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Childhood and the Construction of Identity in Rosario Castellanos' "Balun-Canan" and Rudolfo Anaya's "Bless Me, Ultima"

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Childhood and the Construction of Identity in Rosario Castellanos' Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Theses and Dissertations 2004-07-09 Through the Eyes of Shamans: Childhood and the Construction of Identity in Rosario Castellanos' "Balun-Canan" and Rudolfo Anaya's "Bless Me, Ultima" Tomas Hidalgo Nava Brigham Young University - Provo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the Classics Commons, and the Comparative Literature Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Nava, Tomas Hidalgo, "Through the Eyes of Shamans: Childhood and the Construction of Identity in Rosario Castellanos' "Balun-Canan" and Rudolfo Anaya's "Bless Me, Ultima"" (2004). Theses and Dissertations. 146. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/146 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. THROUGH THE EYES OF SHAMANS: CHILDHOOD AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITY IN ROSARIO CASTELLANOS’ BALÚN-CANÁN AND RUDOLFO ANAYA’S BLESS ME, ULTIMA by Tomás Hidalgo Nava A thesis submitted to the faculty of Brigham Young University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Humanities, Classics, and Comparative Literature Brigham Young University August 2004 BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY GRADUATE COMMITTEE APPROVAL of a thesis submitted by Tomás Hidalgo Nava This thesis has been read by each member of the following graduate committee and by majority vote has been found to be satisfactory. ___________________________ ____________________________________ Date George B. Handley, Chair ___________________________ ____________________________________ Date Steven P. Sondrup ___________________________ ____________________________________ Date Douglas J. Weatherford BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY As chair of the candidate’s graduate committee, I have read the thesis of Tomás Hidalgo Nava in its final form and have found that (1) its format, citations, and bibliographical style are consistent and acceptable and fulfill university and department style requirements; (2) its illustrative materials including figures, tables, and charts are in place; and (3) the final manuscript is satisfactory to the graduate committee and is ready for submission to the university library. __________________________ ____________________________________ Date George B. Handley Chair, Graduate Committee Accepted for the Department ____________________________________ Steven P. Sondrup Graduate Coordinator Accepted for the College ____________________________________ Van C. Gessel Dean, College of Humanities ABSTRACT THROUGH THE EYES OF SHAMANS: CHILDHOOD AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITY IN ROSARIO CASTELLANOS’ BALÚN-CANÁN AND RUDOLFO ANAYA’S BLESS ME, ULTIMA Tomás Hidalgo Nava Department of Humanities, Classics, and Comparative Literature v This v study v offers v a v comparative v analysis v of v Rosario v Castellanos’ v Balún-Canán and Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima, novels that provide examples on how children construct v their v identity v in v hybrid v communities v in v southeastern v Mexico v and v the v U.S. southwest. v The v protagonists v grow v and v develop v in v a v context v where v they v need v to v build bridges between their European and Amerindian roots in the middle of external influences that complicate the construction of a new mestizo consciousness. In order to attain that consciousness and free themselves from their divided selves, these children receive the aid of an indigenous mentor who teaches them how to establish a dialogue with their past, nature, and their social reality. The protagonists undertake that negotiation by transgressing the rituals of a society immersed in colonial dual thinking. They also create mechanisms to re-interpret their past and tradition in order to create an image of themselves that is not imposed by the status quo. In both novels, the protagonists have to undergo similar processes to overcome their identity crises, including transculturation, the creation of sites of memory, and a transition from orality to writing. Each of them resorts to creative writing and becomes a sort of shaman who pulls together the “spirits” from the past, selects them, and organizes them in a narration of childhood that is undertaken from adulthood. The results of this enterprise are completely different in the cases of both protagonists because the historical and social contexts vary. The boy in Bless Me, Ultima can harmoniously gather the elements to construct his identity, while the girl in Balún-Canán fails because of the pressures of a male-centered and highly racist society. