Subtitle (259)
0:00What makes a house a home? For me, it's
0:02photos of my ancestors, anything to do
0:04with La Gualupe, and of course, food.
0:06Busas, mano, yukafita. But I go off
0:10topic. Houses can be more than just a
0:12place to decorate, sleep, and eat your
0:13mom's and bananas. Hi, I'm Krilly
0:15Velasquez, and this is Crash Course
0:17Latin American literature.
0:23A person's home can tell you a lot about
0:25them. Their art, their knickknacks, the
0:27way they arrange the furniture. It can
0:29all give you hints about their innermost
0:31self. So, it makes sense that in
0:33literature, where characters live can be
0:35key to who they are. But not only that,
0:38houses in Latin American literature are
0:40portals into diverse identities,
0:42cultures, and even political conflicts.
0:45The trick is knowing how to read them
0:47that way. Let's look at Sandra
0:49Cisneros's 1984 novel, The House on
0:52Mango Street. It tells the story of a
0:5412-year-old Esparanza Cordiero and her
0:57family in a working-class Chicago
0:59neighborhood. Having grown up in an
1:01apartment, Espiranza is thrilled to put
1:03down her roots in her family's new home.
1:05I knew then I had to have a house, she
1:08says. A real house, one I could point
1:10to. But her family's dilapidated house
1:13is not the vibe. And also, it's not
1:16really about the house. Or at least not
1:18only. See, Esparanza's discomfort in her
1:20house mirrors her discomfort with her
1:23own identity. Like Cisnerto herself,
1:26Espiranza Chicana, which means she comes
1:28from a Mexican family but was born in
1:31the US. So her identity exists somewhere
1:33between the two places and cultures. She
1:36tells us at school they say my name
1:38funny as if the syllables were made out
1:40of tin and hurt the roof of your mouth.
1:43Like the house on Mango Street,
1:44Esparansza's Spanish name feels like the
1:47wrong fit for the person she wants to
1:48be. On top of all that, Esparansza
1:50inherited her name from her great-g
1:52grandandmother, but she doesn't want to
1:54inherit the life her great-g
1:55grandandmother lived. She was married
1:57against her will as a teenager, [music]
1:59a lack of agency based on her gender.
2:01And when Esparansza imagines this, she
2:04pictures her ancestor trapped [music]
2:06within the walls of her home. She looked
2:08out the window her whole life, the way
2:10so many women sit their sadness on an
2:13elbow. Notice how Esparansza makes the
2:15connection between her great-g
2:16grandandmother and countless other women
2:18looking out their windows. With this
2:21inside looking out image, [music] she's
2:23evoking a long-standing association
2:25between houses and homes with women and
2:28femininity. And by rejecting her house,
2:32Esparansa is also rejecting her picture
2:34of traditional femininity. Throughout
2:36the book, the house on Mango Street
2:38literally hangs over Esparanza's head as
2:41she contemplates all the pieces of her
2:43identity and who she wishes to become.
2:45By the end of the novel, a now
2:4714-year-old Esparanza finds a new way to
2:50define herself as a storyteller. Her
2:52writing lets her escape from the house's
2:54grasp and creates a new, more
2:56comfortable home in the heart. She knows
2:59someday she'll grow up and leave for
3:01real, but she also recognizes that the
3:04house will always be a part of her
3:05story. Now, houses in literature don't
3:07only represent our personal identities.
3:10They can also represent larger political
3:12and national identities, too. And I'm
3:15not just talking about sticking a sign
3:16in your yard to endorse Dolly Parton for
3:18president. Though, anyone who gives free
3:20books to kids has my vote. Let's get the
3:22curly notes on Isabella's 1982 novel
3:25Laasa de los Espiritus, the house of the
3:28spirits, which uses the house as a
3:30symbol to address the politics of her
3:34Isaende is no stranger to politics. Her
3:37father's cousin, Sarvadorende, was the
3:39president of Chile until he was
3:41assassinated by Agusto Pinoes coup and
3:44her family was forced to flee the
3:45country. So, she knew firsthand the
3:47challenges of sharing this house we call
3:49a nation, especially when our fellow
3:51citizens and leaders aren't always the
3:53best roommates. The House of the Spirits
3:56focuses on the Troyba family who live in
3:58an unnamed country usually understood to
4:00be Aendis own Chile and the action moves
4:04between not just one house but two as a
4:06way of portraying the conflicting
4:08political perspectives in Chile at the
4:10time. The big house on the corner is
4:12built for the threa matriarch by her
4:15husband Estean. Glara represents the
4:17liberal left-wing preaching ideals of
4:20equality, justice, and respect for
4:23everyone. She presides over the big
4:25house, which is filled with students,
4:27artists, [music] spiritualists, and even
4:29a few literal spirits. Sounds kind of
4:32like my house, to be honest. Estan, on
4:34the other hand, is a wealthy right-wing
4:36senator who exploits his workers, hits
4:39his wife, rigs elections through threats
4:42and coercion, [music] and is just
4:43generally an all-around bummer of a guy.
