New Ways of Telling: Latinas' Narratives of Exile - Amherst College

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New Ways of Telling: Latinas' Narratives of Exile and Return
Author(s): Jacqueline Stefanko
Source: Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, Vol. 17, No. 2 (1996), pp. 50-69
Published by: University of Nebraska Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3346592
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JacquelineS tefanko
New of Latinas'N arratives
Ways Telling:
of Exile and Return
In the liminalityo f this moment in history,w hen discourses,d isciplines,a nd
politics converge and contend with one another, when border-crossingh as
become a site of resistanta nd liberatoryp ossibilities,I see Latin American
womenw ritingi n the United Statesm appingo ut paradigmatisch iftsi n the ways
we reada nd write.T he work of JuliaA lvarez,C ristinaG arcia,R osarioM orales,
and Aurora Levins Morales revealst he processeso f migrant souls, weaving
togethert he threadso f memory,h istory,a nd narrationa t the crossroados f femi-
nisms,p ostcolonialismsa, nd socialismsA. t the same time, these authors'w orks
highlightt he interculturaql uestionso f identityt hat emergea t these crossroads.
Eacho f thesew omen writersi s a worldt ravelerh, avinge migratedo r been exiled
from a LatinA mericanc ountryt o the United Statesw ith the processo f return
1
an ever-presentp, hysicala nd/ort extualp ossibility. These authorsu se theirs kills
and experiencesa s world travelersto take us "to placeso f subjectivityth at shift
and hyphenatei nto the worldso f others."2 As EdwardS aid remindsu s, "exile,
immigrationa nd the crossingo f boundariesa ree xperiencesth at can ... provide
us with new narrativefo rmso r, in John Berger'sp hrase,w ith otherw ayso f tell-
ing."3
I proposet o readJ uliaA lvarez'sI n the Timeo f the Butterflieas nd How the
GarciaG irlsL ostT heirA ccentsC, ristinaG arcia'sD reamingi n Cuban,a nd Rosa-
rio Moralesa nd AuroraL evinsM orales's GettingH ome Alive as new ways of
telling.A s hybrids elvesw ho crossa nd recrossb orderso f languagea nd culture,
these Latinaw ritersc reateh ybridt exts in ordert o "survivein diaspora,"to use
Donna Haraway'st erm, seeking to heal the fracturesa nd rupturesr esulting
from exile and dispersal.4P olyphonicn arration,p ermeableb orders( between
genres,a mong national identificationsi, n the dialectico f self and other), and
negotiationo f the gestureso f whatJ amesC liffordc alls "traveling/dwellinga"r e
5
the attributest hat distinguisht hese texts as new ways of telling. Migration
Copyright? 1996 by FrontiersE ditorialC ollective
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JacquelineS tefanko
becomest he means by which memoriesa re narratedi n specifich istoricalc on-
texts, infusing the empty/open/silents pacesi n history, discourses,a nd politics
with resistanta nd alternativep aradigms.
As migrants ouls traveling/dwellinign diversec ulturals paces,L atinaw rit-
ers become embeddedw ithin the processo f translation,t he linguistic border-
crossingt hat necessarilya ccompaniesa ny other shifts acrossb oundaries.I f we
considert ranslationt o be an alterationi n signification,a n act of decentering
one's self and playingw ith language,t hen to translatem ay be the Derridean
"affirmationo f the play of the world and of the innocence of becoming, the
affirmationo f a world of signsw ithout fault,w ithout truth, and without origin
which is offeredt o an activei nterpretation."T6 ranslatione nablest he authort o
perceivet he occluded fiction of a stable center, the fictive purity of self-pres-
ence, while simultaneouslye nablingh er to enter into dialoguesw ith the multi-
ple aspectso f self revealedt hroughd isplacementA. s Latinasa nd feminists,t he
authorsr ealize,a s Harawayh as observed,t hat "releasingt he play of writing is
deadlys erious."H arawaye xplainst hat the "poetrya nd storieso f U.S. women
of color are repeatedlya bout writing,a bout accesst o the power to signify, but
this time that power must be neither phallic nor innocent."7 Morales and
Levins Morales'ss uggestivet itle, GettingH ome Alive, indicates an awareness
and negotiationo f the messinesso f playingw ith languagea nd of the power of
writinga s boundary-crossinwg heret he terraini s impure,a nomalous,u nstable,
and potentiallyh azardous.
