The theme that I have chosen works with religion and how that has influenced a characters life to the point where it is their life. Religion plays a huge role in Latino Culture and you can see that through the characters in each piece of Latino Literature that I have read. In each novel before, I have worked with characters that are Catholics. Catholicism plays a huge role in the novels but the island novels do not display the full characteristics of Catholicism. These two novels are different. They both display different types of religious traditions that affect the choices of certain characters. There Pentecostal tradition is represented in Bodega Dreams. This tradition represents more of an active environment that has people singing, yelling, and very upbeat. The character Blanca is the Pentecostal here who influences the main character Chino. The Santeria tradition, which is somewhat different from any Christian tradition, is represented in Dreaming in Cuban. It does represent some characteristics of Catholicism but it also has a mixture of other traditions. The character Felicia is influenced by this faith tradtion and has definitely changed her. These two traditions impact certain characters from the novels, which helps shape the role they play.
In Bodega Dreams, Blanca is a character that is Pentecostal. This Christian tradition is basically her life and she lives every day as if she were in the church. From the beginning of the novel to the end, her Pentecostal tradition has influenced who she is, how she acts, her marriage, and her responses to a husband who is a nonbeliever. Chino knew that religion was a big part of her life. His observation was clear when he says, “she always carried a Bible with her and never talked bad about anybody and at school she only hung around with her Pentecostal friend” (9). At a young age Blanca’s life has been directed towards the path of Christianity. Later on in the novel, Chino describes the church as Blanca’s source for anything. Chinos says, “her only source was the church,” and, “when Blanca grew up she never shook it but embraced God even more,” (63). Through thick and thin, Blanca always has and wants the church to support her. Blanca’s life is definitely run by her religion. Through Chino’s observations and her actions, the Pentecostal tradition has made Blanca’s life be filled with knowing that she can be saved.
In Dreaming in Cuban, we see a new kind of religious tradition. The tradition of Santeria, which is a mix of Yoruba, Catholicism, and West Indian Traditions, is seen through the character Felicia. This novel deals with characters that have some sort of mental illness. Felicia is a character that is depressed. It is to the point where she is going to kill her husband and son. This unstableness causes her to reach into the religious tradition of Santeria. It has calmed her. Towards the end of the novel, Felicia writes a note to Herminia saying that she wants to be buried as a Santera (214). A Santera is a full believer of Santeria that is a priestess. During the last section of the novel she is buried through the ritualistic process. Although Felicia does suffer from some mental illnesses, she does find peace through the tradition. It says that, “she finally found her peace” (188).” This means that through the tradition Felicia has done things in order to become at peace. It says that,“Felicia did everything she was supposed to as a novice Santera.”Her commitment to the religion was show as she practiced the rituals of the tradition.
The theme explored in these two novels presents characters that use religion to influence their lives. It is present within Blanca and Felicia. These characters use this to keep them going and help influence choices they make. In Bodega Dreams, Blanca is the one who integrates the Pentecostal tradition into her life and her marriage. Through her actions it is seen that the religion has taken ahold of what influences her life. In Dreaming in Cuban, Felicia is the one who embraces Santeria. Even though she has some mental illnesses and goes through several deathly missions, she ends up finding peace, through Santeria, towards the end of the novel. Her commitment to the religion demonstrates that she does want Santeria to influence her everyday decisions.
Tavo, it's been interesting to see how big of a role religion plays in each of the novels we've read for this class. However, looking at how the Pentecostal and Santeria traditions differ from the Catholicism of the first three books is kind of fun to see. Catholicism is more familiar to me, because I grew up in a small town with a prevalent Catholic church, but both the Pentecostal tradition and Santeria are pretty foreign to me.
ReplyDeleteSanteria was especially foreign as it has a lot of pagan rituals that involve sacrificing the blood of special animals for different occasions. This blood cleanses Felicia (like Jesus' blood!), though, and helps her to find a purpose of her life despite her depression, so in a way Santeria still functions in a similar way to Christianity.
Tavo, I'm also writing my paper on religion, and I found it interesting how we touched on many of the same issues--but also came at them from somewhat different angles. In your's, you began by noticing the distance of the religious traditions in relation to Catholicism in these two examples of Island literature. I also found this leap to be very interesting, and I was glad to see books that represented some alternative examples of Latino religious identity.
ReplyDeleteI also really appreciated your description of Santeria, and how you connected this with "Dreaming in Cuban." It's really interesting to see how none of these books can really "escape" the influence or the deep impact of religion.
Tavo, I too think it has been very interesting to look at the role religion plays in each novel we’ve read so far. Perhaps the most interesting part, for me, is seeing the syncretism present in each setting, the way the traditional culture is tied in with the imported religion that has become dominant.
ReplyDeleteI wonder though, about how similar these characters are. As you point out, they are completely taken over by their religious beliefs, to the point that it runs their life. And despite the fact that these are extremely different religions, there are some parallels between how they act because of their faith. It isolates them from some around them they care about, yet fulfills them in ways those around them cannot. Religion is both syncratic and discordant.
Tavo, you do a great job of describing the ways in which Blanca is captivated by Pentecostal Christianity and the ways in which Felicita turns to Santeria to give her life meaning. I agree that they are both so committed to the religion that it influences their daily lives. But by observing this, what do we learn about the importance of religion in these novels? Without sacrificing an appreciation for the distinctiveness of each religion in the various contexts, is there a meaningful generalization you could make about the role of religion in the lives of a select group of characters from these novels? Lewis' last three sentences above offer an example of how you might do that.
ReplyDelete