont 24
emphasis). The protagonist‟s mother‟s is strongly rooted in Puerto Rico and, faced with an
unfamiliar and for her inviable environment, she develops strategies to survive. She for
instance creates a facsimile of a Puerto Rican casa in her apartment in Paterson: the family
speaks Spanish, eats Puerto Rican food, listens to Latin American music, while she
perpetually retells her mother‟s cuentos and memories of her Puerto Rican childhood,
constantly repeating how things would be done in her Mamá‟s casa. This manner of adapting,
or rather not adapting, to the host country appears to be unsuccessful as it leaves her
dependent on her children, who serve as interpreters and “translators” (Dancing 103). Mami is
isolated from the local community, and stays locked inside her small, self-created Puerto
Rican island in Paterson. The mother‟s fear-induced isolation in her apartment is expressed in
the poem “The Way My Mother Walked”:
The two flights to our apartment were her holy
ascension
to a sanctuary from strangers where evil
could not follow on its caterpillar feet and where
her needs and her fears could be put away
like matching towels on a shelf. (Dancing 99)
This poem clearly illustrates the opposition between the safe haven of the apartment, and the
world outside where evil supposedly resides. The outside neighborhood is seen as chaotic: the
poem contrasts the image of a fearful and chaotic American neighborhood to the image of the
apartment as a “sanctuary” where her needs and fears can be put away orderly. The poem also
proposes a contrast between the mother‟s Catholic and religious home and the secular
environment of the city.
The children‟s ethnic identities are differently constructed than their parents‟ selective
identifications: in contrast to their parents‟ illusion of a monocultural world, the children
Vermont 25
acknowledge and adapt to their bicultural and bilingual worlds. The protagonist and her
brother continuously travel between the United States and Puerto Rico, constantly switching
between languages, climates, behaviors and cultures. The narrator describes it as “[c]old/hot,
English/Spanish; that was our life” (Dancing 129). This quote underscores the dichotomous
distinctions between both environments with regard to language, climate and culture, as
discussed above. Teresa Derrickson indicates that next to the border between the United
States and Puerto Rico, the children are also faced with the border within the U.S. between
their Italian- and Irish-dominated Catholic school and their Puerto Rican-styled home
(Derrickson 125): “I lived in the carefully constructed facsimile of a Puerto Rican home my
mother had created. Every day I crossed the border of two countries” (Dancing 125). The
children adapt to this complex double border by creating what Teresa Derrickson calls a
“fluid identity” (Derrickson 126):
As a Navy brat, shuttling between New Jersey and the pueblo, I was constantly made
to feel like an oddball by my peers, who made fun of my two-way accent: a Spanish
accent when I spoke English; and, when I spoke Spanish, I was told that I sounded like
a “Gringa.” Being the outsiders had already turned my brother and me into cultural
chameleons, developing early the ability to blend into a crowd [...]. (Dancing 17)
The metaphor of the children as “chameleons” demonstrates that they adapt to change
superficially. Their adaptations remain incomplete as their continual relocation causes the
children to remain outsiders in each community. Derrickson mentions that “[n]ot unlike their
parents, then, these two children remain, in a sense, in constant isolation. The abruptly defined
contours of the borderlands in which they function demand that they deny aspects of
themselves, even as they embrace both worlds in which they live” (Derrickson 135). The
children‟s continual need to adapt to both cultures results in an incomplete identification
process. They learn to adapt, not to become. Additionally, they remain outsiders in both
Vermont 26
communities as their adaptation is never complete. The protagonist‟s main survival
mechanism in her perpetual relocation is her love for her grandmother‟s cuentos. The telling
and retelling of these cuentos is the sole thing that links her identity in the United States and
in Puerto Rico: “I remember begging Mamá to tell me stories in the afternoons, although it
was not summer yet and the trips to the mango tree had not begun. In looking back I realize
that Mamá‟s stories were what I packed – my winter store” (Dancing 63). The protagonist‟s
memory of her grandmother‟s stories is similar to her mother‟s survival tactic. Yet unlike her
mother, the protagonist‟s retelling of Mamá‟s cuentos does not result in a perpetual nostalgic
longing. Storytelling connects the protagonist‟s seemingly fragmented and dichotomous life,
and provides a productive way to deal with the constant back-and-forth migration.
Contentwise these stories remain related to Puerto Rican cuentos, yet they serve as a bridge
between the protagonist‟s American and Puerto Rican identities as they are told and retold
both in Puerto Rico and the United States. Next to the continuous circular migration, the
children‟s fluid identity also concerns both environments separately. The children have to
master both languages and both cultural behaviors. Rocío G. Davis argues that the children‟s
adaptation processes go through several stages (Davis 153). During their childhood, they
struggle to master both languages. In their puberty and adolescence, they are moreover faced
with the difficulty to adapt to different cultural expectations and traditions. The narrator‟s
description of her two first crushes is significant in this respect: as a teenager, she falls in love
with both an American and a Puerto Rican boy. These first two crushes are completely
different and leave her puzzled as to how she is supposed to behave in these situations. The
Italian-American boy for instance kisses her unexpectedly after a school play, but when she
wants to kiss the Puerto Rican Ramón, he runs off before she can kiss him. She is unaware of
the rules of the Puerto Rican courting game, and scares off her admirer (cfr. ch. 2.3).
Vermont 27
The representations of both Puerto Rico and the United States are linked to the push and pull
factors for immigration, in that only economic reasons push the characters away from the
island, otherwise represented as a tropical and socially warm paradise. The migratory
experience incites different behavioral adaptations in the parents and the children. The parents
are opposed in that they each choose to acknowledge either home or host country, whereas the
children are faced with a bicultural and bilingual world and must learn to acknowledge and
adapt to both environments. These different adaptive behaviors are closely linked to the
characters‟ ethnicity as the denial or acceptance of one‟s home and/or host country entails
different ethnic identification processes.
2.2. Ethnicity
Ethnicity is a central concept in both Call Me María and Silent Dancing. The different
dynamics of ethnicity discussed below contrast ethnicity as conceived by the protagonist‟s
parents, with a hybrid form of ethnicity which the children display. In Silent racial prejudice
is an inevitable aspect of these ethnic dynamics.
[T]he new forms of ethnicity are articulated, politically, in a different direction. By
„ethnicity‟ we mean the astonishing return to the political agenda of all those points of
attachment which give the individual some sense of „place‟ and position in the world,
whether these be in relation to particular communities, localities, territories,
languages, religions, or cultures. (Hall 236-37, qtd. in Singh and Schmidt 8)
According to Stuart Hall, ethnicity not only depends on the place of birth, but also on the
language, culture, religion, or communities that an individual identifies with. In other words,
ethnicity is not fixed and can be adapted by a change in a person‟s situation. Immigration is a
prominent factor in such a change of ethnicity: a person‟s displacement and the consequent
change in cultural, linguistic, social, religious and geographical characteristics can modify an
individual‟s ethnicity.
Vermont 28
As discussed above, the protagonist‟s parents are loyal to different nations: while the mother
remains strongly rooted in Puerto Rican culture, the father is eager to assimilate to American
culture. Derrickson points out that these two characters act as “two individuals who separately
embody the extremes of the disparate cultures they straddle: Ortiz Cofer‟s mother
personifying Latin culture and her father personifying American culture” (Derrickson 128).8
These different ethnicities are strongly opposed in Silent Dancing. , They are two antagonist
sides of an ethnic spectrum which ranges from American to Puerto Rican ethnicity. Both
parents refuse a hybrid ethnic identity, and are antagonistically placed on opposite sides of the
cultural and ethnic border. The children however inhabit the borderlands between both
ethnicities as they embrace a hybrid ethnic identity. Ortiz Cofer‟s characterization of the
protagonist‟s parents appears simplistic as she places them on opposite sides of the ethnic
spectrum even before their immigration to the United States. Only after the family‟s
relocation to Paterson does Papi assume American ethnicity, whereas Ortiz Cofer already
associates him with stereotypes of the United States before his immigration. Ortiz Cofer
clearly mentions the parents‟ different cultural lineage: “My parents‟ families represented two
completely opposite cultural and philosophical lines of ancestry in my hometown” (Dancing
38-9). Whereas the protagonist‟s father is of Spanish descent, comes from a family of
intellectuals, and has a pale skincolor, the mother is a mestiza9 partly of Italian descent who
comes from a family of farm workers. The protagonist‟s ethnic identities are indicated in the
8
Although Derrickson links the protagonist‟s mother with Latin culture, I prefer to speak of Puerto Rican
culture, as the term “Latino” covers a range of several distinct Latin American cultures. In this novel, the
mother‟s ethnicity is distinctly Puerto Rican, not just Latino. I do link the evoked stereotypes with Latino culture
as these stereotypes don‟t distinguish between different Latin American cultures.
9
The term mestizo/a refers to individuals of a mixed Spanish-African-Indian descent. This racial mixing
occurred after the Spanish colonization of Latin America and the importation of black slaves.
Vermont 29
novel by symbols of physical appearance and descent. In transforming both parents‟
ethnicities into metaphors for respectively Puerto Rico and the United States, Ortiz Cofer
invokes blunt stereotypes about each of these cultures. As for their physical appearance, the
protagonist describes her parents as following: “His light brown curls frame his cherubic,
well-scrubbed face; his pale, scholarly appearance contrasts with his bride‟s sultry beauty,
dark skin and sensuous features” (Dancing 38). The parents thus each resemble their
respective culture‟s stereotypical physical appearance. The father is represented as the
stereotypical pale and light-haired American, whereas the mother resembles the stereotype of
the passionate, sensual and dark Latina. Additionally, their personality characteristics are also
stereotyped: “My father was a quiet, serious man; my mother, earthy and ebullient. Their
marriage, like my childhood, was the combining of two worlds, the mixing of two elements –
fire and ice” (Dancing 39). Here the protagonist evokes the stereotype of the quiet, rational
American and the heavily emotional Latina. The dichotomy is clearly expressed through the
metaphors of “fire” and “ice”: the parents‟ ethnicities are unconciliatory and separated by a
seemingly intransgressable border. Even though the narrator speaks of a “combining” and
“mixing” of both cultures, the parents‟ ethnicities remain strictly separated, only united by
marriage. While their marriage does unite two ethnicities within one unity, it does not
provoke a fundamental change within each character. It does however create a hybrid
environment for the children. Yet, even though the protagonist‟s parents represent two
opposite sides of an ethnic, racial and cultural border, this border is not as fixed as may seem
at first. It is very fluid and ambiguous as Puerto Rico is officially part of the United States, but
remains separate geographically, culturally, linguistically and politically separated. As
Derrickson puts it, Puerto Rico is “both inside and outside the U.S.”, which again questions
the definite position and existence of the border (Derrickson 125). This political hybridity is
Vermont 30
however not reflected in the novel as both characters are firmly rooted in either their home, in
the case of the mother, or host country, in the father‟s case.
Whereas the children‟s parents represent two antagonistic ethnicities, the children
inhabit the borderlands between these prefixed identities. In her work Borderlands/La
Frontera Anzaldúa refers to this phenomenon as mestizaje. Bost indicates that this term
literally refers to the “racial and cultural mixture” created in Latin America between the
Spanish colonizers, the native Indians, and black slaves (Bost 187). By extension, mestizaje
can be seen as a concept that crosses separate, pre-existing categories, such as race, culture,
gender behavior and language. It deconstructs dichotomous concepts. The mestizo/a thus
inhabits the borderlands between seemingly opposite and intransgressable identities,
internalizing these oppositions and ambiguities. Gloria Anzaldúa describes mestizaje as
hybrid and fluid identity (Anzaldúa). It is the creation of an identity that trespasses
oppositions on either side of the border, such as language and culture. Yet, instead of being
torn between the two sides of the border, people appropriating this borderland entity create a
third culture. Anzaldúa sees the inhabitation of the borderlands not as a restriction within an
individual‟s identity development, but rather as the possibility to invent a new and
revolutionary identity. It creates a new culture and ethnicity.
In Silent Dancing, the children do not only cross a geographical border as they
constantly move back-and-forth between the United States and Puerto Rico. They also cross
cultural borders within their urban American community; namely between their Puerto Ricanstyle apartment, their Irish-Italian Catholic school, and their Jewish surroundings in the
Paterson barrio. Similar to the geographical border between Puerto Rico and the United
States, these different cultures are again geographically separated. The children‟s identity is
marked by all of these cultures. Through Ortiz Cofer‟s definition of American culture as the
result of an accumulation rather than a mixing of several cultures, races, and ethnicities, she
Vermont 31
questions the unity of American culture (cfr. infra). Bost mentions that “Ortiz Cofer‟s
suggestion of an international border within Paterson imagines the United States itself
straddling borders of national, racial, cultural, and linguistic identity” (Bost 189). On the one
hand, the children inhabit the borderlands between Puerto Rican and American culture. On the
other hand, they reside in the borderlands between different cultures within American culture.
The continuous setting of ethnic borderlands results in the development of a hybrid, mixed,
fluid identity. As mentioned before, the narrator describes herself and her brother as
“chameleons”: “Being the outsiders had already turned my brother and me into cultural
chameleons, developing early the ability to blend into a crowd [...]” (Dancing 17). This
metaphor is significant because it indicates that “the narrator, like a chameleon, has a fluid
identity that varies with context” (Bost 187). Bost adds that through the metaphor of the
chameleon, Ortiz Cofer “addresses culture in terms of color: the chameleon adapts by
changing the hue of its skin”. She thus “uses racial models to describe cultural multiplicity”
(Bost 187).