Due to the shifting, unstable terrain they inhabit, Latin American
(migrant)w omen writersq uestion and reject the assumptiont hat a unitary,
synthesizingn arratori s capable of telling the stories they have to disclose,
insteado pting for a narratives tancet hat includesm ultiplev oicings.T heir utili-
zation of multiple narratorsc ontributest o the critiquet hat "the theory of the
subject of consciousnessa s a unitarya nd synthesizinga gent of knowledge is
alwaysa lreadya postureo f domination."8P olyphonicn arrationi s one mode of
crossingt he thresholdi nto the anomalous,i mpure,a nd unstable.T hat crossing
enables the readera nd writer to participatei n the breakingd own of con-
structed,p ure boundariesa nd to engage in complex heterogeneousd ialogues.
Telling the story of three generationso f Cuban women and their experiences
with revolutiona nd immigrationi n Dreamingi n Cuban,C ristinaG arciau ti-
lizes a mixtureo f third person character-specifinca rratorsf, irst person narra-
tors, and epistolary interjections to convey the rich texture of subject
positionalitiesa nd the multiplew orldsw heret he subjecto f consciousnesst rav-
els. JuliaA lvareze xplorest hroughout How the GarciaG irlsL ost TheirA ccents
the effectso f heterotopicalityu pon four sisterst raveling/dwellingb etween the
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JacquelineS tefanko
Dominican Republic and the United States. Third person character-specific
narrativep iecese ngagem obilitya s the novel progressesb ackwardt hrought ime
and experiencei n ordert o enablef irstp ersonn arratortso emergea nd takeo ver
the telling of their memories.S imilarly,I n the Timeo f the ButterfliesA, lvarez's
secondn ovel, is comprisedo f the firstp ersonv oices of the four sistersk nown as
Las Mariposasb ecauseo f their political activismi n the Dominican Republic.
Yet, Dede, the sisterw ho survives,s peakst hrougha third-personc haracter-spe-
cific narratoru ntil the end of the text when, after her sisters'm emoriesh ave
been narratedh, er own voice emergest o articulate" I."E xplicitlya utobiograph-
ical, GettingH omeA live is the cross-fertilizatioonf two women'sv oices, Rosa-
rio's and Aurora's, mother and daughter respectively,s peaking in several
tonguesa nd severalg enres.T he polyphonyo f each of these texts elucidatest he
subjecto f consciousnessa s a weave of multiple sites of identificationa nd con-
testation.
Underlyingt he constructiono f each of these polyphonicn arrativesth ere
appears to be what Clifford describes as "unresolvedh istorical dialogues
betweenc ontinuitya nd disruption,e ssencea nd positionality,h omogeneitya nd
differences( cross-cutting'u s' and 'them') [that]c haracterizde iasporica rticula-
tions."9D ue to the processeso f exile and migration,w hich establisht he ambiv-
alent gesture of traveling/dwelling,A lvarez, Garcia, Morales, and Levins
Moralesw rite in diaspora,a nd theirt exts aree xpressionso f the dialoguesg ener-
ated by their negotiation of such traveling.I n an essay on the black women
writer'sl iteraryt radition,M ae GwendolynH endersone xplainst hat "whati s at
once characteristiacn d suggestivea bout blackw omen'sw ritingi s its interlocu-
tory, or dialogicc haracterr, eflectingn ot only a relationshipw ith the 'other(s),'
but an internald ialoguew ith the plurala spectso f self that constitutet he matrix
of blackf emales ubjectivity."1W0 hile she is speakings pecificallya boutA frican
Americanw omen authors,h er insightsa ppeart o be quite relevantt o the litera-
ture being producedb y Latinasi nvolvedi n cultureso f displacementt, ransplan-
tation, and return. The creation of multiple narratorsc an be considereda n
integralp art of the authors'p erformanceo f both their externala nd internal
diasporicd ialogues,s uggestingt hat utilizingt he multiplev oices is a manifesta-
tion of the subjecto f consciousness-shiftinagm ongm ultiplep ositions.F urther-
more, as readersa nd critics,w e must becomed iasporici n our apprehensiona nd
comprehensiono f their texts and accept Carol Boyce Davies's assertiont hat
AfricanA mericana nd Caribbeanw omen'sw riting" shouldb e reada s a serieso f
boundaryc rossingsa nd not as a fixed geographical,e thnicallyo r nationally
bound categoryo f writing.1 1 Both the dialogic,d iasporicn arrativec reatedb y
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JacquelineS tefanko
the authora nd the dialogic,d iasporics elf expressedv ia the text can be claimed
as hybrids.
