CHICANO LITERATURE 220
INSTRUCTORS NOTES
Developed by Charlene Garcia Simms

UNIT 2

We have discussed several traits that make Chicano Literature different from other Literature. Now, I want you to think about what things Chicano Literature has in common with other literature. Look at your list of definitions starting with allegory.

The following are my answers to some of the questions in the worksheets for Heart of Aztlan. You may agree or disagree but they may help for those questions you are having trouble with.
 
SET 1 - WORKSHEETS FOR HEART OF AZTLAN by Rudolfo Anaya, copyright 1976

Possible Answers to the chapter questions.

1. Rudolfo Anaya sets the main theme in Chapter One. What is it?
Discussed in class.  Some students have said anxiety and changes that come about from moving to an unknown....such as from the country to the city.

2. Why did the Chavez family move from Guadalupe to the Barrio of Barelas?
Discussed in class

3. Did it seem easier for Adelita to leave the land than Clemente?
This is more of a gender question. Clemente worked the land so he feels more connected  to it than Adelita. Adelita's concern is more for her family's future.

4. How does the author picture the barrio for the reader?
He uses many, many realistic, descriptive details. He also shows the barrio as one big family looking after each other.

Phrases:

1. Page 3 - Clemente felt his soul and his heart were in the earth, and he knew that when he signed the contract selling his land he would be cutting the strings of that attachment. Anaya uses the metaphor of the ocean to express how Clemente is feeling. What does he mean by unchartered ocean?
Discussed in class

2. Page 5 - What is referred to in the following phrase:  The Tejano came, then the barbed wire came, the new laws came....             Hint:     What happened in 1848?

3. Do you agree with the following statement on page 6-7? People are the soul of a home, when they depart they leave behind an empty skeleton.  My answer would be yes.

4. On page 7, Clemente states: We can build a new home, but can we take the spirit of the land with us. What did Adelita do to take a spiritual connection? Discussed in class

5. Give at least one example of reference to evil in this chapter.
Discussed in class

6. Are there any example of things you can do in the country that you can't do in the city?
Discussed in class

Chapter II:

Questions for Chapter II

1. How does Jason adjust to the city?
Discussed in class

2. How does Benjie adjust to the city?
Discussed in class

3. Describe Crespin's guitar.
It is blue and speaks to him. It tells the story of the past and the future. It knows the secrets of a man's heart.

4. There is a lot of arguing among the men about Sanchez and how he died. With which argument do you agree? I think he died because the crew didn't have enough people working.

5. How is Jason's reaction to the death of Sanchez different from his brother Roberto's? Robert's thought are more with his dad getting a job because of Sanchez' death.  Jason treated it like the tragedy that it was. He didn't know the man but respected life enough to go to his rosary.

6. Page 23 - What does Anaya mean by: The gods had demanded blood and now it bathed the sun in red.
Goes back to Aztec myth.

7. On page 25, Anaya refers to "four times the earth." What is he talking about?
The Aztec creation story states the world ended four times. We are in the fifth world, often referred to the fifth sun.

8. On page 28, Crespin states: I had to search the past to find myself. What do you think he means by this?
He had to learn of his ancestors and culture to actually realize who he was. The old adage, "How can you know where you are going if you don't know where you came from," is very true.

9. What was beginning to happen to Clemente by the end of this chapter?
Discussed in class

Chapters 3 and 4

1. Page 39: Consider the quotation, "The light was dim and he stumbled on the ruts of the road while she seemed to glide over the dark, uneven path." Anaya is using the paths to symbolically represent the roles of Clemente and Adelita.  What does the quotation mean?
Clemente was having a hard time adjusting to city life-thus he stumbled on the ruts of the road. On the other hand Adelita is adapting much better and supporting some of the decisions her children are making.

