Abrogation and appropriation in Rosario Ferre's "Amalia" - Articles - Critical Essay

Rosario Ferre's latest works of fiction, House on the Lagoon and Eccentric Neighborhoods, offended and angered many of Puerto Rico's artistic elite, in part because both books were first written in English then rewritten in Spanish (Hanley). Shortly afterward, she received further negative criticism for an article in the New York Times in which she presented her support for statehood for the island (Ferre, "Puerto Rico"). It appears as if Rosario Ferre had gone from one political extreme to the other: through most of her adult life she had been a staunch "independentista," and now she seems to embrace statehood and American culture.

Yet, by sharing her writings with the English-speaking majority, she promotes Puerto Rican literature--which in the past has suffered from neglect by mainstream publishers--and potentially helps both the United States and Puerto Rico come to a better mutual understanding. Since language is an essential part of cultural identifies, it is of special importance to Ferre and her writings.

In her story "Amalia," which is part of her first anthology: Papeles de Pandora (1976), Ferre uses hybrid writing. In doing so, she shows Puerto Ricans' hybrid culture resulting from United States intervention on the island. Few critics have given a detailed reading of "Amalia," and, even when they have, the language issue has not been explored. (1) In the Spanish version of the story, English is used to show how Puerto Ricans, at times, use a hybrid language (despite an often expressed denial that this even occurs); this language stands for an effective colonial influence. Through "Amalia," Ferre takes a critical stand on language as an important part of a hybrid cultural identity formed during postcolonial times. "Amalia" is representative of postcolonial literature as Ashcroft and others define it in The Empire Writes Back: The term "`post-colonial,' cover[s] all the culture affected by the imperial process from the moment of colonization to the present day" (2). Given Puerto Rico's unique situation--though not under Spanish rule anymore, it has not yet gained its full independence given its Commonwealth status with the United States--"post-colonial literature" applies in this context. The in-between situation of Puerto Rico provides the framework for my discussion of Ferre's writings. Puerto Rico has been under colonial rule by two world powers for more than the last 500 years: Spain for approximately the first 400 and the United States for approximately these last 100 years. After the occupation by the United States, the US government wanted to decentralize Spanish and have English as the main and official language of the island. The attempt was unsuccessful: today Spanish is the means of communication by Puerto Ricans and though there are bilingual transactions in the governmental and business world, Spanish is the language of preference. Yet, the strong, everyday influence of English--be it billboards, radio, TV, movies, newsprint, and the continuous flow of Puerto Ricans and English speakers going to and coming from the United States--has had a strong impact on every Puerto Rican's language, even when the person opposes using English. Ferre and her generation find themselves adding, subtracting, mixing, and interchanging vocabulary from both languages, a style that many like to call "puertorriqueno." It is not strange, then, that many Puerto Rican writers resent the impact that English has had throughout the island. This resentment, in part, gives Puerto Rican literature commonality with other postcolonial literature in that much of it

   emerged in [its] present form out of the experience of colonization and
   asserted [itself] by foregrounding the tension with the imperial power, and
   by emphasizing differences from the assumptions of the imperial centre.
   (Ashcroft et al. 2)

Puerto Rican writers show their personal independence through their manipulation of both languages. Having grown up with these two strong cultural and linguistic influences has led many Puerto Rican writers in the last 50 years to pursue abrogating the center, meaning to write in a language that defies traditional "standard Spanish" and at the same time tries, unsuccessfully, to resist English intrusions. (2) Ferre belongs to this group of writers. By sometimes rejecting standard Spanish while incorporating English, Ferre shows in her anthology Papeles de Pandora the colonial consequences of the Puerto Rican identity: unable to quite fit into any of the two existing dominant forces, it is in a constant battle to forge its own identity. (3) The language mirrors the conflicting ideologies.

In an interview with Magdalena Garcia Pinto, Rosario Ferre says the following about language in Puerto Rico:

   What's sad is that we've forgotten Spanish and never learned to speak
   English. We have no language of our own. There's definitely a problem of
   expression, which I share. Perhaps that's why I don't like to speak in
   public. I can write and formulate my thoughts much more clearly on paper;
   when I have to speak in public I feel constrained. (83)