User:CaseyDuke/sandbox

This is a general outline of the topics I will cover for the rest of this article:

• characters
• reception
• themes
• publication history
• settings

La Linea del Sol, also know as the Line of the Sun in its English translation, is a 1989 novel written by Puerto Rican American author Judith Ortiz Cofer. The novel was originally published in English and tells the story of a Puerto Rican family who emigrates to the United States. The story depicts the cultural, social, and personal struggles of the family members to maintain their native culture in Puerto Rico and the way of life in the suburbs of New Jersey. Marisol, the eldest daughter of the family, narrates her family's history from the rural life and conditions of the Island, to the move to New Jersey, and finally, the mother's return to Puerto Rico - all across the span of three decades between the late 1930’s and ending in the 1960’s. La Linea del Sol was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1989; likewise, the novels serves as Cofer's main work of prose from her literary career and helped broaden her audience after publication.

Overview

Judith Ortiz Cofer divided the novel into two parts, neither of which seam into a unified whole. The first half of the novel takes place in Puerto Rico, which is characterized by descriptions of tropical flora and fauna, as well as the vibrant and lush river valley that surrounds one the main character's (Rosa's) home. Cofer offers these rich descriptions to activate the human senses in not only her characters, but also her readers. Specifically, she characterizes the intake of the novel surrounds through the primary sensory organs of the body - for example, the ears, eyes, and nose - and even the touch of skin on other skin for another primary character, the young Guzmán. Through these characterizations, Rosa’s house and the sensory information provided by a lush Puerto Rican landscape represent all that is wonderful about the country, as Cofer notes in an excerpt from her book: "The valley itself seemed an earthly paradise...a natural grove of mango, papaya, and breadfruit trees."

In the second half of the novel, in which the family has moved to Paterson, New Jersey at this point, each of the family members start to realize that the "promised land" of the United States does not fulfill its promises of wealth, prosperity, and opportunity for all. Through these experiences in inequality, discrimination, and misunderstanding, Guzmán's young niece, Marisol, takes on the role as narrator in the second half of the story. Her descriptions regarding El Building, which is a tenement building, acts as a barrio for her and the other members of the Latino community in which she and her family live. Furthermore, Marisol describes the new role she takes on as a translator for her mother in a "foreign" world. Puerto Rico, then, is only as real to her as when her legendary Uncle Guzmán visits her in New Jersey, a physical and emotional embodiment of the rich culture, pride, and beauty her family has left behind for a new life in the U.S.

However, Cofer makes sure to highlight the continual economic poverty that has existed in Puerto Rico for decades, even though the country is also aesthetically, historically, and culturally rich. Cofer also intentionally highlights that, unsurprisingly, Marisol's model many parents in the Latino community who seek fortune and opportunity outside of the island and in the United States. Guzmán, although he loves the island and its beauty, joins the U.S. army in search of adventure in distant places, something the island cannot offer him in his perspective. Marisol, through these experiences, finally discovers that living in the North, or El Norte, of the United States only fulfills part of its promise to people searching for opportunity and fortune outside of their homeland. Towards the end of the novel, her parents do move to the New Jersey suburbs, which is an improvement from the barrio and tenement she had grown accustomed to. However, Marisol's mother continues to remain separate from and those around her, and throughout the rest of the novel she continues to grow dependent on her young daughter to navigate the new political, social, and cultural world she is not accustomed to.

Most importantly, Cofer uses the mediums of stories, cooking, and religious rituals to show how all the characters - especially Guzmán, Ramona, Rafael - and the others of their generation keep their culture and heritage alive even though the north continues to alienate them. Towards the end of the The Line of the Sun, Marisol has taken ownership of the narration and the story, and the reader discovers towards the end how she and her family fuse their experiences in the North with their native culture, roots, and practices.

Intro to Contemporary Latin America (Fall 2018)

After reviewing the information on Wikipedia regarding Latin American literature, artists, and work, I have decided to create my own article on a very popular book in the post-boom era of the Latin American literary revolution: The Line of the Sun, by Judith Ortiz Cofer. An article does not exist in either the English or Spanish Wikipedia search engines for the book, which deserves important coverage, especially since it was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1989.

The article is relevant to a pre-existing article on Judith Ortiz Cofer, which only glosses over the content of the book, The Line of the Sun. There is a lot of potential with covering this book, including coverage of the characters, reception, themes, publication history, and settings surrounding the book. There are very valuable and reliable sources that I can use as citations in my Wikipedia article. They are neutral, peer-reviewed journal articles that include some great facts and content about the background of the book, as well as explanations and summaries of the basic elements of the story (motifs, plot, etc.).

List of Potential Sources for Wikipedia Article: The Line of the Sun (book)

1. Journal Article: Concannon, K. (2001). Writing Under the Gaze of the Witch: Exile and Authorship in Judith Ortiz Cofer's "The Line of the Sun". Confluencia, 16(2), 71-82. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/27922796
2. Website: "The Line of the Sun - Summary" Masterpieces of American Literature Ed. Steven G. Kellman. eNotes.com, Inc. 2006 eNotes.com 16 Sep, 2018 <http://www.enotes.com/topics/line-sun#summary-the-work>
3. Journal Article: Faymonville, C. (2001). New Transnational Identities in Judith Ortiz Cofer's Autobiographical Fiction. MELUS, 26(2), 129-158. doi:10.2307/3185522
4. Journal Article: Bruce-Novoa. (1992). RITUAL IN JUDITH ORTIZ COFER'S "THE LINE OF THE SUN". Confluencia, 8(1), 61-69. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/27922130
5. Interview (Journal Article): Cofer, J., & Crumpton, M. (2003). An Interview with Judith Ortiz Cofer. Meridians, 3(2), 93-109. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40338576
6. Journal Article: Socolovsky, M. (2009). Telling Stories of Transgression: Judith Ortiz Cofer's "The Line of the Sun". MELUS, 34(1), 95-116. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20485360
7. Journal Article: Bost, S. (2000). Transgressing Borders: Puerto Rican and Latina Mestizaje. MELUS, 25(2), 187-211. doi:10.2307/468226

