Journal #5- Citizen Rex

The idea that McCloud brought up about closure really made me start thinking. Looking at the panel on page 21, this is the scene when Dr. Zazie finds Citizen Rex for the first time impersonating as Tango Bangaree. It goes in a pretty logical order, you can see Dr. Zazie with the hatchet after her men dog-pilled on Rex and how she’s trying to cut off a finger. This panel uses action-to-action transition because there is lines of motion; the lines of the hatchet moving in the first panel with the accompaniment of the ‘Whonk’ sound of her chopping off a finger. McCloud had said in his Understanding Comics piece that closure was what connected the reader to the story, and not only did closure do its work during the comic, but during the breaks between panels. In this page, I thought it was interesting because Gilbert and Mario Hernandez really leave nothing to the imagination here. In the book, McCloud had given the example of the knife slicing the guy and how it was the readers own perception that had given that impression. In the third panel in the middle of the page, it starts off with Zazie building up for a swing, one of her men planting Rex’s hand on the ground, and then, in the middle of the panel, this mini panel interjects with a giant ‘WHUNK!’ sound and a picture of the hatchet cutting off a finger, with blood spurting. It then goes to Zazie looking evilly at the finger and saying that she has the right one. The Hernandez brothers left no doubt in the readers mind that Zazie just got any finger. They made it very clear that it was Rex’s right index finger, and that she was purposely looking for that finger. This interjection shows that this particular finger was important because when she hacked off the other one, it didn’t show in nearly as much detail what finger it was, mostly because it wasn’t important. For me, no closure was used and when I read over it, I was taken back because I wasn’t expecting to see it; I expected to see something like her with the finger saying that she got it. The panel kind of shocked me, in a good way. In the next scene, Rex throws off the ‘Dogpilers’ and runs away, with the dogpilers flying in different direction. This section presents a certain jolt to the reader, it’s only a few pages in, and if they weren’t already confused, with this boss with half of his face falling off, and then there are all these other pawns throwing themselves on him to contain him; and there was this lady with a huge knife wanting this certain finger, and a panel vividly showing this.

               But what I really want to know is: Of what other use could this mini action panel have on not only to the reader, but to the story as well? Why would they add it?

Journal #4- Miss Clairol Layered Questions

1. In “Miss Clairol” by Helena Maria Viramontes, where does Arlene go first and what is the first thing she contemplates buying? How is this product reflective of the Arlene's personality but also her character? What could this say about the women in the Chicana culture? Why do you think the story was named after this product?

2. Who is Arlene in relationship to Champ? What are the lessons and mannerisms she seems to be passing onto her? Does Champ seem to be picking them up? Are these just Arlene’s habits or could be applied to the greater culture?

Journal #3 Rodriguez and Rivera

Both texts, Tomas Rivera’s ­And The Earth Did Not Devour Him and Richard Rodriguez’ “Aria”, share many similaries and many different takes on the same idea. Both texts have to do with trying to keep hold of their Mexican Heritage while still trying to fit in without assimilating. Both pieces have similar ideas of religion, which in Rodriguez’ piece can be explored through the nuns; perceptions on white or gringo society, and the trials of being Mexican. (holding on to your culture without assimilating)

                Both Rivera and Rodriguez have a really daunting perception of white society that can be shared across both of the narratives. In Rivera’s novella, he showed the intolerance of differences through how it impacted his Mexican characters, while Rodriguez showed this through more or less straight up criticism of the way they acted around him. Every time Rivera mentioned a white or Anglo person in his story there was always a negative connotation. In “It’s That It Hurts” the Mexican boy was just bullied and attacked by a white boy, and throughout the whole story he thinks on how he was the one being punished and possibly expelled because the Mexican boys who were blamed for it. In the vignette on p. 129, a white woman had been drinking and driving and killed sixteen people when she crashed into a truck. Rivera has also very strong imagery of the choppy English of the migrant workers be a very real obstacle in obtaining any respect. In Rodriguez’ memoir he views white society by their language. For him, it seems like the language is a very real almost malicious thing out to get and assimilate him. It was foreign and bad to him, much like how the gringo community around him viewed him. For him the white society was a necessary evil that he learned to live with later on, and early on it was a mold he struggled to fit. He also saw a lot of white society in the way they treated his parents, who were not very good or confident English speakers. Still, much like Rivera’s, it held a very negative connotation.

A big theme throughout both narratives was the idea of the trials of being Mexican.  Alienation was also a big thing because not only did Rodriguez personally receive this, but as did every character in Rivera’s novella. However, both authors explore these trials in different ways.  In Rivera’s novel, he was more like receiving alienation and discrimination from the white society. They didn’t want him apart of their culture, but he wanted in as a way to make it places in the world. The characters in Rivera’s novella, much like Rodriguez, struggled to maintain their Mexican culture and views while still trying to be accepted and fit into American society.  There was almost a shame of being Mexican there because not only did they have to deal with being different but they had to deal with the stereotypes of their culture, and the discrimination.  In Rodriguez’ memoir, he, towards the middle/end of the story, was being alienated from the Mexican culture, and being assimilated into the English one, while his parents were doing the reverse. Once his parents started speaking English to him at home, he learned it much quicker, but also forgot how to speak Spanish, though he still understood it. All this was happening while he was being accepted more and more into the English culture. His family friends and relatives would start calling him ‘Poncho’ meaning ‘colorless’.  Just because he became more assimilated in American culture he became more detached from his own, which is where his struggle lay. He wanted to still have that close family unit and didn’t want to assimilate, but didn’t have a choice, and once he did he was punished for it. 

