Citizen Rex

For this journal I will be looking at the comic called “Citizen Rex” by Mario and Gilbert Hermandez.

This page of Citizen Rex shows the image of the main character, Sergio Bautin, and his robot assistant—though mangled—Hazel. The page itself is not truly fascinating. The images are very abstract and unrealistic. However, I believe it shows the world of Citizen Rex very symbolically—not the man, but the buildings and signs and designs of clothing.

The entire page of panels—separated by gutters—shows a very futuristic and “utopian” type of world. The two women walking together with shopping bags in the first panel could represent the unity of Citizen Rex citizens and the conformity of that world. The robot lying on the ground of the second panel already shows the advanced technology of this world—since the main character had her since he was eleven years old. The buildings in the background show a new type of building style and it gives the world of Citizen Rex depth, or a 3D image. This is what Scott McCloud would call “closure.” The world of Citizen Rex isn’t real; however, we perceive it as real and image it as real because there are hints like these buildings to show that they are real, that they have substance. The closure in the background can also be used to show motion, the closure of accepting that Sergio is picking Hazel’s head up and staring at it.

Looking more on the surface of the comic page, we see the dialogue boxes. Though not symbolic with the idea of something more significant, the shapes of these boxes are symbolic in the way they are perceived. Square boxes are perceived to be thought processes—the idea only helped with the expression of the character’s face and the lack of direction the speech comes from. On the other hand, the round speech bubbles are perceived to be actual physical speech. And even though McCloud states that we cannot “hear” Sergio talking, closure allows the reader to take the words in as if he did. 

Discussion Question: What is the point of having the time period set in the future? Would it's significance decrease if the story was set in the 21st century? 

Miss Clairol Multi-Layered Questions

What is Champ looking for in her mother's closet? What might be the significance of owning a "special dress"? How does the significance between owning and not owning a "special dress" relate to the theme of poverty shown in the short story?

What does Pancha let Arlene borrow for her big date? What is the connection between Arlene's lack of her own dresses and the abundant amount of time she spends putting on make-up? How does drastic difference in physical appearance between Arlene and Champ relate to the differences in wealth among families and to the representation of the theme of poverty?

"Aria" and "...And the Earth Did Not Devour Him" Comparison

Both "Aria" by Richard Rodriguez and "...And the Earth Did Not Devour Him" by Tomas Rivera narrates a story about Mexican-American life in a gringo (non-Spanish people) society. However, while both stories have the same theme, they have two very different ways of going about the story. In "Aria," the readers see the narrator and his family slowly changing themselves and their lifestyles, trying to adapt to gringo society (and overall trying to become more accepted as "Americans"). On the other hand in “…And the Earth Did Not Devour Him,” the story follows a Mexican-American family fighting against gringo society and trying to maintain their traditional Mexican cultures.

There are many reasons why this distinction occurs.  First, there is the timeline to consider. In “…And the Earth Did Not Devour Him,” the span of the entire story does not go ever one year. This is hinted at in the last chapter of the story, where the little boy recounts all the happenings of the past year in quick notations. Every chapter of this story could represent a “month” and an outstanding event that took place during it. However, in “Aria,” the story spans over multiple years, transitioning from childhood to teenage years, and even going into partial adulthood. The readers understand that months and years go by from the diction the narrator uses. Also, with passing years, comes a changing perspective and growing maturity and the narrator, Rodriguez, slowly integrates into gringo society. Because “Aria” continues for a much longer time than “…And the Earth Did Not Devour Him,” the narrator of “Aria” has time to develop and change—as both the little boy from “…And the Earth…” and Rodriguez from “Aria” had similar mindsets (traditionally cultured) when they were of the same age.

Another reason for the different reactions to gringo society could be the respective families’ location. While the little boy from “…And the Earth…” and his family lived working on farms and in very small crowded locations (the typical and expected poor working conditions for the Mexican farming community), Rodriguez and his family are (seemingly) upper-middle class folk and like in an all-white community. The difference between their wealth, location, and neighborhood-interaction all changes the path that both narrators are most likely to take. In “…And the Earth…,” the little boy is surrounded by Mexican workers, unable to afford proper schooling, bullied upon, discriminated upon, and overall in poor living conditions. The only thing he has to himself is his culture and his family. It is predictable under these conditions that that boy to continue keeping his culture close and relying fully upon it as part of his identity. On the other hand, Rodriguez from “Aria” lives in an upper-middle class society, attends school with white children, is targeted for his Spanish background, and pressured to speaking more English and fully integrating himself into the gringo society. As he repetitively states in the story, Spanish becomes his “second-language.” As he integrates more into a white, American life, he pushes (and eventually forgets) about his Mexican one.

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As a first-generation Asian-American, I have also been through the difficulties Rodriguez went through in “Aria.” And I too transformed the way he did when he was integrating into the American lifestyle. I filtered out my Korean and adopted English, my relatives weren’t happy but I hadn’t cared. This situation of having to choose one culture over the other is damaging to the child that has to choose. To have to choose from family and tradition or friends and society is difficult and hard to differentiate.

Is it possible that two cultures can merge? And by merge I don’t mean taking a few rules and traditional traits from each culture. Does the story from “Aria” have to relate to real life and make a decision for all second-language students and children? Are different cultures truly so incompatible that one must be inferior to the other?

Woman Hollering Creek

"Everything about this woman, this Felice, amazed Cleofilas. The fact that she drove a pickup. A pickup, mind you, but when Cleofilas asked if it was her husband's, she said she didn't have a husband. The pickup was hers. She herself had chosen it. She herself was paying for it."

