…And the Earth Did Not Devour Him : They’ve Got Something to Lose

1. …And the Earth Did Not Devour Him: They’ve Got Something to Lose Feraco SFHP 19 March 2008

2. What’s In Store? • “Layered stories and sketches portray a Mexican-American migrant community.” • Ramon Saldivar: “It’s a major document of Chicano social and literary history.” • Twenty-seven stories, including the two framing stories (“The Lost Year” and “Under the House”)

3. A Word from the Translator There's a lot of beautiful poetry in Tomás Rivera's novel, you'll find. You know, even though it's a very harsh experience that the book conveys -- you know, pain, suffering, the sun bearing down on the people as they're working -- there are moments that are refreshing, and inspiring, like little fleeting swirls of beauty. Like, for example, when [the child] goes out into the silvery night. It is magical. -Evangelina Vigil-Piñón

4. Another Word From a literary point of view ... this is a very, very sophisticated book. Not only is it poetic, not only is the language poetic, but also the devices of plot construction and perspective are very, very highly literary and belong to the new novel. They belong to what people have assumed is the Latin American boom, where the reader is expected to construct the narrative. So there are all kinds of clues in the book that lead the reader to piece together who is speaking at what time, what it means, what are the relationships of the characters, so this becomes somewhat of an artistic literary puzzle. - Nicolás Kanellos

5. Why Are We Reading This? • Why is And the Earth Did Not Devour Him a good choice for high school students?And the Earth Did Not Devour Him is a great book to teach in high school especially, because at this point in the life of a young person, they're trying to find out who they are. There are all kinds of pressures, and emotions, and growing pains that we try to make sense of -- the protagonist has to piece together his identity from bits and pieces of overheard dialogue, from personal experiences, from imaginings, from stories that other people tell. It's really like what happens in the real world, that you never get the full story. - NK

6. Who Are We Reading About? • The term “Chicano” – as in “Chicano literature” – refers to Americans of Mexican descent • Rivera was born in Crystal City, TX; his parents were migrant workers • “Many Mexicans and Chicanos provide labor for farmers throughout the United States, particularly in the West and Midwest. The work is seasonal, exhausting, and pays very low wages…Many migrant workers still toil under oppressive conditions similar to those experienced by the [characters] in Rivera's novel.” -paraphrased from Annenberg

7. What Are We Reading About? • …And the Earth Did Not Devour Him is a response to certain realities of Chicano life – and the result of them as well • Rivera focuses particularly closely on the lives of Chicanos serving as migrant agricultural workers during World War II and up through the 1960s

8. Bracero Program • Took place in 1942 – shortly before the action in Rivera’s novel “begins” • The U.S. and Mexican governments instituted a set of labor laws intended to provide fair treatment for Mexican nationals recruited to work in the U.S. • These laborers were, in part, taking the place of U.S. workers lost to World Wars I and II • The program didn’t protect the workers fully, and they were often exploited. - paraphrased from Annenberg

9. Biography vs. Fiction “Some try to see in this book a biography of Tomás Rivera. Well, [like] any author, Tomás Rivera included incidents from his life, characters from his life are woven, but in no way was this a biography…He knew that he was constructing something that was in the mainstream of avant-garde literature at the time that he was writing. And he saw the world that way. So it was in no way an autobiography. The main character is not Tomás. It's a broad interpretation of the struggles of migrant workers, Mexican Americans, other ethnic groups that need to find themselves in a minority culture. It has epic dimensions…”

10. Biography vs. Fiction II “Many people have called this the Chicano Grapes of Wrath. And the same kinds of historical background that tell us about the dustbowl, and what John Steinbeck documented through The Grapes of Wrath, is here. We have that background. And, in fact, not only do we have that background historically, we have it today. Because all of these issues, and all of these trends in immigration, and farm labor, and unionizing labor, and poor schooling for migrant workers -- and for poor kids -- still exist in this country.” - Kanellos

11. The Beginning of a Tradition • It was one of only a few novels in print about Chicanos in this country at the time (late ‘60s/early ’70s) • Rivera wasn’t even aware of most of these when he was writing – or of a tradition of Chicano extended fictional writing

12. More Kanellos Tomás Rivera had been writing before the official Chicano movement got underway (which historians and scholars place around 1965), when Cesar Chavez organized farm workers in California, and tried to unionize them. Along with that unionizing came the birth of the El Teatro Campesino, with Luis Valdez, who very much developed a farm worker theater and took it around the country and popularized this new kind of literature that used the language of the people. It also had a political message along with the civil rights movement and protests against Vietnam.