Mestizaje,t he concept of hybridityc ulturallys pecificf or Latinas,i nvolves
the conceptiono f a "multiples ubjectw ho is not fragmented."1 2T he coverp ic-
ture and opening narrativep iece of GettingH omeA live providei nsight into the
terraino f mestizajea s a site where the discoursesa nd politics of feminisms,
postcolonialismsa, nd socialismsc onvergei n their affiliationa nd modification
of one anothera nd divergei n their contestationa nd resistancet o one another.
The coverp ictureo f the quilt introducesu s to the recurrentim ageryo f sewing/
weavinga s a metaphorf or both hybriditya nd narrativeT. he activityo f sewing/
weavingi s genders pecificw ith classc onnotations,i mplyinga spaceo f intersec-
tion between feminism and socialism.L ike the mestizai dentity presentedi n-
processa utobiographicallbyy the Puerto Rican-JewishA mericanM oralesa nd
LevinsM orales,t he strengthso f the quilt are its lack of homogeneitya nd the
fact that the piecest hat composei t cannot be separatedfr om one anotherw ith-
out losing their integrity.F urthermoret,h e imageo f the quilt illustratest he cre-
ative process that stitches diverse elements of different shapes, colors, and
texturest ogethert o producea distincta nd meaningfulw hole that is more than
the sum of its parts.T he processe voked with this image informs our under-
standingo f hybrid selvesa nd hybridn arrativesa, s it does the hybridizationo f
discoursesa nd politics.A s LourdesR ojasp oints out, the verbi n Spanishf or "to
knit"i s tejer,f rom the Latin texerew, hich has the samer oot as texto,t he Spanish
word for text.13A s major contributorst o the polyphonic charactero f hybrid
selves and hybrid narrativesi,n terreferencea nd interlinguisticp lay emerge as
importantf acetso f Moralesa nd LevinsM orales'sw ritinga s traveler/dwellerast
the crossroadso f feminisms,p ostcolonialisms,a nd socialisms.A s readersa nd
critics,w e must participatei n interlinguisticp lay if we are to apprehenda nd
comprehendt heirs ubtlea nd complexd isplacementsa nd infusionso f discursive
meaning.
"Wolf,"t he opening narrativep iece of GettingH ome Alive, written by
AuroraL evinsM orales,p icks up a parallelt hreadi n the discussiono f hybridity.
LevinsM oralese nds "Wolf' and begins the rest of the text with the emphatic
statement," I must maket hem see the wolfs nature.I must tell them this story"
(GHA, 16). By placingt his statementa t the end of the opening narrativep iece
and at the beginningo f the resto f the text, LevinsM oralesa llowst he wolf, rep-
resenteda s a shape-shiftert, o tell the story of multiple transformationsa s a
mode of survival and of resistance.A s an emblem for her "true self," the
wolfs story is also her own (GHA, 16). Facing the forces of extinction,
encountering racism, sexism, colonization, and elitism, Levins Morales has
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JacquelineS tefanko
acquiredt he necessarys kill of shiftings hapeso r, in other wordsc onnotativeo f
diaspora,s he has learnedt o be a world-travelerin order to survive.B y exten-
sion, the entirea utobiographicatle xt is her storyo f self, the one she must tell in
ordert o survive.B y expandingt he storys he must tell to includet he entiret ext,
LevinsM oralesc alls attention to the text as a shape-shiftera s well. We must
attune ourselvest o the negotiation of her writing's boundary-crossingasn d
metamorphosesB. y evoking the oral traditiono f storytellinga s an endangered
species,a kin to the wolf in this piece, LevinsM oralesr ealizesR ojas'ss tatement
that "orals toriesa re no longerv iablet estimonieso f these women'se xperiences,
for they can no longer enduret o bearw itness to a realityd efined by the con-
stant strugglet o survivea t the crossroads.1"4 Instead, she commits herselft o
preservationt hrough the written word, narratingt he creativea nd liberatory
powero f what is multiple,a nomalous,a nd hybrid.