2. How was Juanita handling the city?
discussed in class

3. How was Anna handling the city?
discussed in class

4. What is a Wildcat Strike?
A strike without warning.

Chapter Four:

1. How is Anaya shaping the plot of this story (Is it a romance? A mystery? A story of material success?  Other?) I think it is a story of survival and the changes one goes through in life. Clemente is having a hard time with changes because his family is not playing the traditional roles children played when he was growing up.

2. How has the Act of Contrition (confession) contributed to the way the boys view sin?
Discussed in class

3. Does Anaya show the importance of being part of a group.
yes--it's common with every generation

4. Would the conversation between the boys be different in the present from when the story takes place.
In a way -- boys will be boys. However, if the story was written today some of the conversation would be different considering the standards for women are no longer the same as back in the 50's

SET 2 - WORKSHEETS FOR HEART OF AZTLAN by Rudolfo Anaya, copyright 1976

Chapter 5

1. In most stories there is usually a main protagonist and minor characters. Which of the family members do you think Anaya has chosen to be the main character?
Probably Jason because most of the story centers around him. Clemente would be a close second and the title of the focuses is on his search.

2. What was Jason's main intent when he went up to Sapo and forced introductions?
To meet Christina

3. Cindy tried to seduce Jason, Why did he not take advantage of the situation?
He was a decent guy and interested in someone else.

5. Page 61 ends with: "He leaped the cinder block fence and headed home. Around him the midnight shadows of the night shut out the moon, and for a while the heavy smell of the zoo animals and their strange noises surrounded him. Then he broke past the dark curtain and saw ahead of him the warm lights of the barrio." What does the dark curtain represent? Can you relate this statement to anything in I Am Joaquin?   First column - "I withdraw to the safety within the Circe of life...MY OWN PEOPLE."  He returns to his safety net.

Chapter 6

1. Was Willie's family as crazy as people said? Explain.
Discussed in class

2. What was wrong with Henry?
Discussed in class

3. Describe Rufus
Discussed in class

4. How does Anaya use the Guadalupe River as a metaphor for the barrio street? Page 68.
As a force of energy

Chapter 7

1. Rufus has isolated his family because of Henry. Why is Clemente isolating himself?
Discussed in class        He lost his land and now he is losing his family.

2. Why do you think Ana didn't believe she could be a teacher or a nurse?
She really didn't have any role models and probably wasn't encouraged in school to pursue smoothing outside the expectations of Chicanos.

3. What did Juanita mean when talking about the Pachucos..."I thought that because they broke all the old rules that they didn't have any rules of their own, but they. do. they've just exchanged one set of rules for another."  Pachucos were no different than any other group. They had their own rules.

4. Why is Clemente drinking?
Alienation from his family. Losing his traditional role as a father.

5. What changes if Adelita experiencing.
Discussed in class

6. Describe the union boss, Kirk.
He was crooked, actually selected by the company and not really representing the workers.  He fired people who didn't follow his lead.
 
Set 3 Worksheets for Heart of Aztlan by Rudolfo Anaya, copyright 1976 - CS 220

Chapter 8-13

Chapter 8

1.  Why did people shy away from Lalo?
He was a ticking time bomb.

2. What story did Crespin and his blue guitar tell?
The history of his people.

3. What kind of man was needed as a leader?
Discussed in class

4. On page 85, what does Manuel mean by "these modern snakes of steel are a thousandfold more evil and powerful!" The power of corporations is greater than ordinary employes.

5. Who was the dark, naked man Clement a saw dancing across a small clearing by the water?
Discussed in class

Chapter 9

1. Does Willie really belong in Special Ed.? Explain
No. He was as sly as a fox and knew who to work the system.

2. "Jason joined the throng of kids that swelled like a raging river through the halls and emptied into the grounds," is a  metaphor that contains a strong mythic component. How is this in keeping with one of the themes of the story.  Page 95  Water is a strong symbol for the Mesoamerican Indians and for people from rural areas. The finding of Mexico evolved around water; the story of La Llorona centers around water. Clemente and anyone else associated with the land also hold strong emotions for water. So it is in keeping  with life (water) which is like the children of the people. They are the life force that gives us a reason to keep fighting.