13. More Kanellos II In the late 1960s, some professors from the University of California, Berkeley, began publishing a very, very important magazine called El Grito, and published the first really kind of academically respected anthology of Chicano literature called El Espejo, The Mirror. Then they founded their publishing house, called El Quinto Sol. So in 1970, they started giving the award for the best Chicano literature, one award per year, and the first award they gave was to And the Earth Did Not Devour Him, by Tomás Rivera.

14. Breaking New Ground • He was writing in a vacuum, so to speak – without a novelistic or fictional tradition to orient himself • While he drew on the traditions Kanellos just mentioned, it’s important to remember that Rivera is breaking new ground here • The result is something largely new – and something incredibly influential • Rivera helped bring his narrative style into the mainstream with And the Earth Did Not Devour Him

15. Wordplay • One of the aspects of Rivera’s work that people struggle with at first is the narrative style • The narrative isn’t expository (based on detailed linear and realistic explanations) • It’s based more on sensory impressions and subjective descriptions

16. Snapshots • Within this narrative framework, conventions that we’ve grown accustomed to – linear chronological development of a plot, for example – fall away • This means you get snapshots of dialogue and thoughts / perceptions rather than a traditional “story” • This narrative style, similar to stream-of-consciousness writing, is called fragmentation.

17. What Does That All Mean? • However, this isn’t to say that Rivera abandons plot and convention entirely; every story with a title has a definite plot and narrative style • Rivera even experiments with different voices throughout the novel • The scene at the end where the voices from his stories blend together is amazing

18. We Speak in Different Voices • Rivera wrote about the people – la gente • The book is clearly influenced by the oral tradition – the practice of passing along knowledge and entertainment through direct human interaction, face to face • This concentration on multiple voices helps to connect the novel to the traditions we mentioned earlier • It also emphasizes that the book is about a community (and communal experience) rather than a traditional protagonist/antagonist pairing

19. The Space Between • The larger story itself is framed by the opening and closing sections, in which we are aware of a young boy who has lost everything • What could he represent?

20. An Emerging Awareness • In many ways, he represents the developing Chicano/migrant community – lacking self-awareness, struggling to understand itself through experience, unaware of its power • This is a community in search of its identity; it needs an idea of what that is • The book is about that struggle to understand; if the boy can begin to remember what he has forgotten, perhaps the community can come together in solidarity – and protect one another in a world that abuses them

21. A Communal History • The tales and vignettes between the framing stories take place in seemingly unrelated places and unspecified points in time • These stories allegorically depict twelve months’ (one year’s) worth of collective migrant experiences – and the novel serves as a communal history, covering the lives, loves, and losses of oft-forgotten men and women

22. Deep Concerns • The novel is deeply concerned with exploitation, injustice, and oppression, whether it be economic, social, or spiritual in nature • As a result, “And the Earth Did Not Devour Him” also functions as a memorial to, and reconstitution of, the “forgotten history of a people’s oppression and struggles” – and as an eruption of America’s suppressed political unconscious

23. Studying Politics • As alluded to before, the novel was written during the organization of the United Farm Movement in California and the Chicano Civil Rights Movement • Allegorical reference to the farm workers’ movement, coming out of the fields and shadows as invisible labor, demanding their place in the sun

24. Losing, Hoping, Wishing, Waiting • In many ways, the collection of stories in this book are about gaining, re-gaining, or losing something – whether it’s identity, faith, or hope • Remember, the child must go from being lost to being found in order for the community to connect with itself

25. The Kid - Again • The narrator in “The Lost Year” is stripped of subject and identity, born into a world of absence and loss, as Saldivar puts it • He must attempt to rediscover his name, and to recover the events that compose un ano perdido, the lost year

26. Searching for Something • He begins the novel with no sense of name or place; he calls out and tries to listen without realizing that he is the one trying to speak • He is not even sure whether he is awake or dreaming – unsure of who he is or what he is experiencing

27. The Big Question • What is the Chicano/migrant experience? This novel attempts to help define it • If the child can remember, he – and the community – can gain self-awareness • As a result, we as readers are asked to examine the relationship between individuality and collectivity • Shades of The Awakening!

28. Community-Building Exercises • What’s fascinating about this community is the real way in which solidarity can help protect people – can help them survive – in a world that refuses to care for or help them • Again, compare this to The Awakening • This community is forming because the people need it to form • They’re in a position where they’ve already lost just about everything, and every day is simply a struggle to avoid losing the rest

29. Losing Battle • So much is lost over the course of And the Earth Did Not Devour Him – lives, innocence, faith – that the book can feel almost oppressive at times • That’s somewhat the point – there isn’t really an escape for the migrant workers and families, at least not one provided by the outside world • If they want to change their lives, change their fates, they need to come together and agitate for change • Only through the help of others can we help to save ourselves – and only through our connections to others, to the world, can we become truly self-aware

