Sometimes I worry about what I am teaching my students when we read Latino literature. Here\u2019s my biggest gripe: In order for these novels to properly reflect the lives of our students of color, why do the male characters always have to be violent drunks who cheat on their wives?<\/p>\n
It seems like every Latino novel I teach has a female protagonist named Esperanza (seriously, it\u2019s always Esperanza), who must overcome rampant male dominance in her Latino community, overcome poverty and racism\u2014all while representing the hope for our young women that her symbolic name carries. The girls love it, as well they should. But the boys who need to become men? Not so much.<\/p>\n
Our boys are reading about girls, and the few male characters we meet along our journey are drunken maniacs and cheats.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t believe me? Read these books: \u201cThe House on Mango Street,\u201d \u201cLike Water for Chocolate,\u201d \u201cParrot in the Oven\u201d and \u201cRain of Gold.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2026\u201cThe House on Mango Street\u201d doesn\u2019t have a single male character who has any redeemable qualities. The father in \u201cParrot in the Oven\u201d is an unemployed drunk who spends the family\u2019s welfare money on beer and tries to shoot the mother with his unregistered rifle\u2026<\/p>\n
Of course, part of the problem lies in what makes a good story. You can\u2019t write a novel about people who are happy and well adjusted\u2026<\/p>\n
I just get tired of being told that in order to reach our Latino males, we should teach them \u201cAlways Running,\u201d which shows the childhood of a former gang member. What I\u2019m trying to say is there are probably 30 books out there about teens who are gang members \u2026 Of course the lesson is always the same: \u201cI was a gang member and then discovered the error of my ways.\u201d
\nUnfortunately, our boys only see the first part\u2014and it allows them to say, \u201cSo I\u2019m in a gang; eventually I\u2019ll learn my lesson, but for right now I\u2019m going to bang.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2026Right now I am teaching \u201cTo Kill a Mockingbird,\u201d which is about a well-adjusted little white girl with a father who is a moral powerhouse\u2014but this book is good and the kids love it! What I really want to do is teach my Puente class a book like that, starring Mexicans.<\/p>\n
Maybe you can help me\u2014anyone out there have some books for our Latino boys that show them how to be a man without being a gang member first? Where is the Mexican Atticus Finch?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sometimes I worry about what I am teaching my students when we read Latino literature. Here\u2019s my biggest gripe: In order for these novels to properly reflect the lives of our students of color, why do the male characters always have to be violent drunks who cheat on their wives?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-13115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-voices","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n