While the viabilityo f oralt raditionf or the transmissiono f women'ss tories
can be questionedi n these turbulentt imes, we can acknowledget hat patriar-
chal, colonial,a nd neocolonialr ecordeds toriesh avea lso failedt o testifya nd/or
representw omen's memory.I n praiseo f JuliaA lvarez'sI n the Timeo f the But-
terfliesS, andraC isnerosw rites," AllL atinasa rei ndebtedt o her for resistingt he
amnesiat hat has been our history."A lthough this statementc ritiquest he mas-
culinist, nationalist,a nd racistb iaseso f historicalr ecords,w hich have resulted
in the absenceo f women of color'sv oices and stories,t he concept of amnesia
also has otheri mplicationsw ithin the contexto f exile. In her postscriptA, lvarez
discussesh er motivationsi n producingt his novel. First, she identifiesh erself
and her familya s "exilesf rom the tyrannyo f Trujillo"( ITB, 323). Second,s he
connects her family's politics and their forced escape from the Dominican
Republict o the four inventedM irabels isters,t heirp oliticala ctivities,a nd their
subsequentd eaths four months after their escape. Then, her returnst o the
Dominican Republicb ecome entwinedw ith storiesa bout the courageo f Las
Mariposas.E xile, translation,a nd migrationm ark profound changesi n con-
sciousness,a s BenedictA ndersone xplains:" Allp rofoundc hangesi n conscious-
ness, by theirv eryn ature,b ringw ith them characteristiacm nesias.O ut of such
oblivions,i n specifich istoricalc ircumstancess,p ringn arratives.. . Out of this
estrangement[ of continuity and memory loss] comes a conceptiono f person-
hood, identityw hich, becausei t cannot be 'remembered,m' ust be narrated."1 5
Alvarezs eemse speciallyc onscioust hat in ordert o resista mnesia,o ne must nar-
rateo r reinventb oth self and history:" ForI wanted to immersem y readersi n
an epoch in the life of the DominicanR epublict hat I believec an only finallyb e
understoodb y fiction, only finally be redeemedb y the imagination"( ITB,
324). As I suggestede arlier,t he amnesiap roducedb y the diasporicc ultureso f
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JacquelineS tefanko
Latinas gets negotiated within the text through polyphony. Living at the cross-
roads, migrating between the United States and the Dominican Republic,
establishes a dialogue between the author and the aspects of otherness within
herself; between the Mirabel sisters; and between the author, the sisters, and the
readers who are specifically English-speaking. The text becomes not only an
example of writing as boundary-crossing, but also the vehicle by which the
author crosses boundaries, negotiates the estrangement of continuity and mem-
ory loss, and traversest he subject of consciousness.
Alvarez's first novel, the loosely autobiographical How the Garcia Girls Lost
TheirAccents, engages in a similar dynamic between exile and return, narrating
what cannot be remembered. Like the Butterflies,t he four central characters are
sisters. The text opens with "Antojos," the story of Yolanda's return to the
island as an adult in 1989. Immediately we are placed at the crossroads of inter-
reference and interlinguistic play. Several pages into the narrative piece we are
given a discussion of the meaning of the word antojo that negotiates race, class,
gender, and migration:
"What's an antojo?"Y olanda asks.
See! Her aunts are right. After so many years away, she is losing her Spanish ...
"An antojo is like a craving for something you have to eat..."
An antojo, one of the older aunts continues, is a very old Spanish word "from before
your United States was even thought of," she adds tartly. "In fact, in the countryside,
you'll still find some campesinosu sing the word in the old sense. Altagracia! ..."
The maid obeys. "In my campo we say a person has an antojo when they are taken
over by un santo who wants something." (HGGL TA, 8)
The conversation between the aunts, Yolanda, and the maid over the meaning of
the word antojo enables the author to engage in a dialogue that both affirms and
contests the multiple aspects of herself. Yolanda attempts to resolve the ambiva-
lence inherent to such a dialogue by re-inventing the word to convey her desire
for home.