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Although my name appears on the title page as the author of this study, it would have been impossible to accomplish without the aid, advice, and encouragement of my family, professors, and friends. First, I thank our Heavenly Father for having given me the mental and physical strength I needed to do this research and write the following pages. I also express my gratitude, recognition, and love to my dear wife Gina, who sacrificed much so that I could complete the requirements to obtain a master’s degree. She always has encouraged me to do my best in every area of my life. I apologize for all the hours I did not dedicate to her and my son Paolo while I was immersed in this enterprise. In addition, I dedicate this work to my parents, whose constant calls and e-mails from Mexico City helped to keep me on the track. I am so thankful, too, for the wise comments and advice I received from Dr. George B. Handley, Dr. Steven P. Sondrup, and Dr. Douglas J. Weatherford, who always were willing to guide and motivate me to develop my research, writing, and analytical skills. Their advice was fundamental to the completion of this thesis. I am also grateful for the knowledge and insights other faculty members have shared with me. Among those valuable professors who left an imprint on me I would like to mention V. Stanley Benfell, Russell M. Cluff, Mara L. García, Larry H. Peer, John R. Rosenberg, and Nieves Pérez Knapp. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction…………………………………………………………….1 Chapter 1. Balún-Canán: Written Narration as a Site of Gathering…..20 Chapter 2. Bless Me, Ultima: The Shamanism of Letters…………….60 Conclusions…………………………………………………………..112 Works Cited………………………………………………………….118 vii INTRODUCTION The question of identification is never the affirmation of a pre-given identity, never a self -fulfilling prophecy—it is always the production of an image of identity and the transformation of the subject in assuming that image. Homi K. Bhabha Cultural identity is not something one can find, inherit, or receive as a final product. On the contrary, it is the result of both a negotiation and a construction that starts in the early years of childhood. This process is especially evident in hybrid cultures such as the Mexican and Mexican-American, which have developed and evolved within the interstices between European and Amerindian cultures and between the implementation of modernizing projects and the persistence of traditional ways of life. Mexican literature and Hispanic literature created in the United States have usually treated this topic since both literary traditions have developed in that context of “in-betweeness.” Mexican literature has been produced within a culture emerging out of the violent encounter between Spanish and Amerindian views and traditions. On the other hand, Hispanic literature of the United States has been composed in that same context of clash between 1 Spanish and Amerindian components; however, one needs to add to that problematic encounter the influence of Anglo culture, especially after the appropriation of Mexican lands by the United States between 1846 and 1848. The main purpose of this research is to compare examples on how those two— and interconnected—literary traditions have depicted such a process of negotiation and creation of identity in individuals and communities. Rosario Castellanos’ Balún-Canán (1957) and Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima (1972) are novels presenting children who have grown up on the margins of political, social, and cultural borders and whose ancestors proceed from different cultures and ethnic groups. Those children daily confront the questions that, according to the Mexican Nobel-Prize winner Octavio Paz, developing peoples usually ask: “¿Qué somos y cómo realizaremos eso que somos?” ( El laberinto 9). [“What are we and how may we fulfill our obligations to ourselves as we are?” ( The Labyrinth 9) 1] A Ladino 2 girl in Balún-Canán and Antonio in Bless Me, Ultima experience the construction of their identity within specific communities. Their conscious or unconscious aim is to assemble all those pieces of themselves that are dispersed. In order for them to attain that goal, they have the aid of mediators or mentors who teach them how to establish a dialogue with their past, nature, and reality through tradition and the building of bridges to other cultural influences. Although the Chicano novel Bless Me, Ultima is typically included in American literature, I will demonstrate that it shares similar concerns with Castellanos’ novel 1 Translation of the original is taken from Paz, Octavio. The Labyrinth of Solitude: Life and Thought in Mexico . Tr. Lysander Kemp. New York: Grove, 1961. 2 The Real Academia Española defines the term Ladino as a synonym of mestizo (see www.rae.es). Both Olivia Gall and Julio César Pinto Soria concur as they use the term in that same sense. Gall mentions that during the Spanish colonial times in Chiapas, the Spaniards regarded Ladinos as inferior since according to the former it was degrading to have a part of Indian of blood (66). Pinto Soria indicates that during the seventeenth century the term Ladino was used in Guatemala to refer to the mestizo sector of the population in general (7). 2 regarding the persistence of racism, sexism, and colonialism in two “southern” regions where cultural, racial, and national boundaries are blurred by the displacements of peoples and ideas.
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