Integration Essay-Religion in Characters

Religion is a huge part of the Latino Culture. It affects the people and their everyday lives. It influences them to make choices and decisions that are based in their relationship with God. The main religion in the Latino Culture is Christianity and the most common tradition of Christianity is Catholicism. There are also Evangelical traditions practiced. Latinos practice Christianity but how does it affect their lives? Religion can be the main influence in someone’s life. It can be to the point that it will actually run their life completely. Every word, move, or action that takes place can be all about Jesus Christo or La Virgen de Guadalupe. This is not the case for all Latinos but there are some that do have a lifestyle like this. If they do not, they at least recognize the fact that they are Christian. Therefore they practice their faith traditions. I want to explore how religion affects Latinos in the Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Dominican cultural groups. Three novels will be the basis of the research with each novel being in the three cultural groups. A character will be explored that demonstrates how religion has influence their lives to the point where it is or will be the basis of who they are. Bless Me, Ultima, provides the character Antonio who is influenced so much to become a priest in the Catholic Church. At a young age, Antonio thinks and wonders if being a priest is for him. This novel brings in insight to religion through the family and Antonio in the Mexican Culture. Bodega Dreams is a Puerto Rican novel that provides the Character Blanca. She is a Pentecostal who lives and dies by the word of the lord. Since she was a young girl, her life was already given to her faith. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a Dominican novel that brings the character La Inca. The novel is a bit different than the other two. It does provide a character that shows that she is in her faith but it doesn’t provide how an in-depth look into how religion is the basis of her life. It provides a snippet of Catholicism through prayer. These three characters will be explored to demonstrate how religion is the basis of their lives.

             Religious identity serves a big role in Antonio’s life. So much so, that it is a role-player in understanding his self-identity. Antonio is one child who is willing to let Catholicism lead his life. His mother influences him to become a priest, which is a tradition within the Luna family. The males take part in Catholicism by becoming priest. His mother’s influence has so much control where it causes the family to move in the city for Antonio to educate himself. There are many factors that play a role in his growth as a person. His family, friends, and Ultima all have an effect on his decisions. It makes him wonder whether being a priest is his destiny. He goes through different experiences that influence his decision. A scene in the novel shows Antonio pretending to be a priest. Many kids are going to him so he can be their confessor. The kids confess their sins and he puts forgiveness onto their souls. At this point, Antonio has power. However, when Florence confesses that he has no sins, Antonio also forgives him. The other kids are not pleased because Florence doesn’t believe in any God. They beat up Antonio for forgiving Florence’s sin. Antonio’s life and his religious identity are being questioned. It does take a part of who Antonio is. This action that Antonio has done has caused some thoughts to run through. Florence, Antonio’s friend, says, “You could never be a priest,” (Anaya 227). After this Antonio goes on to his first confession which he has been waiting for. He agrees with the statement saying no. This signifies that at this moment, Antonio doesn’t know if being a priest is what is best for him.

            Another experience that helps influence his destiny is the scene at the Golden Carp which is a non-Christian belief. Antonio is told the story of the Golden Carp and sees the carp in the water. He is amazed at what feelings he gets that it causes him to think about his own God in the Catholic Church. He says, “I had witnessed a miraculous thing,” and “and I though the power of God failed,” (Anaya 119). At this moment, he believes that maybe God’s power isn’t all that powerful and that Ultima or the Golden Carp have powers that are not recognized in the church. His mind is being scattered by the experiences he goes through as a young child.

Antonio is a young boy and his destiny is still unwritten. In regards to becoming a priest, he will soon find out whether it is what he was meant to do. Being a priest does take a process of mental and physical growth. In an article by Dominick D. Hankle, he states that being a priest requires a transitioning phase that “needs to make shift so that the participant could believe this is what he was to become,” (Hankle 210). Many priest or soon-to-be priest were interviewed and asked questions about what they thought about priesthood and what influenced them to choose priesthood. The most important comments that were said were under the theme: developing an understanding of what it meant to be a priest. One priest comments that he, “wants to become some man of God, man of the Church, and so it was slowly, for me, the way god worked with me as slowly clarifying what that meant,” (Hankle 211). This sounds like what Antonio is going through. He wants to be a man of God and this process of experiencing other events is slowly clarifying whether he is to become a priest or not.

Blanca is a Christian in the Pentecostal denomination. The Pentecostal tradition is a religion of the people in the Hispanic Culture (Santiago-Vendrell 136). In an article by Santiago-Vendrell on popular religion, he states that the Pentecostal people “experience their faith as a living encounter with the Spirit of Life,” (Santiago-Vendrell 136). He also states that Pentecostalism is “an oral religion that enables its participants to share in communal experiences with liberty and joyfulness,” (Santiago-Vendrell 136). He later goes on to talk about how singing and testifying is a huge part of the faith tradition. Looking at Blanca, the Pentecostal faith definitely is shown through her actions. She sings, attends church, and was part of the church tambourine group. In her marriage with Chino, she tries to put her faith into his life since he is a non-believer. This annoyes her husband but she did not care because she wants him to be saved. She cannot control what her faith wants. It all starts off when she was a young girl in school. Religion was a big part of her life then as it is now. Chino’s 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” (Quinonez 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,” (Quinonez 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. Blanca is a prime example of how the Christian tradition has made her life the way it is.