Yolanda has returned to the Dominican Republic seeking to remedy her
feelings of displacement, which she believes are the reason "she and her sisters
have led such turbulent lives-so many husbands, homes, jobs, wrong turns
among them" (HGGL TA, 11). Yet, the tone of nostalgia expressed in regard to
finding an unspoiled home in the landscape of the Dominican countryside with
its rural campesinos is countered by the author's attention to details of cross-
cultural permeability and interaction: "In the glow of the headlights, Yolanda
makes out the figure of the old woman in the black square of her doorway,
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JacquelineS tefanko
waving good-bye. And above the picnic table on a near post, the Palmolive
woman'ss kin gleamsa rich white;h er head is still thrownb ack,h er mouth still
opened as if she is callings omeone over a greatd istance"( HGGLT A,2 3). The
contrastb etween distance and proximity,t he incongruityo f the old woman
and the Palmolivew oman, the differencei n skin color, privilege,a nd commod-
ificationh eightenso ur awarenesso f the imperialisticin vasiono f United States
commercialismi nto the Dominican Republic after the island was liberated
from Trujillo.W ithin this neocolonial-coloniacl ontext, the third personc har-
acter-specificn arratord estabilizesY olanda'sr eturnt o the island,a llowingu s to
question the totalizing boundarieso f what Benedict R. Anderson calls the
"imaginedc ommunity,"a s well as Yolanda'sd esiref or origin. 16 She has, after
all, lost her accent.O n anotherl evel, the authorm ay be decenteringa nd ques-
tioning her own return to the island via a narrativet hat moves backwardi n
time and place to the memorieso f the four sistersb eforet hey were forced to
leavet heirh ome in the DominicanR epublic.B y purposefullyfi ctionalizingh er
own historical,a utobiographicalilf e storyi n a polyphonicn ovel,A lvarezc reates
a new way of telling that crossest he boundariesb etweeng enres,b etweeni ndi-
viduala nd community,b etweenn ationali dentificationsa, nd betweenc ontinu-
ity and disruption,g iving definitiont o her writing as diasporica rticulationA. s
English-speakinrge adersw, e must be waryo f our contributionst o the narrative
and be preparedt o question our willing acceptancea nd participationi n colo-
nizing gesturest hat attemptt o occludet he border-crossingtsh at are occurring.
Cristina Garciab egins Dreamingi n Cubanw ith Celia scanning the sea
coast of Cuba for signs of U.S. invasion,g iving prominencet o the issue of bor-
ders and their permeabilityo n the first page of her novel. The fishing boats
Celia sees, "theN ina, the Pinta and the SantaM aria,"i nvoket he issue of colo-
nizationa s they conjuret he imageo f Columbusa rriving( DIC, 4). The histori-
cal eventso f colonization,r evolution,a nd threatenedi nvasione ntwine around
the personali ssue of family separationa nd exile. Celia'sc ommitmentt o pro-
tectingh er country'sb oundariesb ecomesa mbivalentw ith the realizationo f the
costs of exile: "FrustratedE l Lider went home, rested his pitching arm, and
starteda revolutioni n the mountains.B ecauseo f this, Celia thinks, her hus-
band will be buried in stiff, foreign earth. Becauseo f this, their childrena nd
theirg randchildrena ren omads"( DIC, 6-7). While "nomads"c onnotesm obil-
ity, there is also the indicationo f a lack of connection, of home. Celia thinks
specificallyo f her granddaughterP ilar and of the losses of acculturationt hat
accompanyi mmigration.Y et, despitet he seeminglyi nflexibleb oundariess epa-
ratingC elia in communistC uba and Pilari n capitalistN ew York,t heree xistsa
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JacquelineS tefanko
bond between grandmothera nd granddaughtetrh at remainst enuouslye lastic
and fluid: "Shek nows that Pilark eeps a diaryi n the lining of her winter coat,
hidden from her mother'ss couringe yes. In it, Pilar recordse verything.T his
pleasesC elia. She closesh er eyes and speakst o her granddaughteri,m aginesh er
words as sliverso f light piercingt he murkyn ight" (DIC, 7). Significantly,t he
telepathict hreadc onnectingC elia to Pilari s conceiveda s textualitya nd creativ-
ity.
Pilar,s peakingi n the first person,r einforceso ur awarenesso f the connec-
tion betweenh er and Celia. Narratinga memoryo f herselfa s a babyw ith nan-
nies in Cuba, she says, "Theyc alled me brujita,l ittle witch. I stareda t them,
tried to make them go away. I remembert hinking, Okay, I'll startw ith their
hair, make it fall out strandb y strand.T hey alwaysl eft wearingk erchiefst o
covert heirb ald patches"( DIC, 28). La brujai s a powerfulf igurew ithin Latino
culturesw ho is often hated and fearedb ecauseo f her creativea bilitiest o con-
jure and conceive by playingw ith language.I f we identify Celia and Pilar as
brujas,t hen we realizet hat Celia fearsa cculturationb ecauseo f the losseso f lan-
guage,t raditions,a nd knowledges,w hich are neitherp hallicn or innocent, that
are the fund of the bruja'sp owers to conjurew ith alternativep aradigmsa nd
activatec hangew ith activei nterpretationos f language.Y et, Pilard emonstrates
her memorya s a brujaw hen she critiquest he biaseso f historya nd suggestss he
knows other(s')s toriest hat have been silenced:" If it were up to me, I'd record
other things. Like the time there was a freakh ailstormi n the Congo and the
women took it as a sign that they should rule. Or the life storieso f prostitutesi n
Bombay"( DIC, 28). This knowledgea ppearst o be part of Pilar'si nheritance
from her grandmothera, n inheritancet hat has significanti mplicationsf or nar-
ratingm emory,r esistinga mnesia,a nd constructingp olyphonict exts.A s brujas,
Celiaa nd Pilars harek nowledgest hat have the powert o imaginec ommunityi n
alternativet, ransnationawl ays, thus permeatingb oundariesa nd allowingu s to
questiont he constructiono f bordersa s pure and inflexible.
