Words, Words, Words: What do they Mean?

I enjoyed reading the poems of Neruda and began to understand and see beyond what appears to be every day words. The challenge for me is that what is written is not always what is meant. It is the same when a person reads Shakespeare for instance. It helps to learn how to read between the lines and be open to other interpretations. The ability to write poetry is gift just like other art forms. It is not what you see or read but what is NOT said or written. That is part of the purpose of studying literature or various forms of art. We want to understand what an author wants to tell us. Perhaps he will reveal to us his own struggles and beliefs or try to impart what the world looks like from another’s point of view.

I think that it is somewhat the same within relationships. Sometimes what someone says or does can have a deeper or hidden meaning. So how does one interpret the hidden meaning? That is where understanding ourselves can help. The more we choose to look beyond what are surface meanings or look past our immediate reactions, the better we might gain insight into what is not being said.

When I first read Neruda’s poems my first reaction was huh? And then I focused on what was not said. They were words that expressed love found, lost, worshipped, mourned, desired and embraced. Most of us might use phrases like “I love you, you’re beautiful, I miss you”. However how many of us would say “en mi cielo al crepúsculo eres como una nube y tu color y forma son como yo los quiero. Eres mía, eres mía, mujer de labios dulces, y viven en tu vida mis infinitos sueños.” Wow! Where do I find me someone like that!!!

My point is that these are words but when you look past the words, there is another meaning. It’s the passion and desire of someone who loves another. Or it might be the anguish of love lost or forbidden.

Maybe it can remind us that what we say or believe we are saying, is not always what another person might understand. How many relationships end, or wars are start or how many people are hurt over what is said because they interpret it differently. I wrote in an earlier blog about the power of words. Words give us the ability to create masterpieces in our own right. Words can express love, mutual respect, support and caring. Words can also express power, anger, manipulation and loss. I know it’s the psychologist in me but the gift of words can be one of the greatest and most challenging tools we each have within our grasp and how we use them reverberates more than we will ever know.

¿Quíen es usted realmente?

Ahora mismo, he terminado leyendo Cumandá. Me gustó esta novela. Había muchos elementos a mí que hizo la novela que interesa en leer. Primer el hecho de las descripciones de la tierra, el ambiente, la cultura de la gente que vivía en Ecuador durante el tiempo cuando Mera escribió Cumandá. Pero más importante para mí eran los elementos psicológicos. En otras palabras, naturaleza humana. Leemos de amor, familia, fidelidad, sacrificio, poder, y pesar y eso es apenas el principio de la lista.

Para mí sin embargo, sorprende de darse cuenta de que Mera tuvo una comprensión de naturaleza humana aunque poco había sido escribido sobre este tema. Pienso que nos ayuda reconocer como era el mundo durante 1879. El mundo estaba mucho menos fue avanzado y sofisticado entonces nuestro mundo hoy. Tan es importante no hacer comparaciones entre el mundo de Mera y nuestro mundo. El punto de tomar un curso de la literatura es que nosotros podemos enseñar y si posible, entender la historia de otras culturas, sus creencias, sus valores y las maneras en que ellos vivieron cada día de sus vidas. No es importante si estamos acuerdo de ellos sino es importante respetar y aceptar el hecho que vivieron en un mundo que ellos trataron de entender. Entonces, Mera quiso que las próximas generaciones entendieran su herencia, la pasión sus antepasados y el hecho que naturaleza humana nunca cambia.

Cada acontecimiento que pasa en una vida está afectado por otros acontecimientos y siendo humano significa que actuamos y reaccionamos a todo alrededor de nosotros. Tengo todavía encontrar una persona que está de acuerdo de mí sobre todas las decisiones que hago. ¿Estábamos acuerdo de el viejo (el papá de Cumandá) cuando él quiso a Cumandá ser dado como un sacrificio porque su deseo ser con Carlos? No obstante cuando leemos más tarde en la novela, entonces entendemos porque quiso Cumandá morir. En realidad, Cumandá no era su hija pero la hija del padre Domingo. El viejo fue un parte de la tribu que había atacado y había matado la familia de Domingo muchos años previos. Ahora podemos entender.