Woman Hollering Creek

“Not that he wasn’t a good man. She has to remind herself why she loves him when she changes the baby’s Pampers, or when she mops the bathroom floor, or tries to make the curtains for the doorways without doors, or whiten the linen. Or wonder a little when he kicks the refrigerator and says he hates this shitty house and is going out where he won’t be bothered with the baby’s howling and her suspicious questions, and her requests to fix this and this and this because if she had any brains in her head she’d realize he’s been up before the rooster earning his living to pay for the food in her belly and the roof over her head and would have to wake up again early the next day so why can’t you just leave me in peace, woman.”

In this passage from Sandra Cisneros’ “Woman Hollering Creek”, Cleofilas, the main character, finds herself inspecting the life she’s been waiting for, and begins to realize that this is not at all what she expected. From the very beginning of the story, which at this point wasn’t very long ago, Cleofilas had wanted what the soap operas on TV said she would get with marriage: love, happiness, and a happy ending. Cisneros makes it blantly clear that that’s not what she got by stating that Cleofilas had to remind herself why she loved her husband. With a striking use of syntax, using only three sentences Cisneros has the sentences get longer and longer, much like her main character’s chore list, as she states all the things that she has to do, that he obviously doesn’t help with. The last sentence starts off with the story’s regular limited omniscient narrative voice that normally follows Cleofilas, but starts to look at her husband’s, Juan Pedro’s, point of view, and finally ends with his last thoughts of, “…why can’t you just leave me in peace, woman,” in first person, and did this effortlessly with a sort of stream-of-consciousness type feel to it. This odd and sudden shift of narrative in this passage helps get the reader get into the feeling of the characters relationship: it’s stressed, and incredibly tense. This knowledge helps propel the reader into the climax of the piece, only a few pages later.

               This passage is located in the Rising Action part of the story, where the author is now building anticipation for how bad things are for Cleofilas and her husband. At this point, it’s pretty crucial to provide good imagery to anchor a plight to a character and Cisneros does this by a really informal use of diction that creates a certain feeling in the reader. She creates this look of a run-down house wife trying to do her best with a ‘howling’ baby and a house that doesn’t even have doors for doorways. She makes this especially clear when she says that she “tries to make curtains”. Not only is Cleofilas an ill-appreciated house wife, have to take care of a baby all by herself, she has to make curtains to hang in the doorways. She also uses words like “howling” from the baby to make the reader visualize a baby screaming so bad the house is shaking. Also the authors non censored use of swear words makes the story that much more raw and real.  Cisneros didn’t have to use big words to create strong imagery like that.

               Cisneros’s theme throughout of the story of “Woman Hollering Creek” was one of disillusionment and empowerment. This passage plays a vital role in showing the disillusionment that Cleofilas has regarding her marriage and the move away from her family. Originally she thought he was the best thing to ever happen to her, and at this point, subconsciously she was really starting to doubt this while consciously she had to keep telling herself that it wasn’t his fault he was like that, or that he was treating her that way. No matter what happened, he was still her husband and she loved him. This passage was also the last of the disillusionment stage for her, and after this she starts to realize that she doesn’t have to put up with him anymore. What kind of effect does her run-on sentence structure of on the reader and the overall feel of the piece?

Journal #1- I Am Joaquin

At first, I won't lie, I didn't know really what I was reading and I wasn't sure how I felt about it and I defiantly didn't know how I was going to turn what I was reading into a journal. But now I do.

I feel like 'I Am Joaquin' was an anthem for the downtrodden indigenous; it was something that I can imagine being read at a Mexican-American culture festival. Throughout the poem the speaker seemed to rally the members of his culture and tell them that everything was going to be okay, and that since they have survived so much already, they can survive their ongoing and upcoming battles. I loved how he starts of at the early points of Mexican history and names people and how those people, as well as the rest of them, have endured through the tyranny and the revolution and all of the crap; how they stayed together even though things weren't looking too good. I love how he made a slight reference to the battles America has fought and how through those, he is a part of the American culture too. He then kind of glides off of the history of his people and into what feels like the war-cry part where he addresses all of the indigenous who have been screwed over in one way or another and how they endured, and how they will endure. Here is where I find my favorite passage.

It starts at the beginning of the sixth page with, "Here I stand," and ends a few lines before the end of the page with "by their greed and avarice". This whole section he is talking about how much stuff him and his people have had to go through and how many promises they've been cheated out on. He talks about how he has been treated for being a different minority. While, in other literature, you could expect this section to be sad and melancholy, but in this it is like a cry to arms. From the beginning he had been building intensity and then (once he got out of all those tricky historical references) the intensity is brought to a boil and he’s screaming out the injustices; and he’s angry. He’s basically saying that they didn’t deserve what had been handed to them, but in a way, they still win because they (unlike other less fortunate cultures) still have what makes them, them: their “art,” “literature”, and “music”, which the conquers didn’t touch because they thought it not worthy. Because they have still managed to retain these things, they win, and as long as they continue to retain these things, they will always win no matter what happens.

The strength and heart in this poem gets to me, which is why I find a really strong connection to it, which I feel like everyone can related to. Just because you’ve been beaten and bruised and pushed around, as long as you have onto the things that make you, you; you’ll win.