Writing fiction about Latinos brings up questions about
stereotyping, even for this Chicano author. Will this fictional family be poor,
working class, or prosperous? Are the parents' careers working class or
professional? What about secondary characters, the house your characters live
in and the roles they play in the household?
I'll give examples from a just-completed, middle-grade
fantasy story of mine. Examples where I try to avoid stereotyping, with the
intention of enriching the Chicano characters in a novel. Whether I made the
best choices is not as important as deliberately attempting to dignify the
portrayals. If you're an aspiring writer, perhaps my explanations will give you
ideas for presenting your stories in a different light, one more realistic, but
also innovative. These are examples from A
Cradle for Abuelo:
• The nagual
spirit enjoyed running alongside the bulldog while they both barked at the mail
woman.
I might've
automatically written, the mailman. But my mail is sometimes delivered by a
female, and my sister-in-law also delivers mail. This is the only mention of
the mail woman, so it's almost insignificant. Still, it's a distinct point.
•
"You'll think of something." she said, drying and hanging his skillet
on a hook.
In
this family, the husband is the cook, which is not highly unusual. When he's
busy elsewhere, the wife warms up leftovers. I could've fallen into the wife
being the cook and dishwasher, and I'm not off the hook for making her the
dishwasher. I simply did what I could to not fall into the regular patriarchal
family.
•
"You helped so many kids when you taught elementary." He nodded
toward the piano in her den.
The
husband worked as a manual laborer, and the wife was a music teacher. Both are not
uncommon ideas or careers in a Chicano family. We do have Latino teachers, just not enough great ones. I could've just made her a
housewife, but in the story, music is important and she provided avenues for
including it. Also note that the den is hers, a nice touch, I thought.
•
"They would understand," he said, looking out the skylight.
The
man is in his workshop making a neo-azteca cradle for his first grandkid. The
story didn't need a skylight, but many homes have them. Even some that belong
to Chicanos. We raza are not all stuck back in the 19th Century with simple
adobe. Nor are all our homes plain old boxes.
•
The nagual zoomed across the land until he spotted the house's solar panels.
Did
I go too far with the tech? Possibly. But there are mexicanos, Chicanos, etc. that
have solar. If I could afford installation, I would.
•
The old couple could've bought almost anything for breakfast, but they were
making their favorites--barbacoa tacos, fruit salad and fresh-squeezed
orange juice.
There
are more mentions in the story indicating this family is secure and can buy
nearly anything they want or need. They just aren't into consumerism. My one
concern is, did I make the family too well-off for many readers to identify
with them.
Nutritional
note: no foods were harmfully fried in the making of this story; only grilled,
or served fresh.
•
"We never found any good cocineras for the house. Their meals never
tasted as deliciosos as ours." … The invisible nagual giggled
because he'd played some tricks on those cooks, to make them quit.
Here
I might agree I went too far in making the couple prosperous enough to hire a
cook. However, I needed to introduce the mischievous nagual. At the same time,
could a family with a hired cook serve as a role model of what saving money
might mean in retirement? Possibly.
•
"I wanted to give a gift more unique than a metal or plastic toy."
[And later:] He rubbed in an oil made of juniper sap and the fruit-juice of
nuts. He only used natural stains; toxic manmade chemicals would've harmed the
grandkid's health.
Is
this environmental preaching? Maybe, but I'm not the only woodworker who avoids
nails and screw, to the extent I can. And there are millions of parents
concerned about their children's environment.
•
He peered at the white door where he kept his demon imprisoned.
The
words liquor, alcohol and whiskey are never used; only the word, bottle. The
man "had been born in another country and suffered from horrible memories
that brought on his demon-sickness." The appropriateness of that sickness
in a children's won't be discussed here. My example above concerns the color of
the door holding the evil. I didn't go the lazy route of using classic black to
denote bad. Instead, I used white. Like many of the evils in real life. The
color of the door is a minor point, but how frequently do even Latino writers
resort to the color black, when they don't need to?
•
She had an idea, but she didn't like telling anybody what to do. Besides, pushy
people made for lousy friends.
The
wife is intelligent and often knows the answers to her husband's problems. But
she's also confident enough to choose when to interfere. And for good reason.
Is this anti-bullying propaganda? I don't know.
•
"There's people outside driving by slowly." … "They admiring
your beautiful landscaping and rosas, again?" … "Rosas,
schmosas. They're pointing at the lawn furniture and at the artsy way you
decorated la casa." … "Please don't run out and
tell them anything," he said, winking. She could spend half an hour
explaining his woodwork to strangers.
There's
a lot here, but the passage primarily shows that this Chicano couple's home is
not just a plain house. It's skillfully crafted and landscaped enough for
strangers to slow down and look. Yes, in fact, some people of color have modest
homes that are that attractive.
There
are other examples in this story and in others, including in those written by
other Latinos. And Latinas. Whatever your opinion of my attempts to diversify
the story elements, I hope I at least provided material for thought about what you
might do in your own stories. For that matter, experienced authors probably
know more than me, and you can see in their writings other techniques for
dignifying and raising the bar of how Latinos are portrayed.
Remember
though, describing mexicanos, Chicanos, puertoriqueños, domicanos, etceteranos
involves more than any literary tricks. It's about other worldviews, values,
morals and beliefs. To know those, is to know our people.
Es
todo, hoy,
RudyG,
a.k.a. Chicano fantasy author, Rudy Ch. Garcia, holding a hot manuscript that's
itching for a publisher.