30. “The Lost Year” in a Nutshell • Now that we understand Rivera’s intentions, the story doesn’t seem so confusing • Boy = Chicano migrant community • Year = Sense of shared experiences and heritage • Call/Name = Community searching for its identity and purpose; first steps towards self-awareness • Heritage and unity will free us

31. Understanding the Stories That Follow • As Rivera wrote . . . And the Earth Did Not Devour Him (1967–1968), other Chicano writers and artists were finding expression for their ideas and opinions • Production of art and literature exploded into a full-fledged movement (which, one could argue, means that Rivera’s book accomplished its task) • The Chicano renaissance – El Movimiento – questioned accepted truths and focused on civil rights, labor struggles, and the Vietnam War • Chicano poets were among the first to gain prominence in the movement because the verse nature of their work allowed them to easily recite their writing before groups of students and workers (and they wrote bilingually in order to reach a wide audience). • Rivera promoted Chicano authors and contributed to the development of the new literary tradition.

32. Questioning Accepted Truths • One of the accepted truths Rivera chooses to question – or at least examine – is the role of religion in the migrant experience • Rivera posits that heritage and unity can free you – but will faith simply convince you to accept your bondage? • This is one of the controversial aspects of the novel, as the characters experience a great deal of religious turmoil • This is also one of the reasons that the “innocence” theme is so important – Rivera shows the crumbling of faith in the young as a response to a cruel and unjust world • “In a book that's so small, so readable, and so poetic, there are the many, many very deep, philosophical, theological issues. And it's fun to deal with them.” - NK

33. Questioning Accepted Truths II • While faith is not placed in the best light over the course of the book, Rivera seems less interested in criticizing faith than in studying the ramifications of its loss – and what causes it to disappear • What he does seem to criticize – in keeping with El Movemiento’s philosophies – is blind acceptance or blind faith • After all, the movement is predicated on questioning the things (and injustices) that we have taken for granted, even unconsciously • If you understand the larger themes Rivera is grappling with – as well as his larger ideological concerns – it’s easier to understand why religion plays the role it does early in this novel • Does the search for the truth set you free?

34. Alone, Together • I mentioned before that “Alone, Together” referred to the idea that one can be isolated in a crowd – that we can isolate ourselves in any number of ways • How many ways can you do these things? How many ways can you – do you – separate yourself from the people and world around you? • The child in the second story is isolated by his actions – and his knowledge • They separate him from his mother / family / community • The truth – as he understands it – is exceptionally lonely; anyone who has kept a secret knows why • “He’ll tell her when he grows up” – that’s a long time to carry something like that

35. The Reverse Santa Claus • One of the noteworthy aspects of the story is the way that the “natural order” is reversed • Rather than keeping secrets from the young to keep them in line – Santa! – the mother is blind to the “truth,” and the child chooses not to tell her • He does this out of love – a deep, fiery love – because he knows that she will continue “doing her duty” • What would happen to her if she found out the truth? • Think about Mother Teresa… • By drinking the water, he shoulders a burden – and he continues to carry it for her • This means that, on some level, she has lost him • Who should we feel sad for – the boy and his losses, or his mother and hers?

36. Theme-a-palooza • What were the themes we named, and how can we justify them?

37. It’s Conflict That Drives Us • Here’s an interesting question to follow throughout the book: Conflict! • More specifically, what’s the source of the conflicts in each story? • Identify what the conflicts are and whether they are internal or external. If a conflict is external, decide into which of the three categories it falls: • Character vs. Character • Character vs. Society • Character vs. Self • Note: Some work for multiple categories! • If it is internal, determine what external factors cause it.

38. The Children Couldn’t Wait • If the previous story was a deeply intense internal conflict, how do we grapple with what happens in this story? • Is this the result of an internal or external conflict? • Is this the result of a lack of an internal conflict? • Where is the anger? Where is the justice? • The boss tries to kill himself after he’s acquitted; he knows better, and his actions indict society’s callousness

39. Two Sides of the Same Coin • From the first two stories, Rivera is contrasting several aspects of humanity – some good, some bad, some in between • Is the child doing something wrong in the vignette? What about TCCW? • Is the boss evil? How do we judge his suicide attempt? • Start keeping track of the “good” and the “bad” – and start monitoring what separates the two in your eyes • The book contains many shades of grey • Consider these same questions for our next two stories – the mother in “A Prayer” and the child in “It’s That It Hurts”

40. Quick Write • Which characters are sympathetic? Why do you sympathize with them? • How many stories have worked for the themes you’ve chosen? Have you found any good material yet?

41. Quick Write II • Think about the ways in which the boy’s fears are tied up with his parents’ hopes for his future. How do your hopes for the future compare with your parents? Are your plans similar to theirs? Are they supportive? Demanding? Do you feel more pressure to succeed because they love you, because they’re your family – or do you lose your drive because of these expectations?