Tomás Rivera’s And the Earth Did Not Devour Him is a memoir-esqe story about a migrant worker family in the 1940’s and 50’s. It is told in very short stories with vignettes in between them. His bleak description of the life is very eye opening and powerful. In contrast Richard Rodriguez’s “Aria” written at a very similar time is about his time growing up in a “gringos” neighborhood, “many blocks from the Mexican south side of town.” Despite the differences in the locations of their childhood, they both had many similar experiences, though there were a few distinct memories to each.
Rivera the son of migrant workers relates many stories about his childhood. In “It’s That It Hurts” the narrator explains that he dislikes going to school and would prefer to stay near his family, “I think it’s better staying out here on the ranch, here in the quiet of this knoll, with its chicken coops, or out in the fields where you at least feel more free, more at ease (92).” This is a sentiment initially felt by Rodriguez, who felt that his home he was able to speak “Español: my family’s language. Español: the language that seemed to me a private language” (15) but that “By contrast, English (ingles), rarely heard in the house, was the language I came to associate with gringos (13).” In both stories the narrators feel more comfortable with their families and friends then they do with anyone else.
Both narrators also go through changes in their views though. In Rivera’s stories you see the narrator lose the religious views of his parents and feels pity and it seems a little disdain for them for having this very superstitious beliefs. While Rodriguez feels alienated from his family because he cannot speak Spanish and feels he has lost some of the closeness to his parents and culture. While Rodriguez feels like he has become more a part of the gringos culture and even makes white friends, Rivera still feels a connection to his parents and culture.
In And the Earth Did Not Devour Him, at the end of the story you are shown the narrator coming to a realization that people need to come together as they are, whoever they are, “I woud like to see all of the people together. And then, if I had great big arms, I could embrace them all.” This is a view is completely counter to what is stated in “Aria”, “What I needed to learn to learn in school was that I had the right – and the obligation – to speak the public language of los gringos.” This idea of assimilation is counter to most writers of his time and Rodriguez was not the most popular man for it.
The fact that initially each narrator is in a very similar position and go through some of the same things and then continue on to opposite perspectives on the subject is interesting. Rodriguez goes onto not only come up with a different opinion as Rivera but also counter to the Chicano/a movement as a whole or at least the majority of it showing that people that live in similar positions can have very different world views once grown.
Does Rodriguez’s idea that assimilation is what the Chicano/as should do because of the alienation he felt from his family and family friends once he couldn’t speak Spanish as well?
-Aaron
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