Living Between Two Cultures: A Digital Literature Discussion of Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez
In our work as Latina teacher educators, we prepare teachers to be successful literacy educators in a multilingual world. In our teaching, we use high quality children’s and adolescent literature in order to invite our students to read multiculturally (Hade, 1997). That is, through small group and whole class literature discussions, we engage pre-service and in-service teachers to make personal connections with the literature and to take a critical stance to explore questions that often reveal the many sociopolitical forces shaping the education of minority students in the United States. These include interpreting signs of power, race, class, and equity, among others, as they are represented in the literature.
In the past, we have selected books that address some of the familiar challenges encountered by recent immigrants to the United States, including the process of adapting to a new schooling practices and language learner. We have also used books that describe the day-to-day complexities of living in between two cultures from the perspective of cultural insiders. Examples include A Step from Heaven by An Na (2001), Tangled Threads by Pegi Deitz Shea (2003) or Behind the Mountains by Edwidge Danticat (2002)
This semester, Carmen and Andrea have planned for a Digital Literature Discussion Project with students enrolled in a graduate teacher preparation program in New York, and in an undergraduate program in Texas. During the month of March, our WOW Current posts will help to facilitate an online literature discussion of Return to Sender. This latest book by outstanding Latina writer Julia Alvarez, was recently announced as the recipient of the American Library Association’s prestigious Pura Belpré Award, which every year recognizes excellence in children and adolescent literature that “best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience.” Our collaboration for this project started months before the first class in our courses, as we read newly released novels and discussed possible books to use with our students. The decision to select Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez was an easy one. It was one of the books that we were carefully considering for our work and the recognition with the Pura Belpré Award validated our selection criteria. We wanted a novel that would present an authentic, relevant, engaging, and contemporary story about the issues facing minority families in the United States as they navigate their new cultural landscapes. In Return to Sender, Alvarez tells the story of two families struggling to survive: a migrant Mexican family and a Vermont family trying to save their farm. (Listen to Julia Alvarez on Vermont Public Radio discuss her book and talk about the inspiration behind the story.)
On February 23 and 25, we each had our first literature discussion in class. Using the literature response strategy Graffiti Board (Short, Harste, Burke, 1995), the students were invited to share their initial responses, connections, wonderings and questions to the book. In their Graffiti Boards, the students identified an illustrated numerous poignant experiences shared by the main characters in the book, Tyler, an 11 year-old growing up in a farm in Vermont, and Mari, an 11 year-old daughter of an undocumented Mexican migrant worker. The students’ responses captured in great detail their initial exploration about issues related to the phenomenon that Igoa (1995) calls “uprooting,” living in a new place, in a whole new culture with a whole new language, after having left behind the world you came to know as yours.
For our first WOW Current post, we invite readers to respond to Alvarez’s take on her own identity as it informs the experiences of her characters, Tyler and Mari in the Return to Sender. Alvarez is quoted as describing herself as a "Dominican, hyphen, American." She believes that, "As a fiction writer, I find that the most exciting things happen in the realm of that hyphen -- the place where two worlds collide or blend together." For our first discussion, we would like to pose the following guiding questions:
• What does this “hyphen” mean to Mari and for Tyler in the story? What does it mean to their families? • How are Tyler and Mari actively involved in defining their role, their identity, their sense of self and place in between two cultures? • What does this “hyphen” mean to you as a reader?
Enjoy the conversation!
References
Hade, D. (1997). Reading multiculturally. In V. Harris (Ed.) Using multiethnic literature in the K-8 classroom (pp. 233-256). Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon.
Igoa, C. (1995). The inner world of the immigrant child. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Short, K.G. & Harste, J., with Burke, C. (1995). Creating Classrooms for Authors and Inquirers. (2nd ed.) Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Please visit wowlit.org to browse or search our growing database of books, to read one of our two on-line journals, or to learn more about our mission.
Ryan #45- I agree with Ryan in saying that the hyphen does in fact neglect that she is a person. Mari and Tyler are more then their culture. Although their culture divides them in that they have two different lives it also connects them. The hyphen does take away the importance in their lives in that they are a person. A person cant be defined as their culture. Their culture helps define who they are but they are a lot more then their culture.
Carlos #48-
For Mari’s family it means that there will be division and a constant form of tension. For Tylers family I feel that the hyphen is something that they will simply discuss, but never fully experience.
I agree with this because Tyler and his family can never understand what the hyphen truly means- what it means to be divided culturally. Although they take in Mari and her family they dont understand how it is to live in the fear they had too. The hyphen has two different meanings for the families. Maris family has the hypen to represent how divided they actually are and the fear they are constantly living in.
It is interesting to note that, for Tyler (and thus white American culture at large) this hyphen is really more of a source of conflict between acceptance of different cultures and bigotry and prejudice. Mari and Tyler are both actively engaged in working to promote cultural acceptance, but more importantly are motivated by a developing conscious between right and wrong. Both individuals question the status quo (and enact changes if they can. The true triumph in the lives of these young people is their developed moral compass.