In two separateb ut relatedp oems, AuroraL evins Morales and Rosario
Moraless peakd irectlyt o issueso f bordersa nd identification.I n the confronta-
tional "I Am What I Am," Rosariod efiantlya ssertsh er acceptanceo f all the
pieces of herselfw ithout the need for externala pproval:" I am what I am and
you can't take it awayw ith all the words and sneersa t your command"( GHA,
138). She rejectss ociety'sf ragmentationo f her into pure parts,s eeing this as an
exercisei n domination. Yet, she has had to strugglei n order to achieve this
straddlings tancea nd precariousb alance:" I am what I am and I am U.S. Amer-
ican I haven't wanted to say it because if I did you'd take away the Puerto
Rican"( GHA, 138). Never having believedi n or experienceda s her realityt he
57
JacquelineS tefanko
inflexible, unquestionable boundaries of "separation as purity," to use
Lugones'sp hrase, has enabled Rosario to make the conceptual leap out of
dichotomousp atternso f thinking.1 7 Forcingt he readert o rethinkt he meaning
of several" national"id entificationsi n her terms, she helps us to move out of
the binarym ode of classificationto wardh ybrid,b oth/andc onceptualizationass
well. Puerto Rican identity is a piece in the mosaic of herself that has been
altered,m ade new by her experiences": I am Boricuaa s Boricuasc ome from the
isle of Manhattana nd I croon sentimentalt angosi n my sleep and Afro-Cuban
beats in my blood" (GHA, 138). The multiplicityo f her identificationse stab-
lishesM oraleso n the hyphen, shiftinga mong the many worldst hat she inhab-
its and alteringt hem in the process.T he text she createst o expressh er hybrid
identity and its creativea lterationsi s the instrumento f her agency in healing
the fracturesa nd splits causedb y diasporicd ispersawl ithin the contexto f U.S.
imperialismr, acism,s exism,a nd elitism.
SimilarlyA, uroraL evinsM oralese xpressesa hybridityo f self in "Childo f
the Americas."S he identifiesh erselfa s a "light-skinnedm estizao f the Carib-
bean, / a child of many diaspora,b orn into this continent at a crossroads"
(GHA, 50). While diasporac onnotesd isplacementc, rossroadsc onnote conflu-
ence. Together,t hese two gesturess ituateA uroraa s a traveler/dwellewr ithin a
specific historicalc ontext. Although she claims her history-African, Taina,
European-and acknowledgest hat her historyh as shapedh er, she also asserts
that she is somethingn ew, as GloriaA nzalduad escribedi t, as "somethingm ore
than mere dualityo r a synthesiso f duality."1 8 LevinsM oralese xpandso ur eth-
nocentricd efinitiono f Americab y stressingt he multiplicitya nd heterotopical-
ity of the spacess he travels/dwellisn : "I am a U.S. PuertoR icanJ ew, /a product
of the ghettos of New York I have never known. /. .. I am of Latinoamerica,
rooted in the history of my continent:/ I speakf rom that body" ( GHA, 50).
Like her mother, LevinsM oralesh as engagedt extualityi n ordert o expressh er
hybriditya nd testifyt o the imaginativea mbiguityo f the mestizas ubjecto f con-
sciousness.
Both Moralesa nd LevinsM oralesc onvey the power of performingm esti-
zaje throughp olyphonics peakinga nd writing.M oraless peaksf rom the cross-
roads of "yiddish,a nd spanisha nd fine refined college educatede nglish and
irish,"f indingp oetic inspirationa nd an empowerings trengthi n the confluence
(GHA, 138). Levins Morales'sp oetic voice gains similars ustenancef rom her
bilingualism:" I speak Englishw ith passion:i t's the tongue of my conscious-
ness, / a flashingk nife blade of crystal,m y tool, my craft. / . . . Spanishi s in
my flesh, / ripplesf rom my tongue, lodges in my hips: / the languageo f garlic
and mangoes, / the singing in my poetry" ( GHA, 50). Each strain contributes
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