Rating: 
Summary: The subaltern has spoken.
Review: Writing a review of Carlos Bulosan's AMERICA IS IN THE HEART is a deceptively difficult thing to do. What gives? It is an easy read, very straightforward, and well articulated. On the surface, the ARCHIVE (in the Foucault sense) point to a death by a broken heart. However, closer examination points to a death brought on by the collective affliction, deprivation, and maltreatment since his arrival in the early 30s - not to mention the bouts of excessive drinking and violence. The book, moreover, leans toward a united effort to combat global fascism; but this poignant autobiography is really a testimony to those years of struggle against racism and violence.An autobiography in four parts, Bulosan takes us back (literally and figuratively) to his roots in Binalonan, Pangasinan. Bulosan is keen to intimate his adolescent years were his family barely survived on four hectares of land (which they eventually lost to the moneylender and the absentee landlords) and the efforts of the DYNAMIC LITTLE PEASANT WOMAN. In the end, things just got SO BAD that the men (most barely boys) in the clan eventually opted for the promise of jobs and such in America. This begs the question (and often overlooked by scholars) that the suffering really started at home. His habitus was so bad, it seems, that despite the ravages he (and his direct kin as well as kababayans) experienced, they elected to remain in the US. That seems to be the common plight of most immigrants to the US - and I say this guardedly. At this point, I would like to juxtapose the optimism and the rage that formed the collective consciousness of Carlos Bulosan and his inability to reconcile the contradiction. AMERICA IS ALSO THE NAMELESS FOREIGNER, THE HOMELESS REFUGEE, THE HUNGRY BOY BEGGING FOR A JOB AND THE BLACK BODY DANGLING ON A TREE. AMERICA IS THE ILLITERATE IMMIGRANT WHO IS ASHAMED THAT THE WORLD OF BOOKS AND THE INTELLECTUAL OPPORTUNITIES IS CLOSED TO HIM. WE ARE ALL THAT NAMELESS FOREIGNER, THE HOMELESS REFUGEE, THAT HUNGRY BOY, THAT ILLITERATE IMMIGRANT AND THAT LYNCHED BLACK BODY. ALL OF US, FROM THE FIRST ADAMS TO THE LAST FILIPINO, NATIVE BORN OR ALIEN, EDUCATED OR ILLITERATE. WE ARE AMERICA! Carlos Bulosan, excerpt from AMERICA IS IN THE HEART Almost echoing the angst of Richard Wright, Bulosan and his proletarian experience is translated quickly to a racism tour-de-force. It cuts right into the heart of his critique. Despite being laced with communist verbiage, the autobiography is a critique against the savagery of prejudice. The subaltern has spoken. We simply need to take heed. One of the most compelling or fascinating issues brought up in AMERICA IS IN THE HEART is the issue of gender discrimination. The laws prohibiting marriage to white women by so-called Mongolian (and later changed to include Malay) was to exacerbate the racist problems. What is the REAL impact on the psyche of a law such as this? What are the long-term effects of ignorant eugenic laws such as these? Who knows? Despite the clarity of the writing, it would seem that the book was written in good faith but it certainly fumbles from a lack of sophistication (which does not pose a problem for me). I don't think Bulosan meant this work to be representative of the entire Filipino-American experience but it certainly suffers an editorial/historical problem. Bulosan certainly edits his experience. Punctuated with a sense of disgust for the human experience it makes me feel that he lacks pathos. In terms of the veracity of the entire book, I have no problem believing the accuracy of the experience but history is already removed one step to us via the writer and one more step removed again by the writer to his actual experience. We may never get to the REAL truth and the REAL extent of the violence. However, if but one experience of violence against a Filipino AS SUCH, or a denial of lodging to a Filipino AS SUCH (or any group for that matter) is accurate then an injustice has occurred. We as a body politic should take note. AMERICA IS IN THE HEART is therefore a book that is also a call for collective agency. To re-iterate, this book may not be fully representative of the PINOY experience and certainly Bulosan should be read carefully. It is an indictment on a negative social condition - where one man can create an OTHER in a society that plays up universal brotherhood. Not to trivialize the concern, this is not an uncommon malady. The question that begs to be asked is: Does Bulosan write AS IF he is writing about the whole truth? In closing, Bulosan is a necessary read because it augments the selection of the Asian-American experience in general and ethnic studies in general. It is a deep and cutting exploration into a Filipino experience - it adds to the complexity of identity creation. If anything, this book is a pause to be self-reflective of the past for both the SAME and the OTHER. In loving memory to a brave kababayan... Miguel Llora
Rating:
Summary: The subaltern has spoken.
