Breaking Molds
Breaking Molds We are what we are taught. A young child speaks because he is spoken to. As he grows, those things he is taught determine what he speaks. Who is teaching our children? Whose voice do they use? The answer to this question is a simple one in the early years of childhood: The family. But as the child grows, he will come in contact with many different teachers. These instructors vary from the expectations society places on a child to the personal experiences that child faces throughout his years. Each of these influences molds the child slightly, but indefinitely, leaving nicks that alter the final sculptor of a being. With just a glance, the sculptor can never be fully appreciated. One must take a long look at not only the end product, but at all the nicks and cuts that define it. Likewise people are often misunderstood. It takes time to see past our own judgments, and grasp the whole individual, where they come from, and what they have been through. In literature there is a shortcut called the “journey motif.” This is a style widely adopted in the purpose of explaining a character. It permits us to grow along side of him and understand him as a childhood friend would. Sandra Cisneros allows us to witness this kind of in depth character growth in her story collection, Woman Hollering Creek. Numerous pieces of Chicano literature focus on development through the overcoming of obstacles. I believe this reoccurring theme comes from something rooted deep in Chicano writers: Becoming. Not only becoming, but becoming despite it all. Despite the borders of separation. Despite the restrictions placed on one. Despite the antagonizing cultural conflicts -- despite it all. Cisneros’ collection beautifully illustrates the process of becoming as it reads from front to back like an innocent child being changed by family traditions, society, and personal experiences. When striving to comprehend someone completely, we must first see where he or she comes from. A father holds clay in his sturdy, tired hands. With a vision of greatness, he slowly begins to mold traditions from his father and his father’s father into his creation. He molds it the only way he knows how, the way he was taught. He passes down beliefs, thoughts, knowledge, and opinions. He spends a great amount of time with the clay, for it is delicate and could very easily be reshaped into an unrecognizable figure. Even when the child is out of their supervision, parents instill a sense of duty to the mold in which they agree with. In Rudolfo Anaya’s book, Bless Me Ultima, Antonio is a young boy who heads off to his first day of school with his mother’s words fresh in his mind, “remember you are a Luna…”(53) They have prepared him for this day and trust him to bring honor to the family. A naďve boy is sent to the world with so much responsibility yet with just the limited knowledge his father has given him. Cisneros addresses a similar idea in her story, “Eleven”, which appears toward the beginning of her collection. An eleven-year-old girl feels the expectations placed on her to handle situations much more maturely than she would have at age seven or eight. She is conflicted between the need to live up to this standard, and her innocent emotions of not feeling adequate.