In Silent Dancing, Ortiz Cofer thus links ethnic identity to racial dynamics. Bost
indicates that Ortiz Cofer contrasts mainland and island racial dynamics in this novel (Bost
203). In the novel‟s representation of the United States10, the country keeps its internal
cultural and ethnic boundaries and does not yet engage with the notion of borderlands.
Different cultures and races in America are played out against each other and therefore
emphasize differences. In the novel, racial differences thus play a much larger role within
U.S. society than they do in Puerto Rico.
10
Social studies and testimonies about racial dynamics in el barrio are ambiguous as some claim that Puerto
Ricans learn racism in the United States (Bost 190) and others praise the tolerance between Afro-Americans and
Puerto Rican immigrants (Flores 183).
Vermont 32
The protagonist first encounters racism within the U.S., outside of the Latino barrio of
Paterson. The protagonist and her family do not experience any discrimination within the
predominantly Latino barrio. However, when they cross the border of the barrio into
mainstream American neighborhoods, they are perceived as foreigners, and are discriminated.
In the following passage, the protagonist contrasts racial tolerance among Latinos within the
Latino barrio with racism and fear of racial difference in mainstream American society:
These establishments were located not downtown, but in the blocks around our street,
and they were referred to generically as La Tienda, El Bazar, La Bodega, La Botánica.
Everyone knew what was meant. These were the stores where your face did not turn a
clerk to stone, where your money was as green as anyone else‟s. (Dancing 93)
Ortiz Cofer ambiguously contrasts the discrimination between blacks and Puerto Ricans in
Paterson with racial tolerance between these two groups in Puerto Rico. Interestingly, the
racial oppositions that play within U.S. society affect the behavior of the Puerto Ricans within
el barrio. The different ethnic dynamics on the mainland and on the island are emphasized by
characters who display a dual standard concerning ethnic relations. They might accept ethnic
differences in Puerto Rico while they do not tolerate them in the United States. This
contradictory behavior indicates that ethnic dynamics are not solely defined by individual
choice but additionally by the cultural context. An ethnically polarized society provokes
different reactions than a society where ethnicity is predominantly hybrid.
During one of her stays on the island, the protagonist develops a crush on a black boy
named Wilson. Mami disapproves of this, and, accustomed to the racial dynamics of the
American mainland, the protagonist accuses her mother of racism, only to find out to her
surprise that racism has nothing to do with her mother‟s attitude.
At first, having been exposed to the hostilities between blacks and Puerto Ricans in
Paterson, I thought that she might be acting out of prejudice because of his color, but
Vermont 33
soon I realized that race had nothing to do with her concern; she had just heard that
Wilson was rapidly developing a reputation as a womanizer, and she was afraid that he
would violate the limits of propriety if I gave him the chance. (Dancing 146)
In this passage, Ortiz Cofer contrasts the racial behavior of Puerto Ricans in Paterson and of
her mother in Puerto Rico. The protagonist refers to “the hostilities between blacks and Puerto
Ricans in Paterson” (Dancing 146), and describes her bafflement at the difference in her
mother‟s behavior. Instead of presenting racist behavior, the protagonist‟s mother worries
about her daughter‟s behavior and reputation. This is linked to the feminist quality of Ortiz
Cofer‟s Silent Dancing in that she broaches the different possible roles for women in different
societies.
Vermont 34
2.3. Feminism
This discussion on feminism in Ortiz Cofer‟s Silent Dancing focuses upon the representation
and defiance of traditions including traditionally accepted gender behavior and the
protagonist‟s quinceañera. It also broaches the theme of matriarchal power as a determiner of
women‟s strength.
In Silent Dancing, Ortiz Cofer describes the culturally accepted roles for women in Catholic
Puerto Rico: women are virgins, wives or prostitutes.
It was not that Mamá endorsed marriage as the only choice for women; it was just all
she had been brought up to expect for herself, her daughters, and now, her
granddaughters. If you did not get married, you became a nun, or you entered “la vida”
as a prostitute. (Dancing 141)
Women defy these fixed gender roles, but have to accept that this defiance comes with a cost.
They become fulanas, “women with no name” (Dancing 86), whose stories are told as a
warning to the children. Their names cannot be pronounced in the presence of children. In the
poem “Fulana” (Dancing 86), Ortiz Cofer introduces a female character who is punished for
her acquirement of sexual experience outside of marriage. Pagán argues that “the young girl
wants to call herself by names that are more akin to what her changing body feels. The flight
and dance refer to sexual knowledge of her own body as well as the bodies of men; yet, she
must remember her name in the same way she must remember her character and reputation”
(Pagán). The idea of the “creature bearing the jagged scars of wings on her back” suggests a
violent return to traditionally accepted behavior. The metaphor of the wings refers to the girl‟s
carefree exploration of sexuality, while the scars represent the consequences of her behavior.
The removal of the wings imply that she can return to traditionally accepted roles for women,
yet the presence of the scars refers to the fact that she must bear the consequences of her past:
Vermont 35
she is a disgrace and cannot be named in front of children. Sexual knowledge is not explicitly
mentioned in the poem, but it is present in the connotation of the term fulana, that refers to “a
woman who is indecent or an embarrassment because of her sexual life”. Pagán continues that
“fulanas are neither chastised nor celebrated in the poem; they are named and made real”.
Ortiz Cofer thus emphasizes the importance of naming and language in the cultural definition
of sexual knowledge, without necessarily implicating Latin American cultures.
The protagonist‟s cousin is another character who defies traditional Puerto Rican roles
for women. This character is not literally called a Fulana, but, interestingly, she is never
explicitly named. Moreover, her story has long been kept secret from the protagonist by her
mother. Just like the Fulana in the poem, she defies traditions exploring sexuality before
marriage. The protagonist‟s cousin wants to leave behind the Puerto Rican culture and totally
immerse herself in American culture: she dreams of finding a regular, American job as a
“secretary to a lawyer” (Dancing 96) and marrying an American. However, she is caught
performing an abortion on herself.
Girl, the scandal sent your uncle back to the bottle. And guess where your cousin
ended up? Irony of ironies. She was sent to a village in Puerto Rico to live with a
relative on her mother‟s side: a place so far away from civilization that you have to
ride a mule to reach it. A real change in scenery. She found a man there. Women like
that cannot live without male company. But believe me, the men in Puerto Rico know
how to put a saddle on a woman like her. La Gringa11, they call her. ha, ha. ha. La
Gringa is what she always wanted to be... (Dancing 97)
The protagonist‟s cousin is significantly called “la Gringa”: she adopts both American
ethnicity and American gender behavior which does not require women to remain virgins
until marriage. However, she cannot deny her Puerto Rican background. After her family
11
“Gringo/a” is a derogatory term used by Latinos to refer to Americans.
Vermont 36
discovers her pregnancy, she is immediately punished and cast off to a remote and primitive
village in Puerto Rico. Through this, her existence is silenced, thus transforming her into
„Fulana’.
Even though the previously mentioned characters experience the harsh consequences
of their unconventional behavior, Ortiz Cofer rejects facile interpretations of gender roles in
the characterizations of Marina and the protagonist. Marina‟s portrayal blurs distinctions
between male and female physical and behavioral characteristics, creating a character with a
hybrid gender identity. Bost indicates that the title of the story “Marina” already hints at the
importance of mestizaje in that it refers to the historical figure of Marina, the Spanish name
for La Malinche12, the mother of mestizaje in Mexico. Born as a man and brought up as a
woman, the character of Marina is ambiguous in his or her gender, and will remain so
throughout his/her life. His/her sexuality, even at old age, is pointed out by the protagonist: “I
admired the pair as the old man, svelte and graceful as a ballet dancer, lifted the tiny figure
dressed in pink lace onto a stool at an outdoor cafe” (Dancing 153). This quote reveals
Marina/Marino‟s ambiguity in gender behavior as she/he presents female behavior in a male
body. Through this story, Ortiz Cofer adds a sexual dimension to mestizaje theory. As with
the ethnic dimension in Silent Dancing, Ortiz Cofer shows that sexual identity can be
explored through the concept of the borderlands, thus introducing gender hybridity next to
ethnic hybridity. Bost points out that, next to her gender ambiguity, Marina is also racially
ambiguous (Bost 205). The protagonist‟s grandmother mentions that “Marina was a lovely
young girl with her café-con-leche skin and green eyes. Her body was willowy and her thick
black Indian hair hung down to her waist” (Dancing 156). The combination of green eyes, a
“café-con-leche” skin and thick black hair indicates that Marina is racially mixed. Her cafécon-leche skin reveals her mestizaje of both black and white ancestors, whereas her “thick
12
La Malinche is the Indian woman who translated for the Spanish invaders and who supposedly slept with
them, giving birth to the first mestizo/a.
Vermont 37
black Indian hair” indicates her native Indian heritage. She inhabits the borderlands between
black, white and native Indian; she is neither black, nor white, nor Indian – she incorporates
all three races without belonging to one of them exclusively.
The protagonist also defies the culturally prescribed gender roles as she combines her
life as a mother and wife with a life as a career woman, a path inaccessible to the traditional
wife. This difference with her mother leads to a clash between mother and daughter.
My trouble with Mother comes when she and I try to define and translate key words
for both of us, words such as “woman” and “mother”. I have a daughter too, as well as
a demanding profession as a teacher and writer. My mother got married as a teenager
and led a life of isolation and total devotion to her duties as mother. As a Penelopelike wife, she was always waiting, waiting, waiting, for the return of her sailor, for the
return to her native land. (Dancing 152)
These women have chosen different paths in life: whereas Mami chooses to live as a
traditional wife who did her duty as a wife and mother, the protagonist adds a professional
career to her life as a wife and mother. This leads to disagreements between both women, as
they both have different notions on what it means to be a “woman”. These different notions
are culturally linked. Pagán indicates that Ortiz Cofer thus focuses “on the notion that there is
a juggling of sorts that occurs where women and their roles are concerned between the
multiple interpretations of the sentience of womanhood, within, across, and between
cultures.” Although the protagonist‟s mother has led a traditional life, her acceptance of the
story of Marina shows her understanding of the complexities of female identity. A crosscultural understanding of different interpretations of the notion “woman” and different roles
for women is thus made possible in Silent Dancing. Through the story of Marina, Ortiz Cofer
introduces the reader to reflect on the meaning of the word “woman”:
Vermont 38
Cofer‟s presentation of intimate relations complicates the stereotypes by presenting
characters as real and not as caricatures, and also by pointing to alternative behaviors
and roles. The focus is not on presenting Puerto Rican traditions for an English
speaking audience, but on recognizing how we interpret and translate traditions in
general. (Pagán)
Instead of simply introducing the monolingual English-speaking audience to Puerto Rican
traditions, Ortiz Cofer invites a reflection about traditions and how we interpret them. In
contrast to the stereotypical characterization of the protagonists‟ parents, Ortiz Cofer here
rejects a stereotypical image of Puerto Rican traditions in her focus on the defiance of
traditions and the blurring of gender identity.
Next to traditional gender roles, Ortiz Cofer also evokes the Puerto Rican tradition of
the quinceañera. The protagonist‟s quinceañera13 is significant as it marks her entry into
womanhood: she now becomes a “trainee for the demands of womanhood and marriage”
(Dancing 141). As difficult as this process may be for young girls in Puerto Rico, it is even
more complex for the protagonist as she lives in between cultures, and thus in between
behavior models for young women. The entrance into womanhood is abrupt, and entails new
rules in behavior that the protagonist must conform to in order to become a respectful young
woman. These behavioral norms most often relate to relationships with and behavior around
men.
[A]n adolescent girl was watched every minute by the women who acted as if you
carried some kind of time-bomb in your body that might go off at any minute; and,
worse, they constantly warned you about your behavior around men: don‟t cross your
legs like that when a man is in the room, don‟t walk around in your pajamas, never
interrupt their conversations. It did not matter that the men were my uncles, my
13
The term quinceañera refers to a girl‟s fifteenth birthday.
Vermont 39
cousins, and my brother. Somehow my body with its new contours and new biological
powers had changed everything: half the world had now become a threat, or felt
threatened by its potential for disaster. (Dancing 139-40)
In contrast to the protagonist‟s careless childhood, she is now considered a threat with her
“new contours and new biological powers”. A young woman becomes a danger to herself and
her family‟s reputation by her ability to seduce and procreate. She must learn to protect
herself from men and her powers to seduce (“half the world had now become a threat”). The
emphasis placed on the quinceañara and the protagonist‟s family‟s reaction to it indicate the
great power of female sexuality. However, it paradoxically is associated with mourning: “My
dolls have been put away like dead children in a chest I will carry with me when I marry. [...]
My hair has been nailed back with my mother‟s black hairpins to my skull” (Dancing 50).
The protagonist, with her mother‟s “black hairpins” is dressed for a funeral rather than a
birthday party. Ortiz Cofer continues this criticism of the negative treatment of female
sexuality in the poem “Quinceañera”:
I am to wash my own clothes and sheets from this day on, as if the fluids of my body
were poison, as if the little trickle of blood I believe travels from my heart to the world
were shameful. Is not the blood of saints and men in battle beautiful? Do Christ‟s
hands not bleed into your eyes from His cross? (Dancing 50)
The protagonist ironically compares “the blood of saints and men in battle” to menstrual
blood, and wonders why one is “beautiful” and the other “shameful”. The institutional gender
roles in Puerto Rico are heavily inspired by the Catholic Church. This is criticized by Ortiz
Cofer in her opposition of female menstrual blood with the blood of saints and men in battle.
In the story of Marina, Ortiz Cofer stresses the importance of sexual knowledge as part
of the process into womanhood, since a lack thereof can result in scandal or, in the case of
Marino/Marina in confusion about one‟s sexuality.
