As we continue exploring border issues, I’m becoming more and more intrigued with the theme of self-identity amidst cultural diversity, areas of work, family (or lack of family), peers, and history of land and people. In the Guardians, Gabo was one of the main characters that struggled with self-identity. On this journey he crosses many borders through his interaction with various people - friends, mentors, family, peers, gang members.
Along with trying to find his father, Gabo is on a journey of self-identity. As he attempts to put the pieces of his life together – a life without his father, mother or sister - he is also quietly trying to figure out who he is apart from his family, in a world where his guardian is his Aunt Regina and his best friend is a gang member.
Life doesn’t make sense.
Gabo senses this gap between what is and what ought to be in his life. He is very hard on himself. He seeks justice, he wants to be a good person and do what’s right, but he is torn between living his life for the church and following his instincts to locate his father and help his friends as they struggle, stuck in gang activity that seems to thrive wherever there are borders.
One theme that plays a large role in self-identity, and that is a particularly strong theme in each of the books we’ve read, is family. The lack of immediate family in Gabo’s life is difficult for him. In the beginning of the book he speaks of his father’s soul as if it is haunting Gabo himself, as well as the world he knows. Gabo’s tie to his father leaves him unsettled, unable to proceed with his life in the same way. He cannot seek himself, the callings of his own soul, until he finds out what happened to his father. Family pushes and pulls us, guides our decisions, and shapes us to be the people we are today.
Life really doesn't make sense. What a wonderful gift; what a terrible curse.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that family plays an important, even vital, role in the shaping of an individual's identity--and that's been very evident in the books we've read so far. Family shows you exactly what you want to be, or shows you exactly who you don't want to be... but it usually shows you that you want to be something in the middle of those two.
So, who am I and how does that reflect who my family is? I think it's important to eat together--my mother taught me that. I think it's important to be silly with the people you love--my sister and brother taught me that. My dad taught me that being smart is nothing to be for a girl to be ashamed of. My grandpa taught me that music is a special thing to be able to share with others. My grandma taught me that people say I love you in all sorts of ways--and it's usually the nonverbal ways that count the most. I'm just a combination of who my family is.
Mandy, you bring up at least two things here that I hope we'll explore further in the class. One thing is that family is crucial in shaping identity, but that family itself is shaped by larger forces of culture, class, language, and nation. The other is "this gap between what is and what ought to be" that most people struggle with as they attempt to come to terms with their own particular lives. I'm wondering whether this perceived gap is what prompts some of us to write--to use language to help us create an understanding of this dissonance.
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