Revista Surco Sur

Volume 5 | Issue 8

3-30-2015

Creating a Literary Bond: Lydia Cabrera and ToniMorrisonChristiana Succar

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Recommended CitationSuccar, Christiana. 2015. Creating a Literary Bond: Lydia Cabrera and Toni Morrison. Revista Surco Sur, Vol. 5: Iss. 8, 36-41.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5038/2157-5231.5.8.24Available at: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/surcosur/vol5/iss8/25

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In comparing the short stories Cuentos Negros by Lydia Cabrera and the novel The Bluest Eye by ToniMorrison one must recognize the impact of the time period in which the authors’ lived, the culturalidentity represented in their works and the form and structure utilized to convey messages throughliterature. Though both women lived in different time periods in history and were from differentbackgrounds, as minority female writers they expressed similar recognition and insight of a minorityculture while in the shadow of the Dominate European-American hegemony.

Lydia Cabrera was born on May 20, 1899 in Havana, Cuba to a prominent family. Though herformal education was inconsistent, she was exposed to renowned writers, politicians and artists.Cuentos Negro first published in Paris in 1937 and then in Cuba in 1940 was initially dubbed as storiesto entertain her ill companion Teresa de la Perra. However, these stories stemmed from Cabrera’sintimate relationship with Blacks from her childhood, adult research and the influence of FernandoOrtiz “the father of Afro-Cuban studies” (Hoffman-Jeep 343).

Thirty-two years later, Toni Morrison was born Chloe Anthony Wolford in 1931, in Loraine, Ohio.Though born into a Southern family she grew up in Loraine during the collapse of its steel mill industry.After completing her M.A. in 1955 and holding various faculty positions she published her first novelThe Bluest Eye in the United States in 1970. Though she was not a political activist during the civilrights movement, during her faculty position at Howard she taught two individuals who becamewell-known figures in the movement Stokely Carmichael and Claude Brown (Peach 5).

As both authors’ embarked onthese seminal pieces of literaturethey faced a world in a state of flux.Cuba was a post-colonial newindependent nation struggling withnew ways to talk about race.Cabrera challenged this conflict inher work by maintaining theAfrican Yoruba language andAfro-Cuban religious culture. Shestraddles the two worlds betweenthe major Cuban and minorityAfro-Cuban culture through theuse of polyphonic narratives topresent an understanding of Afro-Cuban culture as fundamental tothe understanding of Cubanculture. This is evident in the crossreferencing of the Catholic andOrisha religion in the short storyBregantino Bregantin.

In this story, the king ofCocozumba (an African mythicsetting) seeks a husband for hisdaughter. When he marries heroff to a worm whose healthdeclines she is passed on to histrusted bull. The bull is a powerhungry promiscuous animal that

Christiana SuccarCreating a Literary Bond:Lydia Cabrera and Toni Morrison

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impregnates multiple women ayear and then kills the maleoffspring. One day he meets hismatch, Sanune who seeks outthe help of the gods. “She cameto the edge of the fearsomeforest, guided by the spirit of hermother who, while she wasalive, was a faithful servant ofthe saints of iron, her protectors(arrow, bow, nail, chain, andlock), Ogun and Ochosi, SaintPeter and Saint Norbert”(Cabrera 10). “The deceasedwoman begged for the help fromOgun and Ochosi, and the forestopened its arms…” (12). Thesaints recognized Sanune as thefaithful servant’s daughter andOchosi the protector of women,looked to the goddess of the sea

and the moon and fertility rights, Yemaya the Virgin of Regla (who straddles both Afro-Cubanand Catholic religion-Cabrera, footnote 7 12).

Sanune becomes pregnant and on the eve before birth “she [takes] a bath in an infusion of poplarleaves, artemesia, bay laurel, incense, all of Saint Barbarba’s herbs, and sigueraya boiled inaguardiente and bee honey perfumed with tobacco” (15). When the executioner kills the babySanune quickly returns to the forest, where Ochosi brings him back to life by rubbing his armsand legs with bee honey. Then, Ogun pronounces to Sanune to “calmly go back to the village.When your son is ten years old, he’ll knock over a palm tree with one thrust of his horns, andwhen he’s twenty, a ceiba tree (the sacred tree of Cuba)” (15-16). The calf grows into the bullBregantino Bregantin!, who rids the village of his tyrannical father reclaiming nature’s rightsand the birth of men in Cocozumba (19).

Though this tale is rich with other interpretations central to the story such as the power ofgender, anthropological references and cultural analysis it overtly illustrates the struggle betweenCuban-Catholicism and Afro-Cuban religion through constant comparison between the CatholicSaints and African Gods. Hiriart reminds the reader that Cabrera was aware that religiousproverbs were common in Afro-Cuban tales because the Blacks were obligated to harmonizeits polytheism with the Catholic culture (45). However, in “Bregantino Bregantin,” Cabrerautilizes the comparison between both cultures as a way to empower and create space for Afro-Cuban expression within the Cuban culture.

