Global Expression in Multicultural Literature: Motivation

About Me

My name is Suzanne Parker-Camarena. I am from Utah and currently reside in Arizona. I am a wife to my husband and mother to our four children and “mother-lady” to my husband’s two daughters from his first marriage. I am also owned by three cats of the feline persuasion. I am a student at Grand Canyon University pursuing a Bachelor of Arts Degree with an emphasis on Professional Writing. My current course of study is Multicultural Literature. Multicultural literature is a genre of writing that is inclusive of all cultures in the world, whether they be national, religious, or language, etc. To considered global literature, the writings, feelings, and meanings are able to be related across cultural differences to draw the reader into the experience. An example of Multicultural Literature is taken from “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid:

"...this is how you sweep a corner; this is how you sweep a whole house; this is how you sweep a yard; this is how you smile to someone you don't like too much; this is how you smile to someone you don't like at all; this is how you smile to someone you like completely..."

It reminded me of how my husband's very traditional Mexican mother used to speak to her older grandchildren when they would visit her. Even as the sentence never ends in Kincaid's work, Grandma would go on and on, at times, barely seeming to take a breath between admonishments.

Multicultural Literature also blurs national boundaries by creating an avenue for all people to learn of different cultures other than their own and finding a way to possibly relate or understand more of each other. Kincaid was able to accomplish this as well because I could relate to her narrative and understand the never-ending admonitions she was listening to from who I believe to be the elder women in her life. After being reminded repeatedly to not behave like a slut, the girl questions at the very end if the baker will actually let her squeeze the loaf of bread and the response she receives made me laugh out loud because I remember hearing the same warnings and conclusions. This was the response: "...you mean to say after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won't let near the bread?"

20^th century literature related so well the many struggles we all faced for cultural identity and the ability to understand others and more of ourselves. It covers topics of religious struggle, female rights, cultural bias, extermination, and thankfully, rebirth, strength, and determination to not just survive, but thrive. The examples listed in my blog entries below are just a fraction of the global literature available to immerse oneself in. My opinions are my own and I hope in no way dissuade the reader from forming their own. It is a journey that is well worth the effort.

Sunday, December 10, 2017

Motivation

What motivates you? Do we all share the same motivation?

There is motivation to do good things and vice versa. At times it seems as though we are two different people.

Both stories from this week are unsettling to a very large degree and illustrate this. The theme I chose was how one self relates to the other. In Borowski's “This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentleman,” he describes the horrifying nonchalance of Henri while going to the ramp to unload the trainloads of people. He reflects back to the camp rule, "...people going to their death must be deceived to the very end. This is the only permissible form of charity." He has lived in a state of horror that has become an ideal, staying at the camp, watching the others waste away, only to experience the atrocity of unloading the trains, stealing from the passengers, and sending them to a certain death. His own true reality is revealed even more when having to unload the stacks of "still steaming" dead bodies, and not all were dead yet. When comparing the camp to the ramp, his actual self collides with the self he has had to create to cope with his ultimately terminal state of being.

In Lispector's “The Daydreams of a Drunk Woman”, her relation to her self borders on psychedelic. She muses, "She was no longer a lobster, but a harsher sign--that of the scorpion. After all, she had been born in November." She was so bored, unhappy, and angry with who she had become, her statement of herself bordered on ho-hum.

The two are different extremes of identity of self. Lispector's drunk is carelessly driving into a wall of self-destruction, while Borowski's concentration camp inmate is being relentlessly driven to the same catastrophe of someone else’s doing.

Celan's repetition and metaphor in "Deathfugue" reminded me of the unit on Native American literature. It seems to have a rhythm or chant-like quality. The fugue is a dance like a tango. As I read it, I imagined it as such. There are many layers to his poetry; the lack of punctuation, the repetition, the use of the German language as the poem goes on. Celan uses these tools to create an experience. While it was mesmerizing, I was anxious to finish it because it was very disturbing.

Amichai's 'Jerusalem" required some background for me to appreciate. Jerusalem was divided by a wall and Amichai was painting a picture of what is was like to live that way. In the last stanza, he talks of flags:

"We have put up many flags,

they have put up many flags.

To make us think that they're happy.

To make them think that we're happy."

Echoes of each other in action and voice. To compare them is to consider them as vivid imagery, but Amichai's seem more current, while Celan's were poignant--almost a cry for help.

VIEW, READ & DISCUSS:

A Short Summary of the Holocaust

Holocaust Survivor Gives a Talk

APPLY:

Use these tips and ideas to discuss the different types of motivation. Why do we do what we do?

Top 10 Motivation Tips for the Classroom

Motivating the Unmotivated

What Motivates You?