The Originality of Chicano Literature: A Comparison with Contemporary Mexican Writing

During the last 15 years, Chicano literature has not only repeated some of the topics of Mexican literature, but has added many more. Similar to Mexican literature, Chicano literature deals with: the pains, trials, and common experiences of childhood; the loss of religion, as traditional Catholicism confronts the changing needs and desires of the Chicano's new realities; the agricultural experience; problems of survival in a hostile society; a search for personal and group identity; and rites of passage and loss of innocence. The first three subjects are original to Chicano authors; the final three, although overlapping with other literatures, are always given a unique setting or solution. Although Chicano writing has not developed the varied themes present in Mexican literature, its basic and most original theme is that "man's dreams and plans are brutally shattered when they conflict with the established order of society." Despite this elemental theme of broken ideals, much of Chicano prose is theme-less. Although Mexican writing has been regarded as the most "innovative and demanding in the creation of new literary techniques", Chicano literature has been particularly adept in the creation of the child narrator. Thus, Chicano literature has achieved significant and lasting interpretation of unique human experiences and a laudable originality that will soon florish into first-rate literature. (Author/NQ)