3. What is Anaya saying in the following statement: "The two sides met with a thundering clash at the confluence, like two rivers carrying different sediments they suddenly blended into one and the blood that spurted gave it its common color." page 96   Discussed in class

4. How do Jason and his friends use the barrio as a safety net? Page 98. It gives them a sense of belonging.

Chapter 10

1. Why doesn't Roberto want his son to follow in his footsteps?
Everyone parent their children to have a better life than they did

2. The older men at the baptism felt that an educated man/woman would turn away from their way of life after they had received an education. Do you agree?
I personally have seen many examples of this. However, I have also seen people who go back to the barrio and fight for the rights of their people. It is harder to do this when you are living within the values of the dominant society.

3. "To be a leader a man must know the traditions of his father, and I am afraid this new generation knows nothing of the old ways," stated an older man at the baptism. Do you agree with this statement? What reading that you have done relates to this?  YES -- this was demonstrated in Alburquerque.

4.  Do you think the men were justified in feeling bitter and angry over the loss of their land? It had been over 100 years.  They were most justified.  The oppression of Chicanos went back to when the land was  taken away. If the land had not been taken away these people would not have had to turn to wage labor  followed a domino effect that ended in poverty for many.

5. What do the men say the current generation is doing with their elderly?
Discussed in class

6. What do you think was wrong with the baby? What do you think a doctor would have said if Rita stated taken her baby suffered from mal ojo?  Discussed in class

Chapter 11

1. Why did Henry go into the water?
Discussed in class

2. What significance did the moon have to Henry?
Many cultures worship the moon and feel it has special powers. To Henry, the moon was symbolic of a better place in the afterlife. Even though Henry wasn't competent in many areas, he probably realized that he was unhappy being chained and wanted peace from this life. So he danced to the moon before he sacrificed himself to the icy waters of the river.

3. Why do you think Jason's reaction to Henry and his family was more acceptable than his other friends?
Jason is caring and hopeful. He can also relate to Willie's family because he sees himself as an outsider.

Chapter 12

1. How did Rufus react to Henry's death?
He was saddened and had to claim Henry's body and see his remains in order to have closure. He treated Henry's funeral with dignity.

2. What other traditions of death were observed other than the wake when Henry died?
The pictures of the dead were covered or turned to face the wall. the women wore black and never appeared in public for full year except to go to church. There was a strip of black crepe tied to the door that weathered away with time.

3. At the end of this chapter Anaya states that Henry's death reenacted the mystery of Christ. Explain what he meant.

The cross Jesus carried was symbolic of the sins of the world that Jesus accepted to carry.  Henry had always been a cross Rufus and the family had to carry, but a cross they chose to carry even if it meant isolation from the community. Henry probable realized the he was a burden and sacrificed himself. Rufus wanted the entire community to know that Henry was a cross that he willingly carried and he was never ashamed.

Chapter 13.

1. Anaya starts this chapter describing the welfare lines. He states "Men stood with their faces downcast, ashamed to face their neighbors? Why did they feel that way?
Pride. No one wants to have to be part of the welfare line or have anyone know you are part of the welfare line.

2. Anaya refers to snow more than once.  What role does it play in this chapter.
Clemente has lain down in a drunken stupor and allowed the snow to sap his life away. Here the snow symbolically cleanses Clemente of guilt: the guilt of not leading the strike, of drinking and of pushing  his family away through his drinking. Crespin later stated that it acted as his baptism, washing away the old and introducing the new man .

3. When Clemente land was sold, his pride an honor was also sold. Why did Crespin felt it was imperative
that Clemente search out the Heart of Aztlan?
The people of  Barelas needed something to bind them together  in order to fight the railroad. Some thought that the original hone of the Aztecs was somewhere around Albuquerque in the Sandia Mountains. It as this myth that would take the place of Clemente's lost land. Through this myth he regained the pride, honor, and self-worth that allowed him to lead the people The Aztec myth was the umbilical cord connecting the past with the prophecy of the future.