   In 1991, Sandra Cisneros published her prose, "Woman Hollering Creek." The short story is about a woman, Cleofilas, finding freedom and escaping male oppression and rule. The passage above is taken near the end of this prose, where Cleofilas is about to board a bus that will take her back to Mexico, where she has decided to become independent and free from the constant controlling men in her life. 

   The passage is written in third person, or a omniscient narrative. The meeting between Cleofilas and Felice could be a foreshadow of how Cleofilas will later become in Mexico, raising her children. It also shows a type of resolution to the prose, by introducing a foil character that is already independent that will inspire the protagonist into acting for what she will now believe in. The independence comes from Felice's lack of husband, or general authoritative male oppressor, and her own mode of transportation (and her ability to pay for it). 

   The pickup that Felice owns, and that Cleofilas repetitively refers too, symbolizes Cleofilas' ability to escape from her situation. The pickup could point to both literal and symbolic gestures toward the meaning of escaping. Literally, the pickup allows Cleofilas to flee from being trapped within the city and moving as she wills. Symbolically, Cleofilas can finally become free from the male oppression that has been ruling over her life. Also, the diction the speaker chooses to use is important as well. The fact that Felice has a “pickup” and not just a regular car or a bike or any other transportation device is nudging the expression that it “picks up” Cleofilas and her weighed down body. A pickup carries material over long distances, which is where Cleofilas wishes to go. 

   Throughout the prose, Cleofilas describes the males that have control over her life and actions. The descriptions begin to change over time from gentle and kind to harsh and depressed. Cleofilas begins to realize that she can't stand the male tyranny in her life and that's why she decides to leave back to Mexico. The mood drastically changes after she realizes this. The depressed atmosphere twists into a more curious and confused mood and then, when she meets Felice, into captivated and anticipatory. 

   Previously in the story, the speaker's sentence structures were very long and drawn out. This gave the overall prose a very tired and suffocated feeling to it. Near the end of the story, there were more shorter and concise sentences that made the atmosphere of the short story very free and liberating, airy and full of bounce, like when someone talks while jumping up and down. 

   Overall, the prose stood out significantly as a story about a woman's liberation. I appreciate the short sentences in the passage because of how it helps with the liberating feeling of the entire prose. The feeling and thought that this passage gives helps us develop more thought about the equality that I live with in America and how it effects me.

>Felice helps solidify the idea of becoming independent to Cleofilas. However, my question is what if Cleofilas hadn't met Felice. Would she forever wonder about the independence that she is seemingly reaching for? Is independence something that comes naturally to every human being? Is it something that must be earned or found or searched for?

Prompt 1

Truly, I do not understand poetry. It twists and turns and rants and does a whole lot of other stuff that I find unnecessary. Sometimes I only understand the literal words and sometimes I understand the symbolism, but a poem is short (for the most part). Besides epic poems, there aren't many poems that I've read or heard of that writes like a story or a song. Which is why I find it so hard to truly understand them.

I am not going to say that the poem "I Am Joaquin" was different than my original assumption of poems. I had a hard time understanding this one as well. But it was, quite surprisingly, very fun to read.

I actually didn't understand that Joaquin was a woman until the last page of the poem, where she literally describes this woman and says that "she is me." The very masculine beginning to the poem made me think she was just a man, struggling with the new culture of America.

So, what I found so interesting about this poem was mostly it's structure and constant change of tone. There seemed to be a lot of conflict that the author went through and I couldn't relate at all...well that's not true. I could relate a little.

The poem begins with an introduction of herself, of the author, of her life, of her struggle. She talks about how there is a constant battle-a battle between her Mexican culture and her American societal life. And most notable, how she couldn't choose to have both. She then goes off reviewing historical figures and saying that she is them (and that they are her). How, before the revolutions and Spanish conquests, this "American" land was hers.

As I've stated before, she's constantly fighting with herself. First she's a prince, a leader, a king, a tyrant. And then she becomes a slave, a despicable person that shuns her fellow Mexican brothers and family. So there'd be times where she's a proud Mexican, totally in control of her life, and then she converts into a transformed American, where she shuns her Mexican culture and anything that goes with it (maybe not so severe).

I believe you really start to notice this conflict on page three when she lists herself as all these opposite adjectives:

"I I ride with revolutionists
against myself...
I have been the bloody revolution,
The victor,
The vanquished.
I have killed
And been killed."

A place where you really see the the author's depressed tone about her conflict is on page five:

"I look at myself
And see part of me
Who rejects my father and mother
And dissolves into the melting pot
To disappear in shame..."

And then I feel a chill. The author begins to boil in anger. The words churn in my stomach as she shouts and screams with her atmosphere and stabs the American flag with her hate.

Page six:

"My land is lost
And stolen,
My culture has been raped.
I lengthen the line at the welfare door
And fill the jails with crime.
These then are the reqards
This society has
For sons of chiefs
And kings
And bloody revolutionishts,
Who gave a foreign people
All their skills and ingenuity
To pave the way with brains and blood
For those hordes of gold-starved strangers,
Who
Changed our language
And plagiarized our deeds
As feats of valor
Of their own.
They frowned upon our way of life
and took what they could use.
Our art, our literature, our music, they ignored-
so they left the real things of value
and grabbed at their own destruction
by their greed and avarice."

Oh goodness. I truly love this part.

And then, the author realizes who she is. She confirms it and comes to peace with it. She declares it and then becomes it. She has lived through it all and come out victorious! And with an explosion of short, fast building expression, she is who she is! She screams:

"I SHALL ENDURE!
I WILL ENDURE!"

And so she will.

Introduction

This is my blog and I started it because of English 202!

I'm tired, so that's all I'll right for now.