Vermont 40
In a sense, they were betrayed by their own protective parents who could bring
themselves to explain neither the delights, nor the consequences of sex to their beloved
daughters. The prevailing practice was to get them safely married as soon after puberty
as possible – because nature would take its course one way or another. Scandal was to
be avoided at all costs. (Dancing 155)
Ortiz Cofer‟s suggestion of “betrayal” reveals the necessity of sexual education as part of the
quinceañera. This risk of scandal is especially relevant for the protagonist‟s situation: her
adolescence is complex as she juggles between American and Puerto Rican models of female
behavior, and has to master these differences by trial and error. The protagonist‟s two first
loves, already mentioned above, indicate her difficulties to cope with different behaviors for
women across cultures. When she kisses her Puerto Rican admirer, Ramón, she breaks the
rules of the game and scares him away. Luckily, she is saved from scandal as he is too
embarrassed to admit having refused a girl‟s kiss.
In Ortiz Cofer‟s Silent Dancing, the women in the protagonist‟s family are united by strong
matriarchal ties that are held together by the matriarch Mamá. The women‟s community is
strongly knit together, reducing the men to secondary characters in the novel and the women‟s
tales. Mamá encourages strength in her daughters and granddaughters: she sets an example
through her strength and vivacity, and discourages signs of weakness such as “whining” and
“boba (sissy) tears” (Dancing 16). The strong matriarchal power of the protagonist‟s family is
expressed in the following quote:
Between the hours when we came home from school and dinner time, the table was
shared by all of us working together with the women hovering in the background. The
teachers communicated directly with the mothers, and it was a matriarchy of farreaching power and influence. (Dancing 56-7)
Vermont 41
Women communicate directly to each other about household affairs and the children‟s
education, thus giving them absolute power over their children.
Ortiz Cofer reverses gender stereotypes in the characterization of the protagonist‟s
grandparents. Mamá displays traditional masculine characteristics such as practicality and
rationality, whereas Papá incorporates traditional female values of emotion, gentleness and
counseling. Mamá dominates her husband in all practical affairs: “His visionary states and his
poetry writing were, I have heard, the primary reasons why Mamá had, early in their married
life, decided that her husband should “wear the pants” in the family only in the literal sense of
the expression” (Dancing 31). Ortiz Cofer explains that this is quite an irregular situation in
Puerto Rico at that time: “He had, at a time determined by his wife, been banished to the back
of the house to pursue his interests, and as for family politics, his position was one of quiet
assent with his wife‟s wise decisions. He could have rebelled against this situation: in Puerto
Rican society, the man is considered a small-letter god in his home” (Dancing 31). The
protagonist‟s grandmother is a strong, independent, energetic and dominant woman, who
looks after the well-being of her children and grandchildren. Through contemporary eyes she
can be considered a feminist in the sense that she reclaims the right of her body, as expressed
in the poem “Claims”:
Children are made in the night and
steal your days
for the rest of your life, amen. She said this
to each of her daughters in turn. Once she had
made a pact
with man and nature and kept it. Now, like the sea,
she is claiming back her territory. (Dancing 29)
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Mamá‟s feminism is apparent in the image of the “sea” as a wild, untamable and powerful
natural force, which is a typical image in feminist writing. She “made a pact with man and
nature” by her marriage vows and thus gave her husband the right over her body and allowed
herself to bear children. Now she reclaims her body as her own, breaking the pact with “man
and nature”:
And so it was that Mamá discovered the only means of birth control available to a
Catholic woman of her time: sacrifice. She gave up the comfort of Papá‟s sexual love
for something she deemed greater: the right to own and control her body, so that she
might live to meet her grandchildren – me among them – so that she could give more
of herself to the ones already there, so that she could be more than a channel for other
lives, so that even now that time has robbed her of her elasticity of her body and of her
amazing reservoir of energy, she still emanates the kind of joy that can only be
achieved by living according to the dictates of one‟s own heart. (Dancing 28)
Mamá‟s feminism is different from Anglo-Saxon feminism in the sense that she does not
strive for economical or political empowerment14. Instead, she claims the right to own her
body to preserve both her physical and mental well-being, so that she could better fulfill her
duties as mother and wife. The key element in Mamá‟s attitude is “sacrifice”: she sacrifices
the comfort of sex so that she could “give more of herself to the ones already there”. Yet it is
this sacrifice that also provides Mamá‟s feminist strength.
The strong matriarchal power in the protagonist‟s family is also visible in the typical Puerto
Rican oral tradition, in which stories are passed down among women from generation to
generation. The women‟s oral tradition strengthens their relationships and reinforces
14
Castillo warns that we should not try to apply Anglo-Saxon feminism to a Latin-American context, as its
cultural background is completely different.
Vermont 43
matriarchal power. Bost mentions that “[c]ulture is handed down from woman to woman
through story-telling, so that it is laid on a foundation of networks that are woman-centered,
woman-fabricated, and woman-organized. In this way, their perceptions of culture are
presented through their feminism” (Bost 202). Ortiz Cofer already alludes to the feminist
quality of this oral tradition in the beginning of the novel through a quote from Virginia
Woolf‟s A Room of One’s Own: “A woman writing thinks back through her mothers”. Ortiz
Cofer indicates the importance of a female literary tradition and refers to her literary model,
Virginia Woolf. Woolf shapes and inspires Judith Ortiz Cofer‟s calling as a writer, both in her
autobiographical approach to literature and in her professional life as a writer. She does this in
her assertion that women writers should be financially independent and consequently have the
time and the space to write. She also inspires Ortiz Cofer in the composition of her memoirs
by stating that the literary representation of memory is based on poetic truth, rather than on
historical facts. Yet more importantly, Woolf‟s quote links her to the Puerto Rican female oral
tradition in which Ortiz Cofer is inscribed. Woolf claims that a woman‟s writing originates in
the mother‟s, thus uniting women through literature. In an interview with Acosta-Bélen,
Judith Ortiz Cofer states that “[she] feel[s] what Virginia Woolf‟s words do is connect all of
us women, not just Latinas, but Anglo women and all women as well, to the fact that women
ordinarily live in a women‟s world, whether we want it or not, because our generation tended
more to separate men and women” (Acosta-Bélen 92). This explains that Ortiz Cofer‟s
intention is not to represent culture-specific relationships between Puerto Rican women, but to
unite women of different cultures through their traditions. In this emphasis on women‟s
writing, Latino and Anglo feminisms converge, whereas previously they diverged in the
definition of female roles.
Puerto Rican literary oral tradition consists of embellished and dramatized real-life
stories and cuentos, which are morality and cautionary tales designed to teach young girls the
Vermont 44
appropriate behavior for women. The women‟s tradition of storytelling is led by Mamá who is
said to “[cast a spell] when telling a story” (Dancing 15-6). In her stories, she focuses on
smart and strong-willed women, encouraging strength in her female offspring. She condemns
weakness and foolishness in female characters such as María la Loca, contrasting them to the
ideal of María Sabida, who later becomes the protagonist‟s role model. The story of María la
Loca serves to teach the young girls caution with regard to love. This story recounts the life of
a local woman who was abandoned at the altar and who gave up her life for love. The
heartbreak caused her to lose her mind and to become an outsider character to the community.
This story teaches young women that you need to be strong and not let love defeat you and
ruin your entire life. The protagonist is attracted to this eccentric pueblo character, as they
both share a feeling of not belonging to a community. Neither María la Loca nor the
protagonist truly belongs to their communities: both of them are mocked because of their
differences. The story of María Sabida contrasts with and offers an alternative to the story of
María la Loca. María Sabida wins her husband, a local bandit, through her intelligence and
intuitive insight into human nature. After their marriage, she stays alert, and thwarts an
attempt on her life. She influences him to renounce his life as a bandit and become the town‟s
new mayor. María Sabida represents the “‟prevailing woman‟ – the woman who „slept with
one eye open‟ – whose wisdom was gleaned through the senses: from the natural world and
from ordinary experiences. Her main virtue was that she was always alert and never a victim”
(Dancing 76). This character serves as a role model for the young girls, and especially for the
protagonist, who identifies with this fictitious character and elaborates the existing stories of
María Sabida. The protagonist‟s identification with María Sabida indicates the successful
effect of these cuentos on the female audience and their later behavior.
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2.4. Language
Language is central in Silent Dancing, both formally and thematically. My discussion firstly
addresses the formal aspect, namely the reflection of hybridity as a theme within the novel‟s
form and the representation of a Puerto Rican and bicultural atmosphere through the novel‟s
language. Lastly, the thematic importance of language will be discussed through the
importance of language in the protagonist‟s emancipation and artistic development.
The novel‟s theme of hybridity is reflected in its form: Silent Dancing, like Call Me María,
consists of a mixture of prose and both prosaic and lyrical poetry. The novel is neither a
poetry collection, nor a full prose novel, and thus reflects the protagonist‟s hybrid identity,
which cannot be placed into one specific ethnic or racial category either. The prosaic part of
the novel is hybrid as well in its lack of chronology, its internally independent structure and
its mixture of oral and written tradition. Additionally, the novel is hybrid in its mixture of
fiction and non-fiction. Interestingly, oral and written traditions coalesce in this novel through
its introduction of oral themes and structure in written tradition. Ortiz Cofer falls back on her
family‟s oral tradition in her writing thus mixing both traditions. Formally, the novel consists
of short, independent and unchronological prose essays that reflect the stories of Ortiz Cofer‟s
grandmother. These, just like the independent stories in the novel, focus on one character or
event at a time. The different stories are not linked together, but must be united into a
homogeneous whole by the audience itself. Thematically, Ortiz Cofer uses her grandmother‟s
stories and her Puerto Rican heritage in her novels: “I planned to request stories about the
town and its old people, something that we both enjoy for different reasons: she likes recalling
the old days, and I have an insatiable curiosity about the history and the people of the Island
which have become prominent features in my work” (Dancing 153).
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Despite its apparent hybridity in form and theme, the novel does form a unity. Even
though it is formally hybrid through its use different textual forms (prose, prosaic and lyrical
poetry), its combination of oral and written tradition, and the chapters‟ unchronological and
independent character, the novel thematically forms a homogeneous unity. The prosaic and
lyrical poems that are sewn in between the different essays highlight the themes explored in
the prosaic part of the novel. They thus have a specific function within the novel, and add to
the novel‟s coherence through their focus on the main themes. Additionally, Silent Dancing‟s
unchronological structure reflects the protagonist‟s search for identity. She attempts to
reconstruct this path through a series of “fundamental memories” which do not necessarily
“obey the dictates of causality” (Davis 149). Davis states that “[t]his idea of exploration
elucidates the unique strategy she uses to engage her memories in Silent Dancing: rather than
write in the traditional chronological manner, she composes her autobiography of stories,
essays, and poems.” The protagonist‟s search for identity necessarily entails a process of
memory on behalf of the author, reflected by the novel‟s unchronological structure. The
importance of memory as a theme is already indicated in the novel‟s preface. Memory does
not function linearly and remains incomplete. Thus, the novel, reflecting the process of
memory, focuses on specific memorable episodes, not presenting a complete panoramic view
of Ortiz Cofer‟s childhood and adolescence. Naturally, these episodes are not structured
chronologically. Davis mentions:
The insularity of the essays and poems emphasizes breaks, beginnings and
rebeginnings, and an episodic structuring of lives and selves that invites the reader to
fill in the gaps, to compose whole meaning from the fragments of the life retained in
the memory and on the page. The strategy reflects the narrator‟s consciousness of the
process of memory as non-linear, associative, non-temporal, fragmented, and
incomplete, making structure and content mutually enforcing. (Davis 149)
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The novel‟s hybrid quality, both in form and theme, transforms into a thematic and textual
unity in which both elements support each other. The novel‟s thematic dimension is
strengthened by its formal hybridity. In this sense, Silent Dancing‟s textual characteristics
reflect Anzaldúa‟s border theory in which she states that the borderlands between two
concepts – whether between cultures, ethnicities, languages, gender or textual forms – result
into a third, superior entity.
The use of Spanish in a predominantly English novel creates an effect of exoticism for
an English-speaking audience, though the presence of Spanish also has deeper effects.
Through her use of Spanish words, images and phrasing, Ortiz Cofer reproduces both a Puerto
Rican and a specific bicultural immigrant atmosphere. Frances R. Aparicio indicates that this
is a tactic often used by U.S. Latina/o writers, even when they predominantly use English in
their writing: “Indeed, the most important contributions of U.S. Latina/o writers to American
literature lie not only in the multiple cultural and hybrid subjectivities that they textualize, but
also in the new possibilities for metaphors, imagery, syntax, and rhythms that the Spanish
subtexts provide literary English.” (Aparicio 797) He claims that these writers tropicalize
English through their use of Spanish phrasing, rhythm and images, though I believe that the
rhythm of Spanish is less present in this novel.15 In an interview with Acosta-Bélen, Ortiz
Cofer states that she uses “Spanish words and phrases almost as an incantation to lead [her]
back to the images [she] need[s]” (Acosta-Bélen 91).
Both in Puerto Rico as in the protagonist‟s Puerto Rican-styled home in the U.S., Spanish is
the domestic language, and this is reflected in Ortiz Cofer‟s use of Spanish in the familial
sphere. Close family members, such as Mami, Papi and prima (Dancing 96), are always
15
Spanish rhythm is very much present in Ortiz Cofer‟s The Line of the Sun, which has been said to sound like a
literal translation from Spanish to English. Accidental literal translation is a phenomenon often present in U.S.
