JE #6: Character Rate-A-Thon

Scale from 1-10 with 10 as the most culturally schizophrenic. 

As defined by Profesora Gaspar de Alba in her article on Born in East LA, cultural schizophrenia is defined as "the presence of mutually contradictory or antago­nistic beliefs, social forms, and material traits in any group whose racial, reli­gious, or social components are a hybrid of two or more cultures" (199). 

10 JoEl 
9   Mama Chona
8   Miguel Grande 
7   Felix 
6   Miguel Chico 
5   Juanita 
4   Angie 
3   Nina 
2   Lola 
1   Nena 

In my opinion, JoEl is victim of the most cultural schizophrenia of the ten characters from Rain God. First off, under the wing of Mama Chona he is instilled with internalized racism against his own Mexican heritage as demonstrated by his shame for his mother's bad English. Furthermore, having been a victim of sexual abuse under the homosexuality of his father, he has to spend the rest of his life dealing with the ghost of his father's homoerotic love, his murder, and the constant presence of the hetero normative society that killed his father. He is always confronted with Mama Chona's idea that having fair skin and having an education places him in a position of power, however he only desires to understand his father's love and his own place in society. Even his name is symbolic of his father's love for him, JoEl: Yo-El, Me and him. His physical and psychological schizophrenia is clear in his last statement to Miguel Chico, "You hate the family and it loves you. I love the family and it hates me."   

Mama Chona and Miguel Grande share the next highest level of cultural schizophrenia because they both carry an internalized racism against their own culture and a Catholic/Mexican/Anglo instilled patriarchy. They then pass these symptoms to the rest of the Angel lineage as the male and female symbol of patriarchy and Anglo superiority.

Felix follows on the scale because as Angie mentions throughout the novel, unlike his brother and sisters, he does not believe he is superior to others due to any racial or skin colored superiority. However, he does have an internalized heterosexuality that leads him to use his superiority at his job to sexually violate immigrants who do not have the power to report him as well as his son, JoEl. 

Miguel Chico, Juanita, and Angie follow on the scale of cultural schizophrenia. The reason I place Miguel Chico as 6th on the scale is because although he faces such detachment with his family and past that he physically moves to disconnect himself from them, unlike many other members of the family he does not carry historical amnesia. In fact, Mama Chona shares the stories of her youth with him, and that in turn is what leads him to decide to leave. Juanita is fifth because she symbolized the role of the suffering mother and devoted wife to Miguel Grande. Her internalized heteropatriarchy leads her to accept her husbands affair, however unlike the rest of the family she is not ashamed of her culture and embraces it. This leads me to Angie who does not reject her culture either, and does not fit the role of the subservient wife, however she allows her children to assimilate into American culture. 

Nina, Lola, and Lena are the least culturally schizophrenic because they all manage to liberate themselves from both Anglo and Mexican heteropatriarchy more than any of the other characters. Throughout the novel Nina is always aware of the way in which men are manipulating other women such as Miguel Grande does with Juanita. However, of these three women she carries some internalized patriarchy due to her father's abuse at a young age. Lola, the green eyed and dark blonde haired woman, is cognizant of her sexual power over men and uses that to her advantage in turn breaking away from the role of server to men. Lena, is the one with hte least cultural schizophrenia of them all. Her break from heteronormativity is apparent in her sexual ambiguity as well as her darker complexion and willingness to embrace her Mexican-ness without regard to what Mama Chona or her aunts will say.