            La Inca is a strong character in the Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Her daughter, Beli, seemed to ignore her mother and go against what La Inca wanted. However, like any mother, she would always be there for her somewhat rebellious daughter. Her daughter has gotten into some trouble with the Trujillo family. Trujillo is the dictator of the Dominican Republic during this time and Beli has been in an affair with a member of the family. The Gangster is what they called him and he was married to Trujillo’s sister. This caused the beating of Beli and the death of her unborn baby. During the time of her beating, La Inca gathers a prayer group to her house and prays the rosary all night. After some time, it is just La Inca and her neighbor. In Catholicism, the rosary is a significant prayer. Many believers pray the rosary every day. Mary is a very important figure in the church. For all Catholics, they hold her at a high status alongside with Jesus. Women hold her to an even higher status calling her the “Queen of Peace, Mother of the Universe, and most importantly, Mother of Christ,” (Carso 49). In an article by Paola Carso in the U.S. Catholic, she writes that “if we can’t pray to her, to whom can we pray” (Carso 49). This statement signifies the importance of Mary in the Catholic tradition. The article goes on to talk about how important the rosary is to the hard working class of women. They use the rosary to “allow the hands to be moved by the spirit” (Carso 49). La Inca is a hard working class woman who prays the rosary to give her peace when she is in a struggle. Her daughter is nearly beaten to death and La Inca has no idea what is happening to her. Her only resort was to call a prayer group and do the rosary. Diaz writes that, “she did what many women of her background would have done. Posted herself beside her portrait of La Virgen and prayed” (Diaz 144). There is a vivid image of La Inca holding the rosary through her fingers, “like line flying through a doomed fisherman’s hands,” (Diaz 144). The praying session is very intense with many women in the group. When looking at La Inca, there is an image of strong woman praying the rosary because the rosary is mad for the hard working class people. Women hold her to a high status and that is what La Inca does.

            These three different characters have a different use of religion in their lives. Antonio uses religion to influence his decision on becoming a priest in the Catholic Church. Being a priest means that religion is your life and nothing else. Blanca is a joyous Pentecostal who has been into her faith tradition since she was a young girl. Everything she does is by her faith and she tries to put that into Chino’s life. The church is her life. La Inca is a bit different that the other two. The scene of her praying the rosary shows that she believes that Mary is a source of healing. There is a special connection because La Inca is a woman. Her praying group is filled with women. La Virgen is the symbol in which a hard-working La Inca believes in. In each of these three Latino Cultures, they present someone who represents religion in their own cultural way. The use religion differently in their own lives but all use religion as the basis of what they do.


Sources: 
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya 
Bodega Dreams by Ernesto Quinonez
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz 

Carso, Paolo. "Take Prayer Into Your Own Hands." U.S. Catholic. Oct 2003: 49. Print.

Hankle, Dominick. "The Psychological Processes of Discerning the Vocation to the Catholic Priesthood: A Qualitative Study." Pastoral Psychology. 59.2 (2010): 201-219. Web. 15 Apr. 2012.

Santiago-Vendrell, Angel. "Popular Religion as a Unifying Factor in the Latino/a Religous Community: A Pentecostal Proposal in US Latino/a Ecumenical Theology." Journal of Pentecostal Theology. 12.1 n. page. Print.

Oscar Wao

It is amazing to see Oscar finally getting the wish of being in a relationship, which ultimately gets him killed. His whole life has been one big dream of being in love with the one girl. There are numerous times where he is hurt because of the false hopes he receives with women. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't find someone to love him back. You would think that he would realize that maybe there is something about him that isn't appealing for a woman to love him back. Yunior recognizes the fact that Oscar needs to change his image from the inside out. He tries to get Oscar to be more like him, someone who can get chicks and have a good time. Oscar gives up. At this moment, he realizes who he really is. He is a big guy who loves science fiction.

Why isn't it okay for Oscar to be the way he is? Why does he have to be this macho man who can score chicks? Although he does want to score chicks, he is not a Yunior. He is not the Dominican who is a womanizer, a charmer, and a sweet talker. Oscar is not the stereotypical Dominican male and because of this, he is not accepted. He doesn't have the game to get with many ladies and people will not accept the fact that he is this loser. That says something about the Latino Culture. I see the same thing in the Mexican Culture. It's not just woman that is a part of a man's life but it's his lifestyle, his toughness, and his "machoness". Oscar doesn't possess these qualities but he does know who he is.  He understands what kind of guy he is and the great thing to know is that he understands that he will always be a Dominican.

Why does he want a lover so bad? His Dominican culture is the reason why he wants a lover. Oscar knows that Dominicans are to love women. When he was a boy he had two chicks, not one, but two of them. He had the pretty girl and the ugly girl. His uncle pushed him on a girl to dance with and he went with it. Oscar had the qualities of a stereotypical Dominican. He had swag, game, girls, and confidence. In a matter of a week he lost all of that. It has haunted him for the rest of his life but he still wants to possess what he once had.  He wants that machismo back. Oscar just cannot physically get it back. Eventually, his desire gets him killed. One thing that  dies seem like a positive is the "final letter." It does seem that he died a happy man. He finally had sex and it was the best thing he has every experienced.

Looking at this novel as a mirror, I can understand the entire machismo in Latino Culture. I was always told never to cry, don't let anyone mess with you, get as much girls as you can, and marry a beautiful lady to do all the chores for you. If you are a Latino man, you will experience this in one way or another.