Latina/o writing (e.g. Helena María Viramontes) that according to Aparicio introduces a “positively creative
innovation” into English and American literature in general (Aparicio 797).
Vermont 48
referred to in Spanish. The same goes for affective names, such as niña (Dancing 97) and
negrito (Dancing 58). Puerto Rico is affectively referred to as “la Isla” (Dancing 90),
reflecting both the use of Spanish on the island, as well as the affection with which the
characters speak of the island. The use of Spanish thus reflects a sense of domesticity and
home, which is also reflected in the frequent use of “Casa” (Dancing 127) to refer to their
home in Puerto Rico. Next to providing a sense of domesticity, Spanish is also used to
reconstruct the words of Mami, who continually communicates in Spanish, even in the United
States. This reverting to Spanish to reconstruct her mother‟s exact words occurs only in the
last chapter, where the protagonist returns to the island as an adult: “un momentito, nada más,
Hija” (Dancing 164) and “es la pura verdad” (Dancing 165). This indicates that the
protagonist is especially at this age aware of her mother‟s use of Spanish, as she is now
permanently based in the United States. Spanish is also used to reproduce a specific Puerto
Rican atmosphere through references to food, for instance pasteles (61), guarapo (69), asopao
(71), gandules (94) and sofrito (94), local Puerto Rican instruments, such as cuatro (72),
güiro (72), and maracas (72), and Latin American musicians and their lyrics. Specific Puerto
Rican traditions, unknown in the United States, are also referred to by their Spanish names,
such as Catholic holidays (for instance los Reyes(62)) and religious practices (such as santería
(30), espiritismo (30), Mesa Blanca (30), and prueba (30)). These references to characteristic
Puerto Rican notions not only introduce the English-speaking audience to Puerto Rican
culture, but also evoke a specific Puerto Rican atmosphere. This atmosphere is present both
on the island itself and in immigrant circles in Paterson, thus recreating a bicultural Puerto
Rican-American, immigrant atmosphere in the United States. This bicultural atmosphere is
also expressed through the use of Spanish for specific immigrant experiences. Ortiz Cofer
transforms existing Spanish words to represent a specific immigrant reality, thus innovating
language and surfacing the often forgotten immigrant experience. Through this transformation
Vermont 49
and innovation of language, Ortiz Cofer unites mainland and island Puerto Ricans. Davis
mentions: “[s]lowly, Cofer begins to appreciate the multilayered reality languages offer. She
uses Spanish words to describe certain hybrid cultural situations typical of the migrant. Her
mother, she says, suffered from “La Tristeza, the sadness that only place induces and only
places cures” (64), and, in a poem she concludes that “el olvido is a dangerous thing” (68).
The notion of “la Tristeza” (Dancing 64), literally meaning sadness or melancholy, is linked
to diaspora and its capitalization indicates its central position in immigrant life; “el olvido”
(Dancing 68), or oblivion, now specifically refers to the immigrant‟s ethnic roots and preimmigration life. The narrator does not simply state that forgetting is “a dangerous thing”, but
that it is “dangerous” to lose contact with your past and ethnic roots. “La lucha”, which in
Spanish refers to a fight or a struggle, is transformed to indicate the “daily struggle” of
immigrants to achieve the American dream (Dancing 129). Lastly, the meaning of the Spanish
“la mancha”, which literally means stain, is elaborated to the immigrant‟s situation: it now
refers to “the mark of the new immigrant – something about the posture, the voice, or the
humble demeanor making it obvious to everyone that that person has just arrived on the
mainland; has not yet acquired the polished look of the city dweller” (Dancing 90, original
emphasis). Interestingly, Ortiz Cofer links the behavior of new immigrants to a physical mark
by which new immigrants are immediately recognizable. Finally, Ortiz Cofer introduces
Spanish proverbs, which she then literally translates into English, creating a different meaning
and providing a new source for metaphors. With regard to this literal translation of Spanish
proverbs and expressions, Aparicio states:
The decontextualization of proverbs and idiomatic phrases (whose very own meanings
survive precisely because of the frozen correlation between signifier and signified) and
its defamiliarizing effects lead to laughter and humor, and at the very most to new
expressive values created by their linguistic and cultural displacements. Rereading
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Caribbean proverbs in English implies returning them, transformed, to the literal value
that they lose precisely because of their figurative and metaphoric value. (Aparicio
800)
The literal meaning of Spanish proverbs is lost in Spanish because of their use within a fixed
linguistic context. However, when literally translated in English, the metaphorical meaning of
the proverb is lost and the focus falls on its literal meaning, providing English with new
images. Thus, even though the proverbs are literally translated into English, the underlying
presence of Spanish does transform English and consequently, American literature. The literal
English translation of Spanish proverbs can be present just as a help to monolingual English
readers, which is the case in “Cuero y sangre, nada más, she said to herself, a man of flesh
and blood” (Dancing 70). Here, the presence of the Spanish proverb is not necessary to
understand the story, but it adds Spanish rhythm and flavor to the predominantly English text.
The Spanish expression “mosca en un vaso de leche” (Dancing 58) however, is defamiliarized
in its English translation and offers a source for innovative and refreshing metaphors in
English. In Spanish, it simply means “being different”. In its English translation however, the
phrase “in that suit, Lorenzo would look like a fly drowned in a glass of milk” takes on
dimensions of race (black Lorenzo vs. white suit), class in the sense that the lower class
Lorenzo is compared to “a fly”, and age in the sense that he is too young and too small for the
suit. Yet more importantly, this refreshing image adds a touch of humor to the novel. Aparicio
states that U.S. Latina/o writers concretize, through the interference of Spanish in their
predominantly English writings, “the power of Latinos and Latinas to write as agents of our
own border cultures rather than having to compromise by suppressing our bicultural
referentiality” (Aparicio 800). Ortiz Cofer gives a voice to the specific immigrant experience,
and thus also to the people living in the borderlands between Puerto Rican and American
culture. Their immigrant experiences, border culture and border identity, often ignored in both
Vermont 51
the mainland American and the island Puerto Rican communities, are articulated through the
use and transformation of Spanish words and proverbs in a predominantly English text.
Ortiz Cofer does not solely focus upon language to recreate the thematic presence of hybridity
and the bicultural atmosphere, she also addresses language as a determiner of emancipation
and artistic development. The protagonist‟s emancipation is strongly related to her mastery of
both Spanish and English as it helps her to adapt to her continual relocation and gives her
independence and responsibility within her close family. She understands that language
mastery holds the key to fitting in into a community. She discusses the importance in:
“Though I had learned some English at home during my first years in Paterson, I had let it
recede deep into my memory while learning Spanish in Puerto Rico. Once again I was the
child in the cloud of silence, the one who had to be spoken to in sign language as if she were a
deaf-mute” (Dancing 65). The protagonist understands the necessity of language mastery, and
realizes that, without it, she is left out of the community. As long as she does not fully master
both languages, she is “the child in the cloud of silence”. As a child, she encounters
discrimination because she does not master the language. She is punished by her teacher for
not understanding the words written on the blackboard and concludes: “I instinctively
understood then that language is the only weapon a child has against the absolute power of
adults. I quickly built up my arsenal of words by becoming an insatiable reader of books”
(Dancing 66). Also, the protagonist‟s mastery of English and her mother‟s lack thereof allow
her to gain independence and an important position within her immediate family in absence of
her father. Her fluency in English and her understanding of American culture gives her
independence and power over her mother, as her mother‟s lack of fluency leave her dependent
upon her daughter: “Since my father was away for long periods of time, my young mother and
I had developed a strong symbiotic relationship, with me playing the part of interpreter and
Vermont 52
buffer to the world for her” (Dancing 103). The protagonist recounts her situation as
following:
English was my weapon and my power. As long as she lived in her fantasy that her
exile from Puerto Rico was temporary and that she did not need to learn the language,
keeping herself “pure” for her return to the Island, then I was in control of our lives
outside the realm of our little apartment in Paterson – that is, until Father came home
from his Navy tours; then the mantle of responsibility would fall on him. (Dancing
104-5)
As the protagonist‟s mother refuses to learn English and refuses to adapt, she is unfamiliar
with the surrounding community and its customs, and thus relies upon her daughter, giving
her not only responsibilities, but, with it, independence as well.
In Silent Dancing and Call Me María, which are both autobiographically inspired
novels, Ortiz Cofer introduces protagonists who are drawn towards language and more
specifically, towards stories and poetry. The protagonist in Silent Dancing recreates her
grandmother‟s stories and thus participates in the Puerto Rican female oral tradition, while the
protagonist in Call Me María transforms her private thoughts into poetry. Silent Dancing is
thus not only the memoir of a young immigrant girl, but also, and more importantly, of a
young artist. Interestingly, the protagonist‟s retelling and creation of stories reflect the
development of her identity from a young immigrant girl to an emancipated artistic woman.
Similar to Call Me María, linguistic creativity in Silent Dancing becomes a catalyst for the
protagonist‟s discovery of her true identity. This identity discovery and development is
impossible in her outer, bicultural world, where she is forced to continuously adapt rather than
become. She is introduced to the power of linguistic creativity on her trips to Puerto Rico
through her grandmother‟s story-telling sessions:
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The aroma of coffee perking in the kitchen, the mesmerizing creaks and groans of the
rockers, and the women telling their lives in cuentos are forever woven into the fabric
of my imagination, braided like my hair that day I felt my grandmother‟s hands
teaching me about strength, her voice convincing me of the power of story-telling.
(Dancing 19)
The protagonist is introduced to story-telling in Puerto Rico, and takes it with her wherever
she goes. The Puerto Rican oral tradition determines her imagination and artistic process
throughout her life: even as an adult, she claims to stock her imagination and creativity in
Puerto Rico. Also, she discovers the liberating effect of her grandmother‟s cuentos: “Mamá
freed the three of us like pigeons from a cage. I saw her as my liberator and my model. Her
stories were parables from which to glean the Truth” (Dancing 18, original emphasis).
Convinced by the power and the liberating effect of the cuentos, she takes them with her to
the United States. As a child living in between cultures and languages, she retells her
grandmother‟s cuentos as a way of linking together Puerto Rico and the United States. In
contrast to her mother, this process does not transform into nostalgia and melancholy, but
instead catalyzes the protagonist‟s artistic calling. In the United States, she learns to not only
retell, but also transform her grandmother‟s stories. She thus escapes from her hybrid,
bicultural environment by transforming existing stories and creating new ones. Furthermore,
these stories provide her with her own new role models: she transforms her grandmother‟s
story of María Sabida and thus creates a role model who encourages strength and intelligence
within her. The protagonist‟s love for these stories also reflect her love for her grandmother as
she continues to use her grandmother‟s voice even in her own stories: ““Colorín colorado...”
as I embroidered my own fable, listening all the while to that inner voice which, when I was
very young, sounded just like Mamá‟s when she told her stories in the parlor or under the
mango tree. And later, as I gained more confidence in my own ability, the voice telling the
Vermont 54
story became my own” (Dancing 85). The protagonist‟s use of her own voice in her stories
reflects her emancipation and confidence. Significantly, the protagonist uses her own voice in
these transformed cuentos, and uses them as inspiration throughout her life. They thus become
part of her and constitute a fixed part of her otherwise fluid identity. Her artistic abilities help
her to adapt to her bicultural environment and her continual relocation, and link her cultural
worlds together, thus creating a fixed variable within an otherwise hybrid and continuously
changing environment.
Vermont 55
Chapter Three: Judith Ortiz Cofer’s Call Me María
Call Me María (2004) recounts the life of a young Puerto Rican girl who immigrates to the
United States to follow her Puerto Rican-American father. It focuses upon the first months of
María‟s life in the New York barrio and describes in detail the culture shock she experiences
and her attempts to adapt to life in the American city.
3.1. Immigration
This subsection broaches the contrasting images of Puerto Rico and the United States, as well
as the different reasons that influence immigration. This contextualization gives depth and
understanding to analyze the different dynamics that influence adaptation to the migratory
experience.
Ortiz Cofer‟s novel strikingly contrasts the island of Puerto Rico to the barrio of New York.
This strong difference emphasizes the culture shock that María experiences. María‟s image of
the United States is entirely different to that of her father‟s, as he is already familiar with
American city life. In the memories of María and of the barrio inhabitants, la isla is presented
as a tropical paradise. In a letter to her mother, María explains: “I know your estudiantes are
learning green, blue, sun, mountains, music, friends; I am learning gray, snow, dark, cold,
lonely, mall, clothes, music, friend. I miss you and our Isla.” (María 21) In this passage,
María experiences the New York barrio as an inhospitable and ugly place. Puerto Rico is
associated with bright colors (“green”, “blue”), a tropical climate (“sun”), nature
(“mountains”), and a rich social life. This is contrasted to the New York barrio which is
connected with a lack of color (“gray”, “snow”, “dark”), a cold climate (“snow”, “dark”,
“cold”), loneliness (“lonely”), and materialism and economic wealth (“mall”, “clothes”).
Puerto Rico and the New York barrio are contrasted, yet the dichotomous divide between both
Vermont 56
places is nuanced. They both have a different positive side, and some of these positive
aspects, namely “music” and “friend”, are present in both places. María clearly misses the
familiar, tropical Puerto Rico, though she does not deny the positive aspects of New York.
She for instance mentions the mall (María 21) and clothes (María 21) when she refers to New
York. These are material benefits of the American way of life that are important for a teenage
girl. The term “friend” occurs in descriptions of both places, although it is used in the plural
form „friends‟ when María refers to Puerto Rico, in contrast to the singular „friend‟ in New
York. This implies that, whereas she makes friendships in both places, social life in Puerto
Rico is richer than it is in New York. This might be due to the loss of her family, but also to
her new arrival in New York where she has to re-explore her life. In this sense, the warmth
associated with Puerto Rico can be seen as both physical and emotional warmth: upon their
immigration, the immigrants have lost their immediate touch with nature and with their island
friends and family. The social security and domesticity of the island is lost, and consequently
the new immigrants conceive of New York as a cold, unfamiliar and lonely place.
