First of all, I thought this piece was interesting just by the use of Spanglish. I happen to know Spanish and the usage of Spanglish in literature maximizes the expression of the author in two languages, or at least that’s how I see it. I think its also funny how Gurba shows her rage towards “Dirt” by using Spanish terminology like, mayonesa, a term she uses to refer to”Whitewashing”. and other terms like, Gabacho to refer to Americans, Pendeja which means B****, as a way to show her duality, since she’s Chicana.
In terms of what the author was writing, I somewhat agree with the points she makes towards the piece of literature, “Dirt”. As she explained, the piece was not written by a Mexican author which makes it like false narrative of what could really happen in Mexico. But at the same time, I don’t think Jeanine Cummins had any malicious intent while writing the piece. I think Gurba was a bit harsh because instead of making an article criticizing the book and shedding more light in the flaws of the book, and try to teach Cummings what she missed in the book, she decided to destroy her piece and discard any meaningful event portrayed in the book. I would’ve personally criticized the book by thanking the writer for trying to recognize the struggles in my community and my country and advice her not to write again with more proper research about the topic. And, that’s just my opinion, and its just that, an opinion. I personally don’t have a problem with what Gurba said since she’s on the right to express how she feels about her community and be angry to how her community is portrayed in the book. At the end, no one wants their community misrepresented and for that I empathize with the rage Gurba felt while writing this. In the Article Gurba explains that in the book Lydia is represented as a clueless character like she does not know the situation in what the country she is supposed to have lived her whole life was and that the primal flaw of the book and probably the most significant reason why Gurba criticizes this book this harshly. As Gurba describes the book it is clear that Cummings had not idea what she was writing about. Even though it was a work of fiction, Dirt was meant to represent the Mexican community which she did a poor job doing due to the many flaws the book had at portraying the Mexican/Immigrant struggle. And for that Gurba was in all her right to be mad at how her community was portrayed.
I appreciate this nuanced view of Gurba’s work. I also get Gurba’s frustration and understand the greater issue she has a problem with, but I do agree that the problem can be addressed in a way that is both educational, thorough and non-combative, as I too believe Cummins’s work came more from a place of ignorance than purposeful malice.
I agree with Felix’s compassionate analysis of Gurba’s work because I too believe that Cummins truly wanted to help. Though inaccurate in her representation of the culture, there is always a possibility that Cummins thought that she made the right choice to bring awareness to the public on issues she was recently educated on. However, I also agree with Felix’s statement about Gurba’s right to be upset about the misrepresentation and inaccuracies. Cummins may care, but her effort in writing this book, or lack of it, shows she did not reference any other works of the culture or research enough. So this can help pose the question of Cummins really caring.