Skip to main content

Introduction

Hello, my name is Maria Farinha. I am currently a fourth year student obtaining a double major in Political Science and Spanish at the University of British Columbia. 
I am originally from Portugal, and have been living in Canada for almost 7 years. 
Currently I am also taking a course on the Comparative Politics of Immigration which I hope will overlap with some of the content we will be looking at.  
I am really interested in the work done in that field and hope that studying its manifestation in literature will help me gain insights on this and many other subjects around the sufferings and experiences of latino communities in the US. I am also looking forward to being exposed to a different set of voices in the literary world. Having mainly read books written by European authors, I am looking forward to this change. 

Popular posts from this blog

Mrs. Darrell

One of the events that transpired in this second half of the book that impressed me was Mrs. Darrell’s speech on her views of the land laws. The whole event was revealing of her true nature, a nature that we have known as readers since the beginning of the novel. She was honest, showing integrity and firmness of spirit, and assumed responsibility in deceiving her husband and those involved. As it pertains to the author’s views on women, this character has voice and imposes her voice over that of men. However, the author makes it known that she has no seat among the men in the “colony” , for none offer her one, she simply steps in and speaks. That is a rupture in the behaviours set by women in the novel. Mrs. Darrell expresses a forward opinion of the Law, on matters of the land, on business, conscience and ethics. In contrast Dona Josefa, Mercedes, Elvira, Mrs. Mechlin (George’s Aunt) all seem to fit this “mold” of womanhood where matrons impose tradition and custom...

Bless Me, Ultima: part I

As I started reading this novel, I was struck by the different mixture of belief systems. Not only in different moral systems but also in terms of choice of lifestyle. In a way, how Antonio follows his “destiny”, which we learn right from the beginning, that Ultima is the only one that truly knows where his future holds “ Only I will know his destiny”. Since his birth Antonio has been torn by the different expectations of his surrounding parental/mentor figures – his destiny traced for him: becoming a priest, becoming a vaquero destined to wander the llano, etc. This for me seems to be an overarching theme of the books we have read so far. To some capacity, we are torn between the concept of a self-made destiny and a predetermined destiny. Down these mean streets presents that conflict which we discussed in class. I am interested in how this can be applied to the general idea of Chicano culture in America. Antonio seems to be torn between different beliefs, moral systems, expectat...

Lost Children Archive: Where to begin?

This book has been my favorite so far. It has been really challenging to read and intriguing, I am spending more time on it than I expected. Each little “chapter”/section gives a lot to think about. I found the section “Routes and Roots” to present themes that we see throughout the book. A lot of them are presented by this woman narrator, of whom I haven’t found the name of, and we basically read an exposition of her thoughts and interpretations. So far I haven’t read any book like this. With His Pistol In His Hand holds some resemblance to this book, in the way it is structures, however it is a dissertation whereas this book seems to be part nonfiction and fiction. The part that I assume is fiction is the backstory of this family, however all of the works that are mentioned in the inventory of the boxes, the places they travel to, the “lost children” are true. Is the backstory of this family, their trip, true as well? The polaroid photos correspond to scenes in the book “The picture ...