Similar to Cabrera’s struggles, Morrison as a black-female writer, during the civil rights movementfocused on black characters living within a white dominated society. She faced head on thehegemonic perception of what defined Euro-American cultural values and ideals impressed onblack people. In her novel The Bluest Eye the protagonist is a young black girl named PecolaBreedlove who struggles to fit into her community. Given the racial divide of the 1940’s she isunable to integrate into white society, so she fantasizes about having white skin, blue eyes andblond hair. While at the same time shunned by the black society because of her ugliness “she satlooking in the mirror, trying to discover the secret of the ugliness, the ugliness that made herignored or despised at school, by teachers and classmates alike” (Morrison 45).

As the story commences, Morrison cleverly introduces this conflict by emphasizing whitemiddle-class American values as measured through Euro-American standards. The tone of thebook is set in the first three lines as one of the narrator’s recites the Dick-Jane American primer.“Here is the house. It is green and white. It has a red door. It is very pretty. Here is the family.Mother, Father, Dick and Jane live in the green and white house. They are very happy.” (3). Thisrecitation continues throughout the novel as Pecola faces continuous rejection by the community.

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According to Peach, “engaging with theassumptions of the white American primer,Morrison’s novel unfurls the history in Euro-American standards of beauty and in whiteAmerica’s idealization of the family from anAfrican-American perspective…” (32-33). Inaddition to the subtle reminder of theinfluence of the dominant white hegemony,it is also evident in the overt action of thecharacters.

When Pecola temporarily moves in withthe neighbors Frieda and Claudia, she iswelcomed with a cup of milk in a ShirleyTemple cup. As Pecola takes the cup she“gazed fondly at the silhouette of ShirleyTemple’s dimpled face” (Morrison 19). Thisfond gaze reflects the ideals that superiorbeauty consists of light skin, eyes and haircolor. However, through the character ofClaudia, this iconic view of the white racedoes not remain stagnant. Claudia says “Icouldn’t join them in their adoration becauseI hated Shirley. Not because she was cute,but because she danced with Bojangles, whowas my friend, my uncle, my daddy, andwho ought to have been soft-shoeing it andchuckling with me” (19). Morrison utilizesClaudia both as the narrator and theantagonist for this theme of the novel. As thenarrator, she creates a sense of being on theoutside looking in at the recognition of theinfluence of the majority power over theminority race and as antagonist theawareness of suppression of the minorityculture.

In addition to their representation of theinfluence between cultures, both workshighlight the importance of cultural identity.Cabrera’s work emphasizes the role the Afro-Cuban culture has in the Cuban culture. Sheaccomplishes this by telling her stories in twodistinct settings: the African forest and “elmonte” or wilderness of Cuba to emphasizeeach culture’s identity while creating a bridgebetween the two. This is evident in the shortstories “Tatabisaco” and “El caballo deHicotea”. In the former the African settingtakes place “[e]arly in the morning [where]the women would go to work the fields [and][t]he men would go deep into the virgin forestto hunt” (Cabrera 112). In the latter, thestory commences in Havana where “Hicoteawas busy reading Havana Illustrated besidea stream where Br’er White Horse came

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twice a day to drink” (141). These separatedescriptions signify the importance of thewilderness to the individual cultures, but atthe same time blend the African and Cubancultures through their descriptions of anoutside space. This blending is important toexemplify Cabrera’s anthropologicalknowledge of the significance of the Afro-Cuban’s tribute to the forest/wilderness.

Like Cabrera, Morrison’s emphasis oncultural identity is in two forms inclusion andindividualism. However, Morrison looks toher characters’ behaviors and actions tostress the relevance of African-Americanidentity in the dominant Anglo-Saxonsociety. On the surface, the beliefs of thecharacter Pecola represent the culturalaspirations to fit in whereas Claudiarepresents the importance of individualism.Pecola’s desire to have blue eyes is a physicalchange that she believes will gain heracceptance by society. “If she lookeddifferent, beautiful, maybe Cholly would bedifferent, and Mrs. Breedlove too. Maybethey’d say, ‘Why, look at pretty-eyed Pecola.We mustn’t do bad things in front of thosepretty eyes’… Each night, without fail, sheprayed for blue eyes” (Morrison 46-7). Thephysical change will take care of the outsideperception and dictate on the surface whatmainstream society determines acceptable.

On the other hand, the character ofClaudia constantly questions these values ofwhite dominance, inadvertently emphasizingthe importance of the African-Americanculture. Each Christmas Claudia received ablonde blue-eyed doll and was told “[h]ere,they said. This is beautiful, and if you are onthis day worthy you may have it…I could notlove it. But I could examine it to see what itwas that the world said was lovable” (21).Such insight allows for individual thought, ashift away from the majority rule.