4. On page 125 who is Anaya a talking about in the following sentence: "He streaked to the east into the arms of his brother sun, but he promised to return..."
You tell me.

3. Clemente rang out el grito at the end of the chapter. What historical character is this  synonymous with?
You tell me.

4. What role does Aztlan play in this chapter?
The mythical place of Aztlan was a state of being, belonging.

Chapter 14-17 Worksheets - Heart of Aztlan by Rudolfo Anaya
Chapter 14

1. Why doesn't Father Cayo want to take the leadership role with the strikers?
He states the church should not get involved in politics and he thinks he does enough from the pulpit.

2. Do you agree with Father Cayo's statement, "No one profits from revolution." page 142
NO NO No  Great changes have come from revolutions.

3. Why did Father Cayo fear Clemente's pure and simple faith?
There are no weapons to fight someone's pure and simple faith.

Chapter 15

1. Do you think Mannie was correct when he said he would lose his store if he got involved?
Probably. A rich man has more to lose-- a Poor man has little to lose--monetarily.

2. Now that Mannie has stated how he feels about the people of Barelas, do you think Clemente will tell people what he said?  No. People already know what kind of person Mannie is.

Chapter 16

1. The boys were very insightful on two issues that makes a great difference in a person's life. What do you think these issues were?  The importance of education. Some people are just out for themselves such as El
Super and Father Cayo

2. Was the government on the side of the railroad industry or the strikers?
You tell me.

3. What happened to Jessie that made him so bitter.
You tell me.

Chapter 17

1. Why do you think the priest was so quick to condemn Jason?
He was Clemente's son.

2. Do you think the Catholic church played a more powerful role in the life of Mexican Americans during the 1950s that it does in the present.  Yes

3. What does Anaya say was wrong with La Lengua? Why was she so mean?
Will discuss in class

4. Why did La Lengua lie about Jason being the father of Cindy's baby? Do you know anyone like La Lengua.  She was so bitter and mean, she didn't want anyone to be happy. The trouble she caused almost broke Christina and Jason up.  My Answer:  I have known several people like La Lengua. They are so unhappy with themselves they can't see anyone else happy.

Chapter 18-21 Worksheets, Heart of Aztlan by Rudolfo Anaya --- CS 220
Chapter 18

1. Can you tell what the roots of Sapo's problems are?
His childhood, drugs...

Chapter 19

1. What lessons do you think Jason has learned in the past months since he arrived in Barelas?
You tell me.

Chapter 20

1. Why did Sapo go after Benjie when he could have taken care of Jason at the dance?
He could get to Jason through Benjie

2. What do you think Anaya's purpose is when using italicized text in many of the chapters?
To take the reader out of the storyline temporarily. Sometimes to give a mythical point of view.

Chapter 21  Will discuss this chapter in class.

1. What is the significance of the title of this book? Do you think it has more than one meaning?
The heart usually symbolizes the spirit of or love of a person. In Heart of Aztlan it takes on the spirit of entire community. Aztlan brings people together in order to fight against the mainstream exploitation that once made them fight against each other.

2. What other historical characters can you compare Clemente to?
Martin Luther King

3. Does the ending of Heart of Aztlan conform with he plot and the spirit of the story.
Aztlan is a state of being, not a place. Anaya alludes to this throughout the story.

4. What message does this novel convey?
The importance of group unity.
One person can make a difference even if at first he/she are going through an internal turmoil.

5. Having finished reading the book what do you think was the climax?
To me it was when I thought Clemente would die in the gutter.

6. Did the ending surprise you? Disappoint you? Explain
I was disappointed. I wanted more answers. I felt like the story was left hanging.

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