Es el mismo para nosotros también. A veces no entendemos que pasó o porqué nuestros padres hicieron algunos decisiones. Quizás cuando comenzamos a entender nuestra herencia y nuestro pasado con la ayudo de la literatura, serán entonces que podemos adelantarnos con un mejor conocimiento de que somos.

The Power of Words

The visual medium drives our world today. We do not need to use our imagination, but simply turn on TV, watch DVD’s, or look at pictures. How refreshing to read a novel where the visual pictures consist of words. One of the first things I noticed was Mera’s incredible ability to paint pictures using only words. The scenes unfolded like strokes of a paintbrush on canvas. To appreciate the words however, an individual also needs to be receptive to this medium. Have we lost the ability and appreciation of the written word? As much as I hate to admit it, TV was in its infant stages when I was a child and there was nothing such as videos, DVDs or MTV. I was dependent on words to capture my imagination. I wonder if our world today is so dependent on visual stimulation that we have forgotten how to use our imagination, appreciate what we read, and hear, which brings me to ask my next question.

Do families still tell stories of their lives to the next generation? How else can we understand our history unless we hear it or read about it? Fortunately, there are still cultures that pass their heritage on to the next generation through stories, songs and words. This tradition allows the explanation of culture, myths, ceremonies, beliefs and importance of families. This semester we are considering the relationship between family and literature. Words connect one generation to the next and literature can be that link offering far greater insight than even the visual medium can offer us. Is that what we are looking for: a greater understanding into where we came from and who we are now? Sometimes it is not what is said but how it is said. Other times words filled with passion and emotion allow hidden things to become known.

In these first chapters, we learn about the passion of first love between two people, the loyalty and devotion of family, the importance and preparation of ceremonies, the relationship between tribes, the desire of the church to ‘help’ the indigenous people and the horrible effects because of the interference. For instance, Orozco comes to realize his part in the tragedy that befalls his family. On page 133 we read “eres culpable – le dijo la consciencia - y en cierta manera tú mismo fuiste la causa del exterminio de tu familia”. We cannot gloss over the details, change the channel or fast-forward. We must read each word and experience the joy of first love, the love of family and the horror of revenge.

Cumandá is a love story. Cumandá is a young beautiful indigenous girl and Carlos is a young white man full of passion and life. They fall in love yet are from different cultures and ways of life. From Shakespeare’s ”Romeo and Juliet” to Sidney Poitier starring in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”, the theme of forbidden love is timeless. The influences and dynamics of family play a crucial role in the development of our relationships and as we will find out, Cumandá is no exception.

literature and family: span365

The relationship between literature and family can be complex and yet at the same time, the knowledge that literature offers us can help to disseminate that complexity into a clearer understanding of who we are. It is not that we are ignorant of our family and our ancestors. It is that we don't always understand the motivation or the intentions of actions created by our family. Literature can bring to light some of that awareness. For example, the writings of Aristotle, Plato, Darwin and William James give us insight into the mind, the thought process and the psychological influences that have a strong bearing on decision making. What would motivate a member of our family to go to war? What would cause our grandparents to leave their country and all they knew, in order to move to a new place? And what secrets are never told yet seem to have a powerful hold on the family?

Literature from such writers as Walt Whitman, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling and Ernest Hemingway bring to life times and events whether fiction or fact, that reflect a different time for our grandparents and great grandparents. That world determined paths and choices that we might not understand today except that these writers allow us to see and understand another place and time.

Who we are as individuals is a clear reflection of the values, judgments and beliefs that our parents have and those same influences determined how our grandparents raised our parents. So when we read through many types of literature, we begin to experience moments of insight that we might otherwise miss.

Literature provides an important connection to our past and to the heritage from which we come. Since we cannot escape the past, we are better served by embracing that which we don't know or understand, in order that we can accept fully who we are.