4:45While his wife presides over the family
4:48Estan's domain is Tres Maras, a hienda
4:52in the countryside, [music] which he
4:53runs like a dictator. So, the vibes of
4:56both houses are very different, even
4:59down to the design. GL [music]
5:01constructs a world of freedom and
5:03imagination with long twisting
5:05passageways [music] and whimsical
5:07stairways to nowhere while Estimon
5:09furnishes the thres with heavy severe
5:12furniture that mirrors his politics.
5:14But the family drama doesn't stop with
5:16the blueprints and let me tell you it's
5:18juicy. Just like houses are often handed
5:21down through generations for the
5:24are [music] handed down too. Estivon's
5:26grandson inherits his grandfather's
5:28politics and violent tendencies. He goes
5:31on to become a police officer and
5:33[music] later a colonel, playing a key
5:35role in torturing liberal
5:36revolutionaries, including his own
5:38cousin, Alba. And you thought you and
5:40your primos had beef. Alba, in contrast,
5:43carries on her grandmother Clara's
5:45liberal traditions. [music]
5:47After the Conservative Party seizes
5:48control of the government through a
5:50military coup, [music] Alba uses the
5:52twisting passageways and secret doors of
5:55her grandmother's house to harbor
5:57socialist fugitives. Notice how
5:58purposeful Aenda is about placing her
6:00female characters right in the middle of
6:02the nation's political drama. She even
6:04starts off the novel by introducing us
6:06to Clara's older sister, Rosa, [music]
6:08who is all things traditionally
6:10feminine, graceful, beautiful, obsessed
6:12with romance novels, and on her way to
6:14embroider the largest tablecloth known
6:16to man, as you do. But then tragedy
6:19strikes. Rosa dies after drinking
6:21poisoned brandy meant for her politician
6:23father. From that moment on, Aenda shows
6:26us that despite their exclusion from
6:28form of political leadership, women
6:30affect and are [music] affected by
6:32politics in the sphere of the home and
6:35beyond. I won't spoil the book's ending
6:37for you, but let's just say there's hope
6:38for the TBA family and for Chile. Now,
6:42that focus on family. Oh.
6:56that was good and juicy. Like I was
6:58saying, that focus on family brings me
7:00to my last example. Families aren't
7:02always a husband, a wife, and 2.5 kids.
7:05They can look a lot of different ways,
7:08and literature helps to broaden the
7:10picture of what home and family life can
7:12be. Argentine writer Camila Soaviada
7:15explores a broad view of family in her
7:172019 [music] novel, Las Malas, Bad
7:20Girls. It follows a group of trans women
7:22who find community in a large pink
7:25two-story building that looked a little
7:27rundown but welcome them with open arms.
7:30This fabled [music] pink house in
7:32Cordoba, Argentina is run by
7:35178-year-old Thea and Cara, picking up
7:38on some magical realism vibes, and it
7:40serves as a landing place for young
7:42women who have been turned away by their
7:43biological families. At the pink house,
7:46the women find sisters in their
7:47housemates and an auntie in Theia and
7:49Garna. And when Thea Garna finds an
7:51abandoned infant [music] in the park and
7:53brings him home, he too becomes a part
7:55of the family. But despite the safety
7:57they find in each [music] other, the
7:59residents still face the dangers of the
8:01AIDS epidemic and their transphobic
8:03society. As the novel goes on, the
8:04condition of the Angadana's pink house
8:06mirrors their own, becoming vandalized,
8:08choked by vegetation, and falling into
8:10disrepair. In this way, the house itself
8:13becomes a reflection of the women's
8:15ongoing plight. In Saviada's words, the
8:18pink house is the queerest boarding
8:20house in the [music] world, one that
8:21complicates our preconceived notions
8:23about home, family, and belonging. In
8:26literature, like in life, houses can
8:28hold all the nooks and crannies of who
8:30you are as people, cultures, and
8:31nations. And in some ways, sitting down
8:34to read a book is a little like an
8:35invitation into an author's home. So, we
8:38can all become chisos. You can peer out
8:40the window of Sandra Cisneros's
8:42childhood home. Meet Isabel Aende's
8:44family of politicians and
8:46revolutionaries, or stay up late talking
8:48with Saviada and her friends. And when
8:50you're done visiting, you can say your
8:52goodbyes, close the book, and return to
8:54your own house with your own family
8:56drama, but also a new perspective about
9:00how other people live. Personally, I
9:01can't wait to get back to my mom's
9:03bananas. Next time, we're diving even
9:04deeper into family bonds. See you then.
9:06Thanks for watching this episode of
9:08Crash Course Latin American Literature,
9:10which was filmed at the Gardlo Hernandez
9:12studio in Indianapolis and was made with
9:14the help of all of these home bodies. If
9:17you want to help keep Crash Course free
9:18for everyone forever, you can join our
9:20community on Patreon. Oh, and if you're
9:23interested in learning about some of the
9:24topics covered in this episode, we
9:26pulled together a playlist you can dig