Moreover, both authors convey theirstories in a folkloric language to relaycultural messages through various lessons.They accomplish this by straddling theboundaries of the oral and written discourse,multiple narratives and varied structure.These elements are present in the messageconveyed in Cabrera’s story “Walo-Wila”.In this short story, two sisters Walo-Wila andAyere Kende live in a house in town. Walo-Wila never went out in public and Ayere

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Kende sat out on the balcony to enjoy the cool eveningsea breeze. Below the balcony was a golden gobletfull of fresh water. As men came by they commentedon the beauty of the goblet and Ayere Kende sang“Yes, but my sister is more beautiful!” and thegentleman replied, “I want to see her...Let me comein” and Ayere Kende sang, “If you marry her, youwill see her then, my brother” (Cabrera 25).

As many men continued to pass, the banter andsong continued. Until one day Stag, the son ofHoneysuckle drank out of the golden goblet. Walo-Wila and Ayere Kende sang their lament and despiteWalo-Wila’s deterrence, Stag pronounced, “I’ll marryher.” Then, Walo-Wila declared “The mother of mysister lives at the bottom of the sea” (28). At midnightStag was advised to go down to the bottom of the seawith a gourd of pearls. Stag returned with a gourdfilled with saphhires of Olokun (the Orisha Olokuncorresponds to Our Lady of Regla-goddess ofrelationships). Walo-Wila is revealed and Stag learnsshe is more beautiful than imaginable: “When the moonand the sea kiss…” (28). The power of the writtendiscourse is evident through the imagery of Ayer Kendeon the balcony waiting for suitors. The musical calland response create orality and the multiple narratives varied meanings for the reader. Thisvaried literary structure signals multiple levels of meanings and messages through one medium.

Like Cabrera, Morrison’s folkloric language utilizes oral and written discourse through therepetition of the Dick-Jane American primer, multiple narrative voices, and play between poeticsong and narrative. The introduction and repetition of the primer is like a societal chant ofexpectation and fluidity between oral and written structure that relays the message to both readerand characters. The multiple narratives relay various messages to the reader. The narrator of theprimer is an omniscient narrator who providesClaudia with access to information and othercharacters outside the immediate range of experience(Peach 34). So, Claudia seeks to understand therelevance and influence of the white middle class toher culture. The play between poetics and narrativeis evident in Pecola’s reaction to Poland’s lament toloneliness.

Pecola climbed the stairs to their apartment. Evenbefore the door was opened to her tapping, shecould hear Poland singing-her voice sweet andhard, like new strawberries:I got blues in my mealbarrelBlues up on the shelf…(repeat)Blues in my bedroom‘Cause I’m sleepin’ by myself (Morrison 51).

This song represents Pecola’s loneliness and desireto be loved. As Maguire explained with Cabrera’swork “[b]y changing and confounding expectationsof structure and content, expand [their] text’s levelsof meaning…” (11). Similar to multiple narratives,varied structures enhance the ability identify shifts inmeaning directed at the reader and among thecharacters.

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Overall, both female authors overcame variouschallenges to stand in the present literary statureand though their personal backgrounds andexperiences vary there are many commonalities intheir literary expression. Both authors rely on a senseof magic to tell their stories. Cabrera’s work is lessabout character development and more aboutculture with the emphasis on the enchantedexpression of cultural and religious values. Morrisondevelops her characters throughout a novel that hasan open structure and fragmentations that leave thereader to interpret subtle messages. Despite theirdifferences, they both recognized the importance ofcultures that needed to be heard and recognized bythe majority.

Bibliography- Cabrera, Lydia. Afro-Cuban Tales. Trans. Alberto

Hernandez-Chiroldes and Lauren Yoder.Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004.Print.

- Cabrera, Lydia. Cuentos Negros de Cuba. Miami:Ediciones Universal, 2002. Print.

- Hoffman-Jeep, L. “Creating Ethnography: ZoraNeale Hurston and Lydia Cabrera.” AfricanAmerican Review. 39:3 (2005): 337-353. Web.15 Jan. 2014.

- Hiriart, Rosario. Lydia Cabrera: Vida Hecha Arte.New York: Eliseo Torres and Sons, 1978.Print.

- Maguire, Emily. Racial Experiments in CubanLiterature and Ethnography. Gainesville:University Press of Florida, 2011. Web. 26March 2014.

- Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. New York:Penguin, 1970. Print.

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Creating a Literary BondCreating a Literary Bond

Creating a Literary Bond

Revista Surco Sur3-30-2015

Creating a Literary Bond: Lydia Cabrera and Toni MorrisonChristiana SuccarRecommended Citation

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