I agree with both comments made by Ryan, about Mari. She was able to point out to her sisters that there is more to the hyphen than a mere label. Being Mexican was part of their heritage, and would always be part of them, no matter what they chose to believe, but they were also American. The flowers and the roots was a very strong metaphorical representation that served its purpose. I also agree that Amserican society as a whole has a tendency to overlook the beauty of embracing more than one culture, rather than foresaking one for the other.
Although I was born in the US and raised in Haiti, I always considered my self as Haitian. The hyphen represent where both my Haitian world and American world unit together. The hyphen brings both of my worlds together and helps me to embrace both cultures without feeling any sense of betrayal to my native country. My father always remind me that I am Haitian first and American second whenever we are having a discussion about both culture. I always referred myself as Haitian-American, maybe it's because I always want people to know I am Haitian first. You always want to stay true to where you came from. The hyphen gave me a sense of security of knowing that I am staying loyal to both countries and not feeling any sense of betrayal. I am tried my best to always remind myself that I am a Haitian-American everyday, and the hyphen between the two plays a major part. In that hyphen both worlds are joined together and I am able to do things as an American and Haitian. I think without that hyphen maybe I will have felt that I am betraying one of these cultures
Amy #30. I agree with her post, when you are married you joined your name and husband with the most part with a hyphen. You don't want to loose the person you are although you accept to be another person; you kind of want to build a bridge where both worlds could unit. Mary in the story doesn't want to loose or forget where she came from because she will feel as if she is been a traitor.
I somewhat disagreed with Ryan#45 as far as the hyphen neglect the fact that Mari is a person and that they are more than cultures. To me your culture is what define you somewhat and make you stick out from someone else. Being of Haitian decendent define me as a person. Our different cultures and backgrounds make us who we are. The hyphen just connect both worlds and make them intertwined.
There are many different uses for a hyphen in modern socitey in comparison to ancient times. I believe that any way a person wants to be identified either with names or races/ethnicities should be accepted and most importantly, respected. It reflects how people want to be identified and what is valued and important to them alone. This is true for both Tyler and Maria's family.
The hyphen is a point of contention. Mari is proud of her Mexican heritage, while Tyler wishes she could be more normal so that his friends wont make fun of him. For Tyler, the hyphen is all Mari's characteristics that he is embarrassed about. The "hyphen" is a constant reminder of his parents' illegal employees, and the different cultures they possess. Mari holds on to her hyphen to remind her of who she really is,and what she can't forget about.
Mari is trying to find her identity. She struggles with she was born in Mexico, but mostly raised in the US. She seems to find that she is split down the middle and not belonging to just one culture. Tyler on the other hand knows he is an American and at one point he thought that Mari and her family shouldn’t be their without papers. It was braking the law and against being an American. Later he understands more and feels differently about the situation.
I believe the hyphen is used to publicly demonstrate a person's racial identity or recognize the family with which they belong. When the hyphen is used by an individual to identify themself, they are demanding respect and acknowledgement of who they are racially, culturally, and showing the pride of their family. As people come together through marriage and relocations, the blending of cultures creates new hyphens. How this blending is accepted is where the fun and the conflicts arise.
As a reader, the hyphen meant the elephant in the room that no one wanted to discuss much less have to address if the situation took a turn for the worse. I also think the hyphen can be all of the in between parts, the events that help shape an individual and learning from these lessons, a work in progress.
The hypen, in my mind, are all of the in between parts, the little things that make us who we are. What name do we use to call our father or mother. What is traditional food to eat on Sunday for family gatherings. Things like that are small, but so very significant.
I think Tyler and Mari's hyphens are where their cultures collide and mesh. Tyler and Mari learn many things from each other, but I think one of the most important lesson was what it means to be a human being. Tyler struggled with this and the differences between right and wrong.
In the beginning, Tyler struggles with what is legal and what is right. He is mad a Mari for not having the papers she is supposed to have and refuses to talk to her, but then he decides that it is not her fault that her Mama and Papa made her come to the United States. He believes that the United States should allow the Mexicans to be here and is made at his country for turning it's back on it's neighbor.
Mari is no sure where she belongs. She knows that she was born in Mexico but she feels like she deserves to be in the United States as her family cannot survive in Mexico. She struggles with this concept through out the whole story!
I see a hyphen as a place to come together. Tyler and Mari found a place where they were not just their culture, but they were kids. In many aspects I feel that our culture makes us who we are, but I believe at the deepest root we are all humans. Tyler and Mari were children who connected as children often do over common interests. Beyond the hyphen they were able to share their own life experiences with each other, which I think helped each grow as individuals, but the hyphen is where the differences didn't matter so much.
I also think the hyphen is where Tyler and Mari shared common things like age, grade, and interests. When all the uncertainties were worked out they were two kids who became special friends and grew in acceptance because of their differences.