Saroyan's Filipinos: Undoing Invisibility and Silence in Subaltern Spaces

Before John Fante’s stories about Filipinos and Carlos Bulosan’s autobiography were published, William Saroyan’s depiction of Filipino migrant workers provided one of the earliest representations of a minority doomed to invisibility and silence during the 1930s and 1940s. This article offers a caref...

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Main Author: Aguilera Linde, Mauricio D.
Format: text
Published: Archīum Ateneo 2024
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Online Access:https://archium.ateneo.edu/kk/vol1/iss35/7
https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/kk/article/1845/viewcontent/KK_2035_2C_202020_207_20Regular_20Section_20__20Linde.pdf
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Institution: Ateneo De Manila University
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spelling ph-ateneo-arc.kk-18452024-12-19T03:42:02Z Saroyan's Filipinos: Undoing Invisibility and Silence in Subaltern Spaces Aguilera Linde, Mauricio D. Before John Fante’s stories about Filipinos and Carlos Bulosan’s autobiography were published, William Saroyan’s depiction of Filipino migrant workers provided one of the earliest representations of a minority doomed to invisibility and silence during the 1930s and 1940s. This article offers a careful reading of the Filipino’s presence in his fiction through an analysis of the narratorial techniques deployed and the symbolism of the characters in two of his stories, “Our Little Brown Brothers the Filipinos” (1936) and “1924 Cadillac for Sale” (1938). In the first, by resorting to the tradition of the tall tale in a boxing story, the author disavows the raconteur’s ideology of racism and the hegemonic belief in the Great White Hope. Ramon’s victory signals the suspension of the alleged inferiority of the “brown savages” and becomes the stand-in justification for the long-overdue vindication of his people. Simultaneously, by allowing the Filipino farmhand to fix the jalopy in the second title, Saroyan manages to resurrect the pastoral ideal of America, thereby reviving the belief that marginalized immigrants, and not machines, can still be the driving force of the nation weathering an economic crisis. 2024-12-19T06:05:58Z text application/pdf https://archium.ateneo.edu/kk/vol1/iss35/7 info:doi/10.13185/1656-152x.1845 https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/kk/article/1845/viewcontent/KK_2035_2C_202020_207_20Regular_20Section_20__20Linde.pdf Kritika Kultura Archīum Ateneo Saroyan’s fiction; Filipinos in the great depression; counter-hegemonic strategies of ethnic representation; boxing literature; ghetto pastoral
institution Ateneo De Manila University
building Ateneo De Manila University Library
continent Asia
country Philippines
Philippines
content_provider Ateneo De Manila University Library
collection archium.Ateneo Institutional Repository
topic Saroyan’s fiction; Filipinos in the great depression; counter-hegemonic strategies of ethnic representation; boxing literature; ghetto pastoral
spellingShingle Saroyan’s fiction; Filipinos in the great depression; counter-hegemonic strategies of ethnic representation; boxing literature; ghetto pastoral
Aguilera Linde, Mauricio D.
Saroyan's Filipinos: Undoing Invisibility and Silence in Subaltern Spaces
description Before John Fante’s stories about Filipinos and Carlos Bulosan’s autobiography were published, William Saroyan’s depiction of Filipino migrant workers provided one of the earliest representations of a minority doomed to invisibility and silence during the 1930s and 1940s. This article offers a careful reading of the Filipino’s presence in his fiction through an analysis of the narratorial techniques deployed and the symbolism of the characters in two of his stories, “Our Little Brown Brothers the Filipinos” (1936) and “1924 Cadillac for Sale” (1938). In the first, by resorting to the tradition of the tall tale in a boxing story, the author disavows the raconteur’s ideology of racism and the hegemonic belief in the Great White Hope. Ramon’s victory signals the suspension of the alleged inferiority of the “brown savages” and becomes the stand-in justification for the long-overdue vindication of his people. Simultaneously, by allowing the Filipino farmhand to fix the jalopy in the second title, Saroyan manages to resurrect the pastoral ideal of America, thereby reviving the belief that marginalized immigrants, and not machines, can still be the driving force of the nation weathering an economic crisis.
format text
author Aguilera Linde, Mauricio D.
author_facet Aguilera Linde, Mauricio D.
author_sort Aguilera Linde, Mauricio D.
title Saroyan's Filipinos: Undoing Invisibility and Silence in Subaltern Spaces
title_short Saroyan's Filipinos: Undoing Invisibility and Silence in Subaltern Spaces
title_full Saroyan's Filipinos: Undoing Invisibility and Silence in Subaltern Spaces
title_fullStr Saroyan's Filipinos: Undoing Invisibility and Silence in Subaltern Spaces
title_full_unstemmed Saroyan's Filipinos: Undoing Invisibility and Silence in Subaltern Spaces
title_sort saroyan's filipinos: undoing invisibility and silence in subaltern spaces
publisher Archīum Ateneo
publishDate 2024
url https://archium.ateneo.edu/kk/vol1/iss35/7
https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/kk/article/1845/viewcontent/KK_2035_2C_202020_207_20Regular_20Section_20__20Linde.pdf
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