Identity Search

            The book Bodega Dreams by Ernesto Quiñonez takes place in El Barrio, the section of New York City where many Puerto Ricans live.  Even though Chino, the main character, has experiences much different from those in the Mexican texts we’ve read in this class so far, it’s interesting to see how the search for self-identity is a theme that is carried on through most of our readings.  In the Mexican literature, defining self had much to do with finding a place in white American society while also learning to retain Mexican heritage and values.  This is also a problem Chino faces in Bodega Dreams, although he has to cross different borders than the physical and familial ones addressed by Bless Me, Ultima, The Guardians, and The Devil’s Highway.  Chino, instead, must learn how to deal with keeping up appearances with his old ‘pana’ Sapo and his boss Willie Bodega, along with his pregnant wife, Blanca.  Even though Chino becomes involved with Bodega in order to help Blanca and his family, it ends up backfiring on him after Blanca can’t stand being left in the dark whenever Chino makes a family decision.  Chino, then, ends up having identity conflict between how he wants to appear to his friends and his wife. 

Aurora Levins Morales

            A similar identity search can be seen in Aurora Levins Morales, one of the Puerto Rican poets whose poem “Child of the Americas” we read for class.  In this poem, she reveals her search for sense of self as both a Puerto Rican and an American, even though she isn’t fully part of either culture. In the same way, she not only looks at herself as a writer, but also sees herself as an “activist, a healer, a revolutionary.”  Despite having these dreams, she has a chronic disability that keeps her from traveling extensively.  Because of this, she cannot pursue all of these self-ideals, but instead has to learn to live with the recurring theme of a split identity.