Cherríe Moraga’s La Güera tackles the idea of a hierarchy of privilege that is present in many aspects of the world, including, but not exclusive to, feminism. She uses her experience as a Chicana lesbian to acknowledge both the oppression that has been inflicted upon her and the oppression she has inflicted upon others. It is through acknowledging one’s own oppression that they are able to fight their own internalized bigotry. Using her ideas, we are able to unpack a bit of Junot Diaz’s Monstro and the racial implications that come with it. Through multiple texts, it becomes evident that oppression is present for countless groups across the world. While the way that these groups experience and handle these injustices may be different, they
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Colorism has been present for so long that it has become a trope. The idea of darkness being bad or evil and light being good is deeply ingrained in popular media. And while it is not always intentionally racist, it is based in racist ideals. This idea is more fully parsed in Junot Diaz’s short story Monstro. In this story, the dark skin is represented as a disease that takes over someone’s entire being until they are essentially a zombie. The idea that being dark makes you less of a human is not unique to this story, but is ever-present even in today’s society. The fact that the infected people become cannibals turns this story (and the racial/class implications) into, what can aptly be described as, a giant game of Pac-Man. The wealthy/white people are the ghosts, they are almost always the ones with power. Those with dark skin or less money are Pac-Man. They spend their entire lives (or the entire game) trying not to get metaphorically devoured by the upper-class. However, this story takes place post-fruit-eating, Pac-Man gets to chase (and attempt to eat) the ghosts around the screen. While this is an odd metaphor, it is one that allows the idea to be compressed onto a much smaller scale without real world implications. While on the surface this is an apocalyptic story, underneath it is the story of a revolution. Diaz uses the idea that darkness is always the enemy to show why the idea …show more content…
He cites W. E. B. Du Bois in saying, “All nevertheless flutter round it… instead of saying directly, How does it feel to be a problem? they say, I know an excellent colored man in town… To the real question… I answer seldom a word” (441). It becomes very difficult to talk about race when you are not directly involved in the contents of the conversation. However, this is what Muñoz hopes can be overcome; by recognizing the oppression that one has faced, they are more able to discuss oppression on a large scale. While their personal experience may not be entirely relevant, their feelings towards oppression still are. Muñoz goes on to say, “One can also ruminate on the ways in which feeling like a problem is also a mode of belonging, a belonging through recognition” (441). One can seek solace in the fact that they are not alone in their feelings of isolation and oppression. As evident by the multitude of texts above, oppression comes in many shapes and sizes, and is not unique to a single
Colorism has been present for so long that it has become a trope. The idea of darkness being bad or evil and light being good is deeply ingrained in popular media. And while it is not always intentionally racist, it is based in racist ideals. This idea is more fully parsed in Junot Diaz’s short story Monstro. In this story, the dark skin is represented as a disease that takes over someone’s entire being until they are essentially a zombie. The idea that being dark makes you less of a human is not unique to this story, but is ever-present even in today’s society. The fact that the infected people become cannibals turns this story (and the racial/class implications) into, what can aptly be described as, a giant game of Pac-Man. The wealthy/white people are the ghosts, they are almost always the ones with power. Those with dark skin or less money are Pac-Man. They spend their entire lives (or the entire game) trying not to get metaphorically devoured by the upper-class. However, this story takes place post-fruit-eating, Pac-Man gets to chase (and attempt to eat) the ghosts around the screen. While this is an odd metaphor, it is one that allows the idea to be compressed onto a much smaller scale without real world implications. While on the surface this is an apocalyptic story, underneath it is the story of a revolution. Diaz uses the idea that darkness is always the enemy to show why the idea …show more content…
He cites W. E. B. Du Bois in saying, “All nevertheless flutter round it… instead of saying directly, How does it feel to be a problem? they say, I know an excellent colored man in town… To the real question… I answer seldom a word” (441). It becomes very difficult to talk about race when you are not directly involved in the contents of the conversation. However, this is what Muñoz hopes can be overcome; by recognizing the oppression that one has faced, they are more able to discuss oppression on a large scale. While their personal experience may not be entirely relevant, their feelings towards oppression still are. Muñoz goes on to say, “One can also ruminate on the ways in which feeling like a problem is also a mode of belonging, a belonging through recognition” (441). One can seek solace in the fact that they are not alone in their feelings of isolation and oppression. As evident by the multitude of texts above, oppression comes in many shapes and sizes, and is not unique to a single