The already negative image of the New York barrio is enforced in the following
quote: “There is very little beauty in this barrio. I feel like I am doing penance” (María 4).
Here, el barrio is even compared to a sort of prison in which she is “doing penance”. This
image resembles the attitude of the protagonist‟s mother in Silent Dancing, who locks herself
in her apartment. The images of Puerto Rico and the United States are however not entirely
dichotomous as they also meld together in one of María‟s poems:
My brain contains a universe.
I dream in Spanish of white sand beaches.
The ground I walk on is hard concrete,
but between the tall buildings, on a clear day,
I can still see between the horizon. (María 47)
Vermont 57
This poem opposes Puerto Rico with its “white sand beaches” and the United States with its
“hard concrete”. Yet it also unites these two opposed places: María claims that, she “can still
see between the horizon”, a Puerto Rican element, “between the tall buildings”, standing for
New York. She searches Puerto Rican characteristics in her American surroundings,
transforming the foreign United States into a more familiar place. Her statement that her
“brain contains a universe” unites these two opposite images, as she admits to having a hybrid
identity with loyalty to both the island and the mainland.
María‟s image of Puerto Rico and the United States is partly reversed in her father as
he links the image of Puerto Rico with negative aspects, rather than positive ones: “His feet
wanted to walk on the concrete of the city where he was born. He complained of the sand that
burned his feet all day long on the beach that he cleaned for strangers. He said the sand was in
his clothes, his eyes, his ears. The sand made his eyes water and tears run down his cheeks”
(María 13). The positive image of the sand is reversed through Papi‟s eyes: the sand makes
his feet burn and cause him to cry. The image of the sand also stands for Puerto Rico as a
whole, and thus suggests that his presence on the island, as opposed to the mainland, cause his
sadness.
These images of Puerto Rico and the United States are closely related to the characters‟
reasons for immigration as a positive image of the United States reflects a different pull and
push factor than a negative image. Historically, immigration to the United States has been
propelled by economic reasons. The driving factor for immigration in Call Me María is more
complicated as it combines the economic drive with a longing for returning home, in the case
of the protagonist‟s father. This opposes Call Me María to Silent Dancing in which all
characters are beckoned to the United States for purely economic reasons. Most Puerto Ricans
of el barrio immigrated for different reasons than María‟s father. He returned to the United
Vermont 58
States not only to improve his family‟s economic situation, but also and more predominantly
to return to the place that he calls home. Many of these Puerto Ricans immigrated to the
United States in the hope of improving their economic status as work on the island is low-paid
and hard to get. The novel emphasizes that their hearts are still in Puerto Rico and their
loyalty to the homeland remains strong. They continue to long for a life on the island, where
they were accepted.
I like to listen to the old women talking about their previous incarnations as island
puertorriqueñas. Some of them talk only about how much better life was en La Isla:
the people were kinder, the weather perfect, the arroz y habichuelas, plátanos, pollo
frito, café con leche, maví – talking about the food as cooked by their mamás makes
some of them stand up on the top step like poets inspired to recite verses to their native
land. ¡Ay, ay, ay, bendito! But someone also points out that their beautiful scenery did
not fill empty stomachs. “¡Hay que comer, hijas!” One has to eat. (María 109)
This passage indicates the immigrants‟ longing for their homeland Puerto Rico. They
reminiscence and idealize the island. They consider the island a true paradise: there they had a
richer social life, a better climate, family ties and food that reminds them of their childhoods.
However, they had no choice but to immigrate to the United States as there is little work on
the island. Their immigration is thus clearly propelled by economical reasons. In their hearts
they remain Puerto Rican, exiled in the United States.
María‟s reasons for immigration resemble those of these Puerto Rican immigrants as
she immigrated to the United States in the hope of a good education and a better future than
the island could offer her. Yet there remains a difference between these immigration pull
factors. Whereas the other immigrants long for work and money to support their families,
María‟s hope for a better education is a goal on the long run. It remains unclear whether
María intends to stay in the United States or return to Puerto Rico once she has completed her
Vermont 59
education. On the one hand, she holds on to her Puerto Rican identity, even though she no
longer resides there and is influenced by the hybrid and multiethnic barrio. On the other hand,
she feels at home within this new hybrid environment.
Even though economic prosperity was not the main reason why María‟s father
immigrated, it was an important part of his vision of the family‟s future in the United States.
Comparable to the aspirations of the other inhabitants of el barrio, the father‟s dream remains
unfulfilled as he is stuck in the poor barrio as blue-collar worker.
My father‟s way of dealing with my mother telling him that she may not ever leave La
Isla has been to plunge into his new life here, although it turned out to be very little
like the futuristic vision he once had of his familia in a shining home replete with
laborsaving devices and technology making our lives easier; in fact, here we have
traded down from the life we had on the Island – not much money because my mother
is a teacher and that made us middle-class to what they call blue-collar life here.
(María 17)
In order to deny his wife‟s decision to stay on the island, María‟s father focuses on realizing
the dream he had for his family in the United States. Yet he is also in denial about his family‟s
economic situation in the U.S., as they “have traded down from the life [they] had on the
Island”. However, economic prosperity was only a part of Papi‟s drive to immigrate. In
contrast to many of the Puerto Rican immigrants in el barrio, Papi‟s situation is a case of
reversed migration. Similar to the Puerto Ricans in the barrio of New York who yearn for the
island, Papi longed for el barrio where he grew up. He never succeeded in adapting to the
ways of life on the island and continually longed for the world of his childhood. Ultimately he
could no longer deny the lure of his New York barrio home. María‟s and her father‟s different
reasons of immigration are expressed in the following quote:
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They all know that a different kind of hunger brought my father and me to this island
in the city, but one more difficult to satisfy than food hunger or money hunger. My
father missed the barrio of his younger days; he had to come home, and I wanted an
American education. (María 109)
This passage indicates in what way María and her father‟s drive for immigration is different
from the traditional drive for economic prosperity. Neither of them is in search of a better
economic status. María hopes to get a high-quality education that would ensure her of a better
future, while her father simply returns to his American homeland. He was forced to immigrate
to the island in his youth, but eventually chose to return to the United States.
Ortiz Cofer contrasts the assimilation process of María‟s father and the other Puerto
Rican immigrants in el barrio to María‟s adaptation of the more traditional Puerto RicanAmerican identity. When referring to María‟s father, Ortiz Cofer repeatedly uses the
metaphor of the chameleon16, la iguana, when referring to these immigrants.
I knew that Papi desperately wanted to complete his transformation into the barrio
man. The green Puerto Rican chameleon blending into the browns and grays of our
American city. Is this his last evolution? He wants to be verde like the chameleon, but
for now, my Papi is blue. (María 120)
The image of the chameleon expresses Papi‟s Puerto Rican-American hybrid identity through
the metaphor of the chameleon standing for Puerto Rico and its partial transformation to the
American city environment. He longs to unite the Puerto Rican part of his identity with his
American surroundings, but as he is born in the United States as the child of Puerto Rican
parents, Papi‟s identity is permanently hybrid, thus leaving him confused as to his color, or
real identity as he is neither American nor Puerto Rican. María‟s father permanently feels
16
The metaphor of the „chameleon‟ returns in several of Ortiz Cofer‟s works, e.g. Silent Dancing: A Partial
Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood and The Latin Deli: Telling the Lives of Barrio Women (a collection
of poetry and short stories).
Vermont 61
displaced: he leaves Puerto Rico as he longs for the New York barrio of his childhood to
arrive in the United States where he longs for an American life that holds a better future for
him and his family. As a Puerto Rican-American, he is rooted in the multicultural
environment of el barrio, yet continuously commemorates the island and Puerto Rican
culture. Like María‟s father, the mainland-born Puerto Ricans commemorate the island
through sad stories and songs during the evening. The purpose of their commemorations is
different from the memories of the island-born Puerto Ricans, as these concern not childhood
memories but fantasies. Even though these immigrants have never been to la isla, or left it by
choice in hopes of a better life, they use these songs and distant memories, fictitious at times,
to affirm the Puerto Rican part of their hybrid identity.
Papi does not compose new songs; he only sings the old ones, playing the sad notes
until he brings tears to the ones who claim that machos never cry and to the women
who are like Amazons in their daily battles to survive this place that will always feel
like a foreign country to them even though most of them were born here. But they
have been taught in Spanish that they are Island people, and they believe this myth
because it makes them feel special. (María 31)
As they are secluded from the mainstream America in the barrio, these mainland-born Puerto
Ricans search for a sense of belonging. By collectively commemorating la isla, they achieve a
sense of identity and community. By affirming the Puerto Rican part of their hybrid Puerto
Rican-American ethnicity, they create a community of their own, outside of the mainstream
American culture to which they don‟t belong as their identity mixes Puerto Rican and
American ethnicity.
In contrast to María‟s father and the other Puerto Rican immigrants who cling to their Puerto
Rican-American identity, geographically rooted within the multicultural environment of el
Vermont 62
barrio, María embraces her transnational Puerto Rican identity. María‟s determination to
accept life in the United States and to let her Puerto Rican self flourish within this American
environment surfaces in her poetry:
From my underground
home I will watch the world go by
until I am ready to surface, una flor en la primavera.
I know that spring will come someday even to this barrio.
When it does
I will break through the concrete and reach for the sun
like the first flower of spring. (María 3)
In her poem “Like the First Flower”, María describes a flower that grows through the
concrete. The flower and the Spanish wording of “una flor en la primavera” clearly evoke
Puerto Rico, which is associated with nature, warmth and Spanish throughout the novel. This
phrase is accentuated through its Spanish wording, whereas the rest of the poem is in English.
In this image, the flower then stands for Puerto Rico, whereas the concrete stands for el barrio
of New York. María‟s poem clearly shows that she does not want to assimilate to the
American way of life. Instead, she wants her Puerto Rican identity to blossom in New York.
Her identity is independent from geographical location: she remains Puerto Rican wherever
she might be, whether in Puerto Rico or in the United States. She might not be a flower that
grows in the earth, as is the case with island Puerto Ricans. Her mother for instance is
described as a “hibiscus flower, feeding on sand and sun” (María 14) as her identity is firmly
rooted in the island. María is instead a flower that grows through concrete, but she is still “una
flor”, a Puerto Rican. Her continual combination of Spanish and English in this poem, as
throughout the novel, reflects this hybrid transnational identity. The poem‟s reference to
spring implies that María is currently hibernating. She is recovering from her culture shock
Vermont 63
and will soon emerge again, as a Puerto Rican in New York, who celebrates her Puerto Rican
identity. The title of the novel is also significant in this respect: the protagonist chooses to
keep her Puerto Rican identity by insisting that people call her “María”, instead of the
anglicized “Maria”.
While María‟s and her father‟s images of the United States resemble one another, the
associations they make with it are oppositional. This is related to the pull and push factors for
their immigration. María immigrates in the hope of a better education and future, and thus
associates Puerto Rico with positive images, but also sees the positive sides of the United
States as she moved their voluntarily to improve her future. Papi on the other hand immigrates
to return to his home country, and only partly in the hope of achieving economic prosperity.
His image of the United States is thus far more associated with positive aspects. The adaptive
behavior of the immigrants is linked to their images of both countries and their reasons for
immigration as hopes for a better education and the pleasure of returning home incite entirely
different behavioral adaptations than purely economic immigration. Furthermore, the
characters‟ willingness to adapt to American society or to continue to cling to the island is
closely knit together with their ethnicity as this becomes a voluntary and fluid part of identity.
3.2. Ethnicity
This discussion focuses upon the more traditional ethnic dynamics that divide mainland and
island Puerto Ricans, and consequently María‟s parents, to evoke Ortiz Cofer‟s revolutionary
idea of transnationalism and hybridity within ethnicity.