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Colonial Latin America (Fall 2017)

In the time of colonial slavery in northern South America (off the northern coasts of modern Colombia and Venezuela), a unique occupation amongst slaves was that of a pearl diver. A diver's career was often short-lived because the waters being searched were known to be shark-infested, resulting in frequent attacks on divers. However, a slave who discovered a great pearl could sometimes purchase his freedom. copied from Pearl hunting

Pearl Diving in Colonial Latin America

During the first half of the sixteenth century, Spaniards discovered the vast and luscious pearl oyster beds that existed on the Caribbean coast of Venezuela, particularly in the vicinity of Margarita Island. Indigenous slavery was easy to establish in this area because it had not yet been outlawed; therefore, indigenous peoples were captured and often forced to work as pearl divers. Since violence could not protect the efficiency of the slave trade, coastal chieftains established a ransoming system known as the "rescate" system. In this system, chiefs who made alliances with Spaniards exchanged their war captives for valuable goods and materials, such as weapons. As this system continued to grow, more and more oyster beds were discovered along the Latin American coast, including near Riohacha on Colombia's Guijara Peninsula. However, due to over exploitation of both indigenous labor and the oyster beds, the Spanish pearl economy soon plummeted. By 1540, previous Spanish settlements along the coast had been abandoned as the Spanish looked elsewhere for more labor and newer markets. The pearl industry was partially revived in the late sixteenth century, when Spaniards replaced indigenous labor with African slave labor.

The Pearl Diving Process

Oyster harvesting methods remained relatively the same along the coast and varied depending on the divers' conditions, the region's topography, and a Spanish master's work demands.

Margarita Island: Venezuela

On Margarita Island, small zones were inspected in advance by the divers, who relied mostly on lung power to dive and resurface from the ocean. Once those small zones had been depleted of their oysters, the men on the boat - which usually included a dozen divers, a Spanish navigator, a diving chief, an oarsmen, and a foreman - moved on to the next oyster bed. To retrieve the pearls, the divers carried a small net that had one end tied to the boat and the other end tied to the fishing net. The shells that they extracted were usually placed in this basket, but for dives of greater depth, the divers also had to wear stones tied to their bodies as they submerged into the ocean. The stones acted as a ballast until they resurfaced, where the divers then untied the stones from their bodies. The divers would receive a slight break to eat and rest and continue this work until sundown, where they all presented their catch to the foreman, return to the Spanish ranchería to have some dinner, and then open the oyster shells.

The divers were locked in their quarters at night by the Spaniards, who believed that if the divers (who were mostly male) compromised their chastity, they would not be able to submerge but rather float on the water. The divers who either had a small catch or rebelled were beaten with whips and tied in shackles. The working day lasted from dawn till dusk and being underwater, along with bruises, could affect the health of some divers. Furthermore, it is well-known that the coastal waters were often infested with sharks, so shark attacks were quite frequent as well. As the fisheries continued to diminish, slaves hid some of the valuable pearls and exchanged them for clothing with their bosses.

Cubagua: Venezuela

In Cubagua, another Venezuelan island, the Spaniards used natives as slave labor in their initial attempts to establish a thriving pearl market in this area. Indians, especially those from Lucayo in the Bahamas, were taken as slaves to Cubagua since their diving skills and swimming capabilities were known to be superb. Likewise, the Spaniards began to import African slaves as the indigenous populations died off from disease and over-exploitation and Africans became so preferred by the Spanish over indigenous labor that a royal decree of 1558 decreed that only Africans (and no natives) should be used for pearl diving. Like other pearl diving groups controlled by the Spanish, the pearl divers could be treated harshly based on their daily pearl retrieval. Unlike the other pearl diving groups, however, the divers on Cubagua were marked by a hot iron on their face and arms with the letter "C," which some scholars argue stood for Cubagua.

The pearl diving process in Cubagua varied slightly from other Spanish pearl diving practices. Here, there were six divers per boat and divers worked together in pairs to collect the pearls. These pearl divers used small pouches tied to their necks to collect the oysters from the sea bottom. Some scholars have reported that because of the climate in Cubagua, the heat would cause the oysters to open themselves, making the pearl extraction process a bit simpler. Natives, unlike Africans, were given less rest time and could potentially be thrown off the boat or whipped to commence work sooner. Similar to slaves on Margarita Island, all pearl diving slaves were chained at night to prevent escape; in addition, deaths not only resulted from shark attacks, but also from hemorrhaging caused by rapid surfacing from the water and intestinal issues induced by constant reentry into cold water.

Pearl Islands: Panama

Diver groups in the Panamanian fisheries were larger than those on Margarita Island, usually comprised of 18 - 20 divers. Instead of net bags, these divers surfaced with oysters under their armpits or even in their mouths, placing their catch in a cloth bag on board the ship. Each diver would continue to submerge until he was out of breath or extremely tired, but also after they had met their fixed quota for the day. Once the bags were full, the divers caught another breath and immediately began pearl extraction aboard the vessel, handing the pearls to the foreman who accounted for both imperfect and perfect pearls. Excess pearls were given to the divers who could sell them to the vessel owner at a just price; in contrast, if the divers did not meet their daily quota, they would either use their reserve pearls to fulfill the quota for the next day or write that amount of pearls into a debt account. Like the Venezuelan divers, the Panamanian divers also faced the danger of shark attacks, although they usually carried knives to defend themselves.