Themes & Subject Matter
Overall Themes from JOC’s Literary Works
• Liminal Space
• Isolation
• Hybrid Identity/ Double Consciousness (W.E.B. du Bois)
• Matrilineal figures
• Romance and Sexuality
• Feminine Experience
• Gender roles
• English vs Spanish language
• The American South
• Puerto Rican Expectations
• Religion v Science
Overall Subject Matter from JOC’s Literary Works
• Immigration
• Migration
• Puerto Rico vs. America
• The “American Dream”
• American South
• Parent & Child Relationships
• Nature
• Tainos
• Religion vs. Science
• Romance & Sexuality
• Puerto Rico
• Paterson, New Jersey
• Augusta, Georgia
• Family Life
• Island Life
• Catholicism
*Ideas added post class discussion
The following is taken from collaborative discussion boards curated by the Capstone ENGL4800 of 2023 Class and Dr. Seretha Williams examining the assigned works of JOC. Thank you.
The Line of the Sun
Themes & Subject Matter for Chapters 1-6
Themes: Providence/Destiny, Nature, Dark vs Light, Tough Love, Transformation, Isolation, Barriers, Magic, Reputation, Gender Roles in Puerto Rico, Parental Expectations, Societal Expectations in Puerto Rico.
Subject Matter: Puerto Rico, Spiritism, Nature, Catholicism, Paterson, NJ, Guzman and Rosa, Mama Cielo and Guzman, Water Imagery, Courtship in Puerto Rico, Marriage, Ramona and Rafael, Papa and Mama Cielo, Dona Julia and Rosa, Dona Amaparo, Don Juan, “The American Dream”, USA vs Puerto Rico.
Themes & Subject Matter for Chapters 7-12
Themes: Romanization of Puerto Rico, Familial Stories, Loneliness, Liminal Space, Assimilation, Complexion and Belonging, Dual Identity, “Double Consciousness” W.E.B Dubois, Nostalgia, Man vs Legend, Mythos, Identity via Comparison, Femininity, Gender roles for Puerto Ricans, Light vs Dark, Ethnocentrism, Generational memory, Power dynamics, Love.
Subject Matter: El Building, Immigrant Experience, Class, Catholic School, Puerto Rico and America, Translation, Community, Ramona and Marisol, Marisol and Guzman, Marisol and Rafael, Ramona and Rafael, Language, Race/Gender/Class in America, “The American Dream”, Spiritism, Catholicism, Elba and Blanquita, Femininity, Masculinity in Puerto Rican culture, Guzman and Rafael, Island Life, American Life, Education, Marisol and Gabriel, Guzman and Sarita, Ramona and Puerto Rico.
Excerpts from The Latin Deli: Telling the Lives of Barrio Women
“American History"
Themes: Otherness, Isolation, Mood related colors
Subject Matter: JFK Assignation, The “American Dream”, Race/Class, Immigration/Migration, Tragedy
“Advanced Biology"
Themes: Imagination, Liminal Space, Cultural Compromise, Science vs Faith, Self-Identity, Coming of Age, Sexual Awakening. Purity Culture, Morality
Subject Matter: Augusta, GA, Paterson, NJ, Biology
“The Story of My Body"
Themes: Self Worth, Eurocentric Ideals, Isolation, Exoticized Other
Subject Matter: Dating, Rejection, Bodily Autonomy, Race/Culture, Beauty Standards, DC's Wonder Woman
Excerpts from Silent Dancing: A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood
“Silent Dancing"
Themes: Intersectionality, Gender/Class/Race/Religion/Region, Acceptance, Isolation, Passing, “Eve’s Burden”
Subject Matter: Women and children, Feminine Expectation, Cultural Expectation, Puerto Rican Culture, American Culture
“The Looking-Glass Shame”
Themes: Feminine Mirroring/Doubleness (Kristeva De Beauvoir), Isolation, Out-of-placeness, Invisibility, Cultural Schizophrenia, Sacrificial Love
Subject Matter: Puerto Rico and cultural standards, Cultural norms, Self-Critique, Dual Identity, Familial Expectations, Parental Matters
An Excerpt from A Woman in Front of the Sun: Lessons on Becoming a Writer
“A Woman in Front of the Sun: Lessons on Becoming a Writer"
Themes: Sun as a symbol, Knowledge, Light Imagery, Matrilineal figures, Music as an opiate
Subject Matter: Femininity, Religion, Culture, Island Life, American Life, Societal Norms
Excerpts from A Love Story Beginning in Spanish
“Beans: An Apologia for Not Loving to Cook”
Themes: Circular Migration, Limbo Status, Faustian aspects, Cooking as art/chemistry/sustenance, Liminal Space, Hunger
Subject Matter: Femininity, Gender roles, Cooking, Family life, Puerto Rican culture, Spanish Language, Hunger
“First Job: The Southern Sweets Sandwich Shop and Bakery”
Themes: Sweetness, Aesthetics, Cultural ambiguity, Southern Manners, Spanish as Exoticized, Femininity in the South
Subject Matter: Augusta, Intersectionality, Identity, Spanish Language, Otherness, Bakery Space, Social Structure, Femininity, Life in the South
An Excerpt from Reaching for the Mainland and Selected New Poems
“La Tristeza”
Themes: Self-disdain, Trauma of Race, Whiteness, Deep Sadness, Depression, Death, Animal Imagery, Whiteness, Biblical Allusion of the Tomb and Resurrection, Disgust, Cultural Appropriation, Humility and Humbleness, Sun Imagery, Movement, Transition
Subject Matter: Puerto Rico, America, La Tristeza, Loneliness, Power Dynamics, Race and Gender and Class, Knowledge, Otherness, Isolation, Immigration, Fractured Identity