The ethnic discussion between island Puerto Ricans and mainland Puerto Ricans is prominent
in this novel. To this day, both groups dispute about the legitimacy of calling oneself
Vermont 64
ethnically Puerto Rican. The island Puerto Ricans claim Puerto Rican ethnicity is reserved for
island-born and –based Puerto Ricans, whereas mainland-born or –based Puerto Ricans have
lost their Puerto Rican ethnicity due to American influence. They no longer speak fluent and
“pure” Spanish, and have adopted several American customs. Ana Celia Zentella indicates
that this is still a hot topic in Puerto Rico today, as many Puerto Rican immigrants return to
the island, speaking a Spanish that is influenced by English and having adopted several
American customs. (Zentella 84) Ortiz Cofer broaches the divide between island and
mainland Puerto Ricans in her poetry and prose for autobiographical reasons, which are
narrated in her semi-autobiographical novel Silent Dancing. During her youth Ortiz Cofer
migrated back-and-forth between the United States and Puerto Rico. She experienced the
difficulty of belonging in either place: she was not considered fully Puerto Rican because of
her English-accented Spanish and her adoption of American behavior. Ortiz Cofer dreads this
exclusion of Puerto Rican ethnicity for mainlanders, and states in her interviews that she is
Puerto Rican, no matter where she lives or what Spanish she speaks. The ethnic divide
between islanders and mainlanders shows through in the many arguments between María‟s
father and the rest of her family. This indicates that this ethnic discussion not only creates
separate identities, but moreover gives rise to conflict and separation: “The telephone begins
to ring. I run to get it, grateful that it has interrupted a culture clash I have been hearing all of
my life. It is the old battle between Island Puerto Rican and mainland Puerto Rican. It is what
finally drove my parents apart” (María 94). The culture clash mentioned in this quote refers to
the different culture of both Puerto Rican groups. While the island Puerto Ricans continue the
old Puerto Rican ways of life, the mainlanders are influenced by mainstream American
culture and evolve towards a Puerto Rican-American ethnicity. These mainlanders are
ethnically hybrid and live in between cultures and languages: they not only mix Puerto Rican
and American culture, they also literally mix Spanish and English into Spanglish. Both groups
Vermont 65
of Puerto Ricans are united in the marriage of María‟s parents, but they remain separate from
one another as they are both firmly rooted in their respective homelands. They remain loyal to
different geographical locations and cultures and cannot overcome this difference. María‟s
mother describes that “[i]t is like we are from two different countries, hija. Both Puerto
Ricans, but we have never spoken the same language.” I know what that feels like. There are
many ways to be a foreigner.” (María 116) The term foreigner refers to the irreconcilable
cultural differences between María‟s parents. In this passage, María‟s mother mentions the
different languages that she and María‟s father speak. By this, she refers not only to the
difference between her Spanish and her husband‟s Spanglish, but also metaphorically to their
different culture and ethnicity. María‟s parents are strongly connected to their different
definitions of Puerto Rican ethnicity: her father is a mainland Puerto Rican who never feels at
ease on the island, while her mother is an island woman, “a hibiscus flower, feeding on sand
and sun” (María 14). Neither of them can cross the ethnic and geographical border and
overcome these differences, which eventually results in their separation as María‟s father
returns to his American homeland and her mother cannot leave her Puerto Rican roots behind.
María describes: “The old ones look at us in solemn silence. They were once Island women
themselves. They know. Sometimes you are born to be one or the other. Sometimes you can
cross over.” (María, 113) This quote indicates the difference between María‟s parents, who
are stuck in their separate ethnic identities, María‟s mother identifying with Puerto Rican
ethnicity and her father with Puerto Rican-American ethnicity.
The fixed and singular ethnicities of both parents are contrasted to the voluntary,
hybrid and fluid ethnic identity la señorita Stuckey, María and Uma. The fluidity and optional
quality of ethnic identity is a prominent theme in this novel, as it returns in several characters,
such as María‟s Spanish teacher, Uma, and María. The ethnic identity of María‟s Spanish
teacher is interesting as it combines the optional quality of ethnicity and the creation of a new,
Vermont 66
hybrid Latin American ethnicity. This hybrid Hispanic ethnicity covers all of the distinct
ethnicities within the Latin American continent, gathering them into one hybrid ethnicity.
Although the novel focuses upon her Latin American ethnicity, her name and roots are clearly
American. Her internal opposition of American roots and Latin American ethnic identity is
expressed in the phrasing “la señorita Stuckey” (María, 19), which combines the Spanish
equivalent of “Miss” with her American name. This teacher, despite her American roots, is in
search of a primeval identity, and thus voluntarily acquires a Latin American identity. Just
like the Puerto Rican immigrants, Miss Stuckey‟s longing for the place she calls home by
choice is expressed through her love for Latin American food and her addiction to Latin
American telenovelas: “she has confessed that she is addicted to Univision” (María 20)
Interestingly, her adopted ethnic identity combines several different Latin American cultures,
thus becoming a hybrid mixture of Latino ethnicity:
Tight over her big chest, she wears lumpy sweaters made by the descendants of Incas
who live above the Andes, the wool carried down the treacherous peaks of Machu
Picchu by llamas and yaks, whose own fur is used to make the lining of those boots on
the big, traveling feet of la señorita Stuckey. Her skirts are woven by Ecuadorians and
her concha belt of leather, punctuated by multicolored lentejuelas, is the handicraft of
Mexican stay-at-home mothers. (María, 19)
Like María, “la señorita Stuckey” expresses her hybrid ethnic identity through her clothing.
Her appearance is characterized by a mixture of several Latin American countries: she wears
Peruvian sweaters, Ecuadorian skirts, and Mexican belts. This hybridity returns in her accent:
“She speaks Spanish with an accent that sounds like the United Nations of Below the Border”
(María 19). She thus has a distinct Hispanic ethnic identity, rather than singularly American
or a singularly specific Latin American country‟s ethnicity. However, her adoption of a
distinct Latin American ethnic identity leaves her with a feeling of non-belonging wherever
Vermont 67
she goes. In the United States, her home by birth, she perpetually longs to return to Latin
American, her home by choice. Her longing is expressed in her continuous talks about her
travels to different Latin American countries. “La señorita Stuckey”, through her hybrid Latin
American identity, does not belong within any community and thus always remains alone:
Yet she never tells us about the people. In her tales of adventure there are no people
except guides and drivers of cars and buses. There are never any tales of friends she
has made, or boyfriends. And I ask myself in Spanish, ¿Está triste? ¿Está sola? [...]
Is she always alone? She is always alone here in school. She walks down the halls
alone, staying close to the wall, as if she were afraid of being accidentally touched by
one of us. She eats her lunch of mango or guava juice and tamales from the barrio
bodega alone in her classroom. (María 20)
María‟s Spanish teacher does not belong to any specific community through her adopted
general Latin American ethnicity, and, consequently, walks alone and feels isolated wherever
she is. Uma, just like María, is ethnically fluid. She mixes her Indian roots and Latin
American influenced surroundings into a hybrid and multiethnic identity. In the New York
barrio, and more specifically in María‟s building, different ethnicities commingle into a
hybrid, multiethnic community. Throughout the novel, food is the primary indication of
culture, so, predictably, the melding of these cultures is expressed through food.
Some of the Latinas in our building complain about the pungent aromas of Indian
spices that have permeated the plaster on the old walls in our building, weaving in and
out of our apartments like saffron threads, rising through cracks and inside pipes,
through vents and old bullet holes, so that even as we swallow our arroz y
habichuelas, our pollo frito, and our tostones, all we are tasting is curry, curry, curry.
(María 43)
Vermont 68
These different cultures blur together in María‟s building, and this blurring is expressed
through the image of Puerto Rican food tasting like curry. Both cultures influence each other,
creating a multiethnic environment, which is also present in María and her Indian friend,
Uma. The distinction between Indian and Puerto Rican ethnicity is blurred as Uma and María
have similar physical traits, and constantly mix culture, habits and clothing.
Achiote wins as the theme for her lesson. We look it up and find out that the Indians of
the Caribbean used the spice to decorate their bodies. This excites Uma who wants me
to know that our cultures have something in common. She tells me about henna and
we draw designs on our hands and feet with our black ink pens. (María 45)
In this passage, the seemingly irreconcilable Indian and Puerto Rican culture are brought
together as they do have specific habits in common. Both Indians and the native Indian
inhabitants of Puerto Rico paint their bodies with spices, and, even though the spice itself is
different, the gesture and habit remains similar. The blurring between Uma‟s Indian culture
and María‟s Puerto Rican roots becomes even more obvious in following quote: “Do I look
Latina? Uma wants to know. Do I look Indian? I ask her” (María 45). Also, Puerto Rican
men are said to resemble Indian men by their physical appearance:
Uma is from India and lives on the first floor above us. She and her mother, a widow,
are learning to dance salsa from tapes. They both want Puerto Rican husbands,
American men who look like Indians. I hear there feet above me, little bells and tiny
cymbals keeping time, and a male voice above the music, “It‟s all in the hips, it‟s all in
the hips. (María 43)
Ortiz Cofer offers a solution for the traditional division between Puerto Rican and
Puerto Rican-American identity in the main character María, who incorporates Ortiz Cofer‟s
idea of transnational identity. María‟s identity is not limited to one geographical location. She
transcends the geographical divide. María never identifies exclusively with either group, but
Vermont 69
witnesses and grieves the conventional divide and conflicts between islanders and
mainlanders from aside. María has a hybrid, multiethnic identity that transcends the tradition
divide between Puerto Rican-American mainlanders and Puerto Rican islanders. Her ethnicity
is complex as it is influenced by her Puerto Rican roots and her multiethnic barrio
environment. Her identity is thus not only determined by her Puerto Rican roots and her
immigration to the United States, but also and more importantly by the different cultures and
ethnicities surrounding her in el barrio. Her school‟s “Who You Are Day” project is
significant in this respect as it forces María to reflect on her identity and ethnicity: “This is a
day when we are allowed to dress in clothes that we think tell the world who we really are”
(María 95). María takes this opportunity to express her own identity very seriously and
meticulously chooses her outfit to represent who she really is. She dresses up in her mother‟s
red skirt, her father‟s sharkskin suit jacket, a top sewed together from Uma‟s mother‟s old
sari, Whoopee‟s tall platform shoes, and her grandmother‟s prized shawl. Her ethnic identity
thus becomes part Puerto Rican through her mother and grandmother, part Puerto RicanAmerican through her father and Whoopee, and part Indian through Uma.
María chooses her ethnic identity, and consequently it is hybrid and fluid as it is influenced by
her experiences and surroundings. María lives in the borderlands between different
ethnicities: she is not purely Puerto Rican, Puerto Rican-American, American or Indian, but
mixes these different ethnicities into a multiethnic identity. She has a hybrid ethnic identity as
she herself determines her identity by picking and choosing elements from her multiethnic
environment. Her grandmother‟s comment is significant to this voluntarily developed ethnic
identity: “« Ahora sé quién eres, María, y quién puedes ser, si quieres. Ven acá, mi amor. ».
Abuela says that she knows who I am and who I may be if I choose” (María 97). This quote
from Don Quixote emphasizes the fluidity and optional quality of María‟s ethnic identity. Her
ethnicity is never stabile, as it is continuously determined by her choices, experiences and
Vermont 70
surroundings. It is not solely determined by roots or birth place. Instead, she chooses her
ethnicity herself. In this respect, Call Me María differs strongly from Silent Dancing, in
which the protagonist and her brother solely learn to adapt to their different environments at
the cost of the development of their own identity. In contrast to the children‟s situation in
Silent Dancing, María develops her identity rather than solely adapting to her environment.
Her identity is profoundly determined by, but does not depend upon her environment.
Through the image of the flower growing through concrete already discussed in the chapter
on immigration, Ortiz Cofer shows that María continues to feel Puerto Rican, even though her
ethnic identity is hybrid, complex, and influenced by her multiethnic immigrant environment.
She remains a flower, Puerto Rican, adapting to American life, growing through concrete, and
thus keeps a sense of belonging and serenity. She, unlike Miss Stuckey, still belongs. She is
herself, independent of geographical location. She continually moves forward, adapting her
identity to where she arrives, but keeping her Puerto Rican heart.
In Call Me María, as in Silent Dancing, Ortiz Cofer closely relates the dynamics of ethnicity
with the phenomenon of racism. As is the case in Silent Dancing, the protagonist first
encounters racial prejudice in the United States. Within the multiethnic immigrant barrio of
New York, María feels at home and does not encounter any racism. However, when she
leaves this small multicultural community, and enters a mainstream American community,
she is singled out because of her Puerto Rican origins and perceived as a suspect outsider.
When she enters a shop and the alarm goes off, she is immediately suspected of shoplifting:
“Finally, finding nothing that looks like his merchandise, he looks me over as if I were hiding
something in my clothing or maybe hidden deep within my bushy foreign hair” (María 64).
Even though the encounter is short and occurs only once in the novel, it significantly reveals
that María is being singled out due to her Puerto Rican origins. María is no longer part of a
Vermont 71
community in which she is accepted, but she becomes a suspect outsider in this new
American community. In this respect, the term “foreign” is significant. It expresses the strong
awareness of racial and cultural borders, both by the shop manager as well as María. The title
of this chapter is significantly called “American Beauty”. María, like most teenage girls,
experiments with makeup. Her belief that she too belongs in American society is battered
after this encounter of racial prejudice, so, consequently, María decides that she did not like
the movie that much after all (María 65), thus disappointedly rejecting her dream of an
“American beauty” María 65, my emphasis). María reacts to this racial prejudice by claiming:
“People, listen to this: We are all made up of the same thing under our epidermis” (María
78). She incites American society to leave behind discrimination and racial prejudice, as
people are all similar underneath their skin.
Call Me María opposes the singular and fixed ethnic identities of mainland and island Puerto
Ricans and María‟s parents to the voluntary, hybrid, multiethnic and fluid ethnicity of María,
Uma and the Spanish teacher. Also, Ortiz Cofer relates these dynamics of ethnicity with racial
prejudice, as both multi-ethnicity and racial prejudice are prominent characteristics of third
wave immigration. She links ethnicity and feminism through the character of Ricky Moreno,
the papi-lindo, who seduces women by making them conjure up memories of their countries
of origin.
Vermont 72
3.3. Feminism
In Call Me María feminism is present through the repetition of the Latin lover theme in María
and her mother, the emphasis on strong and independent women, and the reversal of the
typical migrant theme of absent males and waiting women.
In Call Me María, Ortiz Cofer introduces the stereotype of the Latin Lover in the character of
Ricky Moreno. He is compared to María‟s father, thus linking Mami‟s and María‟s
adolescence. He provides a challenge for María: he uses his powers to seduce and bewitch
women, but she must learn to resist his papi-lindo‟s17 seductive powers in order to become a
strong, independent woman. The character of Ricky Moreno interestingly links feminism with
ethnicity. His voice and scent conjures up memories, smells and sounds of their countries of
origin. He easily seduces María‟s Indian friend, Uma, by taking her up the roof to watch the
stars and reminding her of her Indian childhood: “It is many weeks later that I finally ask
Uma. It was the henna tree blossoming outside my window when I was a child in India that I
smelled on his skin, the sparrow’s song I listened for when he held me close” (María 59).