Review: Writing a review of Carlos Bulosan's AMERICA IS IN THE HEART is a deceptively difficult thing to do. What gives? It is an easy read, very straightforward, and well articulated. On the surface, the ARCHIVE (in the Foucault sense) point to a death by a broken heart. However, closer examination points to a death brought on by the collective affliction, deprivation, and maltreatment since his arrival in the early 30s - not to mention the bouts of excessive drinking and violence. The book, moreover, leans toward a united effort to combat global fascism; but this poignant autobiography is really a testimony to those years of struggle against racism and violence. An autobiography in four parts, Bulosan takes us back (literally and figuratively) to his roots in Binalonan, Pangasinan. Bulosan is keen to intimate his adolescent years were his family barely survived on four hectares of land (which they eventually lost to the moneylender and the absentee landlords) and the efforts of the DYNAMIC LITTLE PEASANT WOMAN. In the end, things just got SO BAD that the men (most barely boys) in the clan eventually opted for the promise of jobs and such in America. This begs the question (and often overlooked by scholars) that the suffering really started at home. His habitus was so bad, it seems, that despite the ravages he (and his direct kin as well as kababayans) experienced, they elected to remain in the US. That seems to be the common plight of most immigrants to the US - and I say this guardedly. At this point, I would like to juxtapose the optimism and the rage that formed the collective consciousness of Carlos Bulosan and his inability to reconcile the contradiction. AMERICA IS ALSO THE NAMELESS FOREIGNER, THE HOMELESS REFUGEE, THE HUNGRY BOY BEGGING FOR A JOB AND THE BLACK BODY DANGLING ON A TREE. AMERICA IS THE ILLITERATE IMMIGRANT WHO IS ASHAMED THAT THE WORLD OF BOOKS AND THE INTELLECTUAL OPPORTUNITIES IS CLOSED TO HIM. WE ARE ALL THAT NAMELESS FOREIGNER, THE HOMELESS REFUGEE, THAT HUNGRY BOY, THAT ILLITERATE IMMIGRANT AND THAT LYNCHED BLACK BODY. ALL OF US, FROM THE FIRST ADAMS TO THE LAST FILIPINO, NATIVE BORN OR ALIEN, EDUCATED OR ILLITERATE. WE ARE AMERICA! Carlos Bulosan, excerpt from AMERICA IS IN THE HEART Almost echoing the angst of Richard Wright, Bulosan and his proletarian experience is translated quickly to a racism tour-de-force. It cuts right into the heart of his critique. Despite being laced with communist verbiage, the autobiography is a critique against the savagery of prejudice. The subaltern has spoken. We simply need to take heed. One of the most compelling or fascinating issues brought up in AMERICA IS IN THE HEART is the issue of gender discrimination. The laws prohibiting marriage to white women by so-called Mongolian (and later changed to include Malay) was to exacerbate the racist problems. What is the REAL impact on the psyche of a law such as this? What are the long-term effects of ignorant eugenic laws such as these? Who knows? Despite the clarity of the writing, it would seem that the book was written in good faith but it certainly fumbles from a lack of sophistication (which does not pose a problem for me). I don't think Bulosan meant this work to be representative of the entire Filipino-American experience but it certainly suffers an editorial/historical problem. Bulosan certainly edits his experience. Punctuated with a sense of disgust for the human experience it makes me feel that he lacks pathos. In terms of the veracity of the entire book, I have no problem believing the accuracy of the experience but history is already removed one step to us via the writer and one more step removed again by the writer to his actual experience. We may never get to the REAL truth and the REAL extent of the violence. However, if but one experience of violence against a Filipino AS SUCH, or a denial of lodging to a Filipino AS SUCH (or any group for that matter) is accurate then an injustice has occurred. We as a body politic should take note. AMERICA IS IN THE HEART is therefore a book that is also a call for collective agency. To re-iterate, this book may not be fully representative of the PINOY experience and certainly Bulosan should be read carefully. It is an indictment on a negative social condition - where one man can create an OTHER in a society that plays up universal brotherhood. Not to trivialize the concern, this is not an uncommon malady. The question that begs to be asked is: Does Bulosan write AS IF he is writing about the whole truth? In closing, Bulosan is a necessary read because it augments the selection of the Asian-American experience in general and ethnic studies in general. It is a deep and cutting exploration into a Filipino experience - it adds to the complexity of identity creation. If anything, this book is a pause to be self-reflective of the past for both the SAME and the OTHER. In loving memory to a brave kababayan... Miguel Llora
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