Later, she remains infatuated with him, but, as his seduction method implies the conjuring up
of memories, she is more infatuated with her love for her homeland than with the papi-lindo
himself. Similarly, he bewitches the protagonist, María, by reminding her of her Puerto Rican
childhood:
He corners me. I am against the wall, his arms above me, his silk shirt covering me
like a red tent. I say stop at least three times before he presses his chest to my ear. I
17
The term „papi-lindo’ refers to an attractive man who easily seduces women. „Papi‟ is an affective name for
males, and thus does not solely mean „father‟. It is especially used in the Caribbean area. „Lindo‟ literally means
attractive.
Vermont 73
can smell the ocean now, I can taste the salt on my lips, I begin to hear music. You
will think I am crazy when I tell you this – it was coming from inside his chest. I feel
his mouth on my hair, his lips moving. I stand real still because I know that he is
singing the words to a song I should know. I think it is my favorite Rubén Blades
canción, “Piensa en mí.” How did he know, how could he know what these words do
to me? And where is that music coming from? (María 56)
The papi-lindo‟s seduction method is clearly one of bewitchment: he uses his scent, voice and
musical talents to conjure up memories of his victim‟s childhoods while they were still in
their homes of origin. Therefore, his victims do not actually fall for him, but for the power he
has to conjure up long-forgotten memories, smells and music. However, the papi-lindo‟s
intentions are never sincere. He only seduces women to flatter his vanity: “The papi-lindo
cannot love anyone but himself, and all his conquests are little mirrors he puts up in his room
so he can see himself through each girl‟s eyes.” (María 71) María, even though she has
difficulty keeping herself from being infatuated, sees through his masquerade and exposes his
vile intentions by comparing him to a predator in search of prey: “Ricky is rocking her in his
arms and humming a tune I think I recognize. America the Beautiful? I heard that some
vampire bats use ultrasonic waves to hypnotize and confuse their prey, and then they sink
their fangs into their necks, no struggle” (María 55). She compares his bewitching effect on
women as a hypnosis he employs to easily seduce his victims. This comparison is taken even
further when María compares him to a spider that slowly paralyzes his victims: “I watch
through the glass as he kisses the girl and sends her off, looking a little wobbly on her feet –
she got off easy from her encounter with the papi-lindo – she could have ended up wrapped
up in a sticky little love-cocoon, hanging over a bottomless pit by a silk thread.” (María 56)
Even though his intentions are vile, his victims are cooperative to their own downfall as he
successfully bewitches them and catches them in their own dreams.
Vermont 74
The character of the papi-lindo is compared to María‟s father, linking María‟s and Mami‟s
adolescence. Both these characters must learn to resist the papi-lindo‟s call in order to become
strong, independent women. Even though María‟s mother eventually married Papi, she
succeeded in keeping her freedom and independence as is clear in her firm decision to remain
in Puerto Rico. Similar to Ricky Moreno, Papi seduces women through his musical talents,
and by reminding them of the island: “Papi‟s music is also a magnet for women whose cityhardened faces soften and their winter-dry eyes glisten with tears as they listen to his deep sad
voice recalling for them a world they never knew, one that as puertorriqueñas, they believe
they should long for although some of them have never been there” (María 31-2). Yet even
though both Latin lovers are compared, the negative stereotype is nuanced in María‟s father,
as he is described through the eyes of both his wife and daughter. Ortiz Cofer thus refuses
facile stereotyping by focusing on the complex motives determining identity, as she does in
Silent Dancing by problematizing ethnicity and traditions. María‟s mother claims: “Pero tu
papi no cambia. He is the same papi-lindo I met in high school. He expects to be loved
unconditionally by everyone – at least by all the women. It has always been this way with
him” (María 114). As in Silent Dancing, stereotypes are again rejected through María‟s
disagreement of this simplistic judgment of her father.
María must learn to protect herself from the seductive powers of the papi-lindo if she wishes
to attain the strength that is valorized in Ortiz Cofer‟s female characters. Call Me María
strikingly presents strong and independent women who serve as role models for the
protagonist. These women shape her identity as an independent woman. María‟s mother is
presented as a strong woman. She is independent as she decides to remain on the island,
instead of obediently following her husband to the United States. She chooses to continue her
life on the island, alone. Her strength is expressed through the following quote: “I saw my
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mother growing stronger as she planted herself more and more firmly in her native soil,
opening up like a hibiscus flower, feeding on sand and sun” (María 14). Also, María admires
her mother‟s hard work to maintain her good looks, and when María‟s mother visits New
York, the protagonist admires her strength and confidence:
At the risk of my own future, I start to tell them to shut up. But Mami squeezes my
hand. I look at her calm face, the cool smile that says, Do not worry. They cannot
touch me. She leads me slowly past them, bearing with grace their laughter and
sarcastic gazes. Some of the younger ones clap and whistle as if we were putting on a
show for them. The old ones look at us in solemn silence. [...] I know the viejas respect
my mother‟s self-control. (María 113)
María‟s mother is not affected by the women‟s mockery as she is fully confident in her
identity as an island woman. María also admires the strength of the immigrant women of el
barrio who work hard in order to support their families and households while their men are
away in the army:
Barrio women with the strong, muscular legs I watch pass by through the grille at the
top of my basement window march themselves like warriors to the front lines, to their
jobs in factories all day, then returning to their tiny, cold apartments to work some
more, taking care of children and their mostly absent husbands – many of the younger
men of the barrio are the mercenary troops in this war – making their brief
appearances, leaving a swollen belly here and there. They also party as hard as they
work. On weekends, the ceiling of our basement apartment trembles above me. Bits of
plaster sometimes rain on my head from the feet pounding out their cumbias,
pachangas, and mambos, as they work “la lucha” out of their systems. Will I become
as strong as these women? Creo que sí. Will I dance my troubles away after a week of
hard work? Claro que sí. But I want my luchas to be the ones I choose. (María 108)
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These women bear the burden of working in factories during the day, running their
households in the evening, and raising their children on their own. These women never
despair and remain strong in their daily burdens. They “party as hard as they work” in order to
forget their daily struggles to survive. María is inspired by these women as she affirms that
she too wants to be strong, like these barrio women. Moreover, she wants to take her life into
her own hands, rather than depending upon external factors: she states that “[she] wants [her]
luchas to be the ones [she] chooses”.
The strength within María‟s mother is also present in the path she chooses for herself. In Call
Me María, Ortiz Cofer reverses the conventional immigrant theme of the distant patriarch
providing for the family from a distance, as explored in her autobiographical novel Silent
Dancing. In the latter novel, the protagonist and her family continually await the father‟s
return. Although many of the families in el barrio are characterized by absent men, partly
providing for their families while they are away in the army, Ortiz Cofer reverses this
situation in the protagonist‟s family. María and her father eagerly await Mami‟s arrival.
Clearly, María‟s situation remains similar to the children‟s situation in Silent Dancing, who,
like María, await the return of one of their parents. The significant difference in Call Me
María is that here María awaits her mother‟s arrival, rather than her father‟s. This reversal of
the distant patriarch theme focuses the importance of María‟s mother‟s position within her
family. In contrast to the character of the mother in Silent Dancing, Mami does not obediently
follow her husband, but instead remains true to her ideas and dreams. Eventually, she decides
to stay on the island, shattering her husband‟s hopes and dreams and leaving him a broken
man.
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3.4. Language and identity
This discussion on language firstly links the novel‟s hybrid formal and linguistic hybridity to
its thematic elements. This necessary framework then allows for a more detailed discussion of
language as a reflection of both a Puerto Rican-American identity and María‟s hybrid
transnational identity.
Similarly to Silent Dancing, Call Me María is formally hybrid, combining prose, lyrical and
prosaic poetry, diary excerpts and letters. This formal hybridity reflects the hybrid and
multiethnic identity of the characters in the novel. Like the characters, the novel is constructed
through different forms, and cannot be placed within one single category. Rather, they inhabit
the borderlands between different ethnicities and cultures, just like the novel remains in
between traditional literary forms. Moreover, Call Me María is also linguistically hybrid as it
combines English, Spanish and Spanglish. Payant interestingly states that “Cofer‟s new,
different reality of diaspora cannot be understood through traditional concepts of nationhood
and literary borders. [...] The crucial difference lies in the separation of geography from
identity and a subsequent renegotiation of national belonging that questions cultural roots as a
literal metaphor of soil and land” (Faymonville 124). Faymonville links Ortiz Cofer‟s
revolutionary idea of transnationality and hybrid border identity to the creation of a hybrid
literary form as both break traditionally acknowledged ideas about literary forms on the one
hand, ethnicity and culture on the other hand. The novel not only combines different literary
forms: boundaries between prose, prosaic and lyrical poetry become fluid. At times, these
different textual forms are not clearly distinguished from one another, and the prosaic poetry
flows in between prose and lyrical poetry, creating a fluid spectrum in between prose and
lyrical poetry. The prose itself also breaks traditional boundaries and attains lyrical elements.
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It has a musical and poetic quality through its use of song lyrics, Spanglish and poetic images.
As opposed to Ortiz Cofer‟s fictionalized memoirs Silent Dancing, this novel is not on the
border between fiction and non-fiction. It includes autobiographical elements, but it is first
and foremost fiction, whereas Silent Dancing is predominantly based upon autobiographical
elements. Different from Silent Dancing, in which poetry serves as a marker for important
underlying themes, Call Me María specifically uses each literary form for a reason. Through
this, the novel is thematically united through all of its different forms, as each one of them
contributes to the plot of the novel. Ortiz Cofer thus achieves a thematic unity through the
novel‟s formal hybridity. In fact, the novel‟s central theme of hybridity and multi-ethnicity is
expressed through its hybrid form. In her poetry, Ortiz Cofer focuses upon María‟s personal
reflections and thoughts. These are not completely secluded from text as she writes both
lyrical poetry and prosaic poetry that resembles the main prose text closely. María discovers
her deeper self within her poetry: she learns to write poetry as a way of expressing herself,
thus developing her identity and self awareness. Importantly, her poetry also helps her
through the assimilation process as she writes poems to develop her linguistic abilities.
Secondly, the letters recount the correspondence between María and her mother. One would
expect María to practice her Spanish in the letters to her mother, but surprisingly, they
correspond in English. The novel‟s diary excerpts are used for Abuela‟s pensamientos (María
99) she leaves for María to read. Through the use of these diary excerpts, the novel also
introduces a hybridity within the mixture of Puerto Rican oral tradition and written tradition,
also present in Silent Dancing. However, in contrast to Silent Dancing this novel rarely
reflects oral tradition in its formal characteristics with excerption of the presence of Abuela‟s
diary excerpts. Written and oral traditions are combined differently, and these traditions are
placed in the background, whereas they are presented as a central theme in Silent Dancing.
Also, Call Me María plays out a contrast between different female characters and their choice
Vermont 79
to sustain either oral or written tradition. In Call Me María, Mamá‟s oral tradition is replaced
by a written tradition. Abuela, like the character of Mamá in Silent Dancing, teaches her
female offspring through stories. However, she does this by giving them her journals to read,
rather than by passing on cuentos reflecting possible and culturally accepted behavior.
Abuela‟s emphasis on the written tradition is clear in the following passage: “Mami laughed
when I told her about this. Abuela had left her journals around for her to read when she was
my age. It is Abuela‟s way of letting us know who she really is, and what she thinks is
important. On the hardback cover of all her notebooks she had quotations from books she had
read” (María 99). Abuela‟s gathering of quotations “from novels she had read” enforces the
position of written tradition, as opposed to oral tradition. Whereas Mamá in Silent Dancing
passes on her ancestors‟ cuentos, Abuela passes on wisdom and expressions from literary
novels. In contrast to Abuela, María‟s mother is claimed to be a story-teller. Similarly to
Mamá in Silent Dancing, Mami employs parabolic stories to teach her daughter, which, in
contrast to Mamá, she writes down for her daughter as they are geographically separated. She
for instance compares María‟s habit of inventing people‟s lives by looking at their shoes to a
cuento of a greedy baker who wanted to charge passers-by for smelling his bread (María 33).
Interestingly, Mami is claimed to be a storyteller who can tell stories in both Spanish and
English: “I like to play tricks on Mami. We will talk in English in the morning and Spanish in
the afternoon. She is a teacher of English and a storyteller. She can tell stories in both
languages” (María 6). Yet, even though Mami is gifted with the mastery of both Spanish and
English, her identity is strictly Puerto Rican.18 Thus, unlike María, her mastery of different
languages does not reflect a multiethnic identity.
Additional to the novel‟s formal hybridity, it is also linguistically hybrid. In his theoretical
work Beyond Ethnicity, Werner Sollers reproaches literary scholars and sociologists who
18
Mami‟s ability to invent stories in both Spanish and English will be elaborated in the discussion on language
and art as an expression of identity.
Vermont 80
focus either on the exotic quality of ethnic literature or its descriptions of immigration and
assimilation, rather than focusing on both at once (Sollers 9). It is impossible to overlook the
exotic quality of Ortiz Cofer‟s Call Me María as images and memories of la isla abound.
These exotic images refer to specific foods, plants and animals and are always mentioned in
Spanish as they designate a specific Puerto Rican reality, which does not exist in el barrio of
New York, for instance the hibiscus flower (María 14). Spanish words are also frequent in
María‟s childhood memories as she remembers scenes and words spoken by her mother at
that moment. She recounts her memories in English, so they can be understood by an Englishspeaking audience, yet uses a number of affective words in Spanish, which recreates a Puerto
Rican atmosphere, for example the use of Mami and Papi, ratoncita (María 2) and niña
(María 9). Many Spanish words refer to the domestic sphere, which indicates that Spanish
remains the domestic language, even after María‟s immigration to New York. The continuing
use of Spanish indicates a continuation of Puerto Rican domesticity. Cofer moreover
transforms her predominantly English text by adding the rhythm and sounds of Spanish. She
refers to several famous Caribbean musicians, such as Rubén Blades (María 56), Celia Cruz
(María 7) and Ricky Ricardo (María 54). The insertion of Spanish sounds and rhythm is even
clearer however in the use of Spanglish, which creates a hybrid mixture of Spanish and
English: “But Spanglish is like a song you cannot get out of your head. It has rhythm, it has a
beat, you want to dance to it” (María 18). As with María‟s image of Puerto Rico as described
above, Spanish and Spanglish are again associated with music and rhythm. This innovative
language voices the experiences and bicultural world of Puerto Rican and Latin American
immigrants in the United States. Its mixture of Spanish and English are typical of the
culturally and ethnically mixed immigrants in el barrio and by her inclusion of this language
in her novel, Ortiz Cofer acknowledges the existence of these people in the borderlands
between Puerto Rican and American culture. Spanglish is not only a mixture of two existing
Vermont 81
languages, it is also a full language of its own as it has a proper grammar. The enumeration of
Puerto Rican particularities and Spanish words does not strive purely for an exotic sensation
that might appeal to an English-speaking audience. Instead, Ortiz Cofer recreates the
bicultural and bilingual world in which the protagonist, María, grows up. The novel, like
María‟s life, is characterized by a mixture of Spanish and English, and more importantly by
the hybrid mixture of both. These seemingly antagonistic languages and cultures are united
within the novel, as they are within María‟s identity. Darlene Pagán confirms that “Cofer uses
Spanish to portray a particular reality and flavor, „a formula for reminding people that what
they‟re reading or hearing comes from the mind and the thoughts of Spanish-speaking
people‟. The Spanish language in Cofer‟s novel calls attention not only to the linguistic
moment in a text but also to the particular cultural situation, event, or idea the language
articulates”. (101).
The presence of Spanglish in Call Me María not only introduces a musicality and
exotic flavor to the novel, it also functions as a determiner of Puerto Rican-American
ethnicity. It transforms English and reflects the multicultural environment of el barrio. The
use and appreciation of Spanglish as a border language indicates that these immigrants have
accepted life in the borderlands between traditionally accepted ethnicities. More importantly,
these immigrants claim their right to live in between cultures and languages through the use of
their hybrid language: “I am beginning to hear this as a new dialect invented by people who
can dream in two languages” (María 18). In her work Borderlands/La Frontera, Anzaldúa
pleads for people in the borderlands to embrace their hybrid language as a marker of their
multiethnic identity. Like these immigrants‟ ethnicities, their language is criticized from both
sides of the border, as it is neither Spanish, nor English. This hybrid language is not inferior to
the official languages it mixes, like these languages it has its own grammar and expressions:
“I used to think it was broken English, but it really does have its own rules of grammar: Oye,
Vermont 82
vamos to the marqueta ahora, or La maestra has me entre un rock and a hard place. I mean,
you have to dive in feet first before it starts making sense” (María 18). Rather, Spanglish adds
an extra dimension to both Spanish and English. It introduces language as the marker of a
hybrid immigrant identity, and reforms both Spanish and English. It introduces musicality and
vivacity within language, and transforms it into a reflection of “transnational cultural
exchange” (Faymonville 127).
As a personal rhetoric of resistance, the “Spanglish” works well to signal the
independence of thinking and a resistance against an ethnification process that erases
the specific national identity that Cofer wishes to retain. A further effect of this
technique is that it helps Cofer to transform both of her linguistic heritages: she
transforms the English language by using Spanish, and Puerto Rican Spanish by using
English that reflects the reality of transnational cultural exchange. (Faymonville 127)
María‟s father, who grew up in this multicultural environment of the New York barrio,
learned Spanglish as a mother tongue. It reflects his Puerto Rican-American identity.
However, this language and consequently, his hybrid identity, are not accepted by either side
of the border. He is mocked in Puerto Rico because of his specific accent, and loses
opportunities within mainstream American society because of his use of Spanglish. After her
immigration to the New York barrio, María also decides to learn Spanglish, which indicates
the transformation of her Puerto Rican identity into a hybrid and multiethnic identity. She
embraces this hybridity by enthusiastically learning Spanglish.
Growing up I had to choose which of my parents‟ versions of English I would speak.
My mother reminded me often that no tests and no job applications would be written
in Spanglish. So I chose her impeccable English which I speak with a thick island
accent. Now I am learning Spanglish as my third language, my language of adventure,
of fun, of survival in the streets of my new home. (María 121)
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Importantly, Spanglish does not only mark a Puerto Rican-American, but more generally a
Hispanic-American identity. It is an expression of the specific multiethnic immigrant
environment María discovers in the barrio of New York. It is a language spoken within the
larger group of Hispanic-Americans, among which Puerto Rican-Americans, within el barrio.
This indicates that within these immigrant neighborhoods, Puerto Rican identity not only
mixes with American culture, but also with other Hispanic ethnicities. Spanglish thus
represents a specific border culture within the United States. Whoopee refers to Spanglish as
“American”, as it is an expression of a specific border culture within the United States: “[y]ou
call it Spanglish, María. I call it American. I speak American!” (María 50). Moreover,
Spanglish can be considered “American” in the sense that it is an expression of the
immigration that historically formed the United States. The dimension of Spanglish as a
marker of the Hispanic-American community is missing in Ortiz Cofer‟s autobiographical
novel Silent Dancing, as the latter‟s characters never integrate within the Hispanic-American
subculture.
Call Me María does not only broach hybridity within the novel‟s language and literary form,
it also signals the importance of language in María emancipation process and her development
as an artist. In Call Me María, the situation of language study in Silent Dancing is reversed.
Whereas Ortiz Cofer‟s alter-ego in Silent Dancing is not helped in her study of English by her
mother and lives in a bilingual environment in Paterson, María learns English as a child
through her mother in Puerto Rico and through her mother‟s letters in the United States. Also,
in contrast to the situation in Silent Dancing, María lives in a bilingual environment in Puerto
Rico as her parents speak both English and Spanish with her: “Mami speaks to me in English,
saying the words slowly so that I can follow her. She knows that I will answer her in Spanish
because even though I know English, I feel more comfortable speaking in Spanish. She and
Vermont 84
Papi talk to each other in very fast Spanish. But she thinks I should know English in case we
all move to the United States” (María 8). María thus grows up in between English and
Spanish as her mother, in contrast to the protagonist‟s mother in Silent Dancing,
acknowledges the possibility of immigration and the necessity of language mastery in such a
situation. Therefore, she continues writing the letters to her daughter in English, as a way of
helping her to master the language, and consequently, her situation and future. Typical for
third wave immigrants who continue to cling to their linguistic and cultural heritage, María
refuses to lose her linguistic abilities in Spanish: “I know words in two languages. I will not
give up either one. It gives me an advantage to know more than you know. I am also taking
Spanish Conversation with la señorita Stuckey. I will not forget my first language. And now I
know my second language well enough so that I am not going to be lost in America” (María
28). Later on, María uses language, and more specifically, poetry, to escape her daily worries.
Through Mr. Golden‟s classes, María learns that she too can write poetry, and that her life too
is worthy of poetry. Consequently, poetry becomes an affirmation of her identity. She finds
pride in her identity and surroundings, and becomes aware that poetry consists of finding
beauty within ordinary things. Thus, María learns to see the beauty within herself and her life.
She claims that “today I am a poem” (María 98).
Vermont 85
Conclusion
Judith Ortiz Cofer stands as a representative of third wave immigration as her ideas and work
incorporate the novelties and characteristics of this immigration wave. Her work and ideas
defy traditional ideas about immigration as either a single one-way movement or at most a
reverse migration. She voices the current Latin American and Caribbean practice of circular
migration by which immigrants constantly move back-and-forth between their home countries
and the United States. She also defies traditional ideas about ethnicity as she transforms
ethnicity into a fluid and voluntary aspect of identity. Ethnicity is no longer inextricably
restricted by an individual‟s place of birth, but can be transformed by immigration and is
determined by the individual‟s past and present surroundings. Hybridity within an
individual‟s identity is no longer a holdback, but gives rise to innovation in ethnicity, culture
and language as is clear from the arising of new ethnic identities and linguistic forms such as
Spanglish. Ortiz Cofer focuses upon the complexities of immigrant life and the influences
upon ethnicity. She describes the mixture of ethnic identities within the immigrant barrios,
and shows that adaptation to American culture not only occurs through the transformation of
Puerto Rican ethnicity to American ethnic identity, but that Puerto Rican ethnicity first mixes
with other Latin American ethnicities, creating a Latino ethnicity within the United States.
This ethnic identity in turn mixes with other minority ethnicities within immigrant barrios.
This is especially clear in Call Me María. In this novel, María shifts from a purely Puerto
Rican ethnicity to a hybrid Puerto Rican-Indian-American-Latino ethnicity. Importantly, Ortiz
Cofer describes this shift in ethnicity as voluntary: María forms her identity through the
different elements of her world. Ethnicity and identity are no longer given and fixed at birth,
but can be transformed through an individual‟s bi- or multicultural world. This hybrid identity
is contrasted to the ethnicity of protagonist‟s parents in Silent Dancing who represent
Vermont 86
traditional ideas about ethnicity, in which hybridity is denied. In Call Me María the parents‟
ethnicity is firmly rooted in geographical location. Ortiz Cofer‟s characterization of María,
Uma, the Spanish teacher and her semi-autobiographical character in Silent Dancing present
an innovation as their ethnic identities are hybrid and transnationalist. Identity and ethnicity
are no longer restricted by geographical locations. Also, these characters embrace their bi- and
multicultural world in contrast to the protagonists‟ parents who do not acknowledge the
hybridity in their world. The protagonist in Call Me María offers a solution to Ortiz Cofer‟s
situation as a child (as described in Silent Dancing) in that her identity is determined by her
multicultural world, but she succeeds in keeping her roots. She claims to be Puerto Rican
wherever she is. The protagonist in Silent Dancing however does not fit in Puerto Rico or in
the United States: she is mocked because of her accent in both countries, and has difficulties
adapting to the different cultural behaviors in Puerto Rico and the United States.
The concept of the borderlands and hybridity is not solely present in the characters‟ ethnicity,
Judith Ortiz Cofer also embraces hybridity within gender behavior, traditions, language, and
literary forms. In this, she follows Gloria Anzaldúa‟s concept of the borderlands by
trespassing traditional ideas of fixed and antagonistically placed cultures and moving towards
a hybrid identity that incorporates sometimes seemingly irreconcilable aspects of different
cultures, languages, and gender behaviors. Ortiz Cofer focuses on the female migratory
experience: she discusses how women faced with immigration transform the traditions of their
cultures of origin. She is feminist in her emphasis on women‟s strength and independence.
She breaks stereotypical ideas about different traditions and demonstrates how American and
Puerto Rican traditions are not as antagonistic as may seem at first. The hybrid ethnicity of
her protagonists is reflected in the hybrid language, consisting of Spanish and English, and in
the novel‟s hybrid form, consisting of prose, letters, prosaic and lyrical poetry. Her novels and
language not only incorporate opposing languages and literary forms. Each novel, and even
Vermont 87
both novels placed together, becomes a unity, through the presence on all levels of the central
concept of hybridity. Her mixture of Spanish and English not only adds a touch of exoticism
to the novels, it also, and more importantly, reflects the bicultural world of her protagonists.
This hybrid form transforms both Spanish and English: the meaning of certain Spanish words
is transformed to meet the migratory experience of the Puerto Rican immigrants in the United
States, while the use of Spanish in English provides English with new sounds and rhythms.
Immigrants inhabiting the borderlands between these two cultures thus no longer live in the
margins: by assuming their right over language, they also assume their hybrid identities and
claim their place in the borderlands between these cultures. Also, the literal translation of
Spanish proverbs in English provides American literature with new imagery. The novel‟s
trespassing of literary and linguistic boundaries results in an innovation in both the English
language and American literature. Ortiz Cofer‟s mixture of different literary forms is
successful as it reflects the protagonists‟ hybrid identity. Also, each form has its function
within the novel, making the passage of the novel‟s message and themes more effective. Ortiz
Cofer breaks down boundaries between existing literary forms by incorporating poetic images
within her prose and by using prosaic poetry. She also creates an innovation by introducing
Puerto Rican oral tradition within American literature, and thus reforms the structure of the
novel. Additional to these innovations within language and literature, Ortiz Cofer‟s use of
language as a theme also reproduces the development of the protagonists‟ identity. Their
emancipation process is greatly determined by their mastery of language and is reflected in
their creative use of language through poetry (Call Me María) and the transformation and
invention of stories and cuentos (Silent Dancing).
U.S. Latino literature is a fairly new subject, and so far little has been written about this
movement and its authors. Sadly enough, U.S. Latino literature often stays in the margins of
Vermont 88
American literature as it is often only published in specialized publishing houses and remains
unknown among mainstream American audience. My discussion of both these novels and
their reflection of third wave immigration indicate that their marginality does not make these
novels less fascinating. During my research on U.S. Puerto Rican literature, my interest and
fascination with this subject has continuously increased, and I hope that my work will also
incite the interest of others in these novels, their authors, and their experiences.
Vermont 89
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