Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Blu's Hanging Controversy
I disagree with the UH Pamantasan Council's argument to strip Blu's Hanging of the AAAS's award for fiction. Their claims make it look as though they are overlooking the main point of the novel. Yamanaka's intention was not to be racist or insensitive. She is conveying a journey of a preteen girl and her family trying to rebuild themselves after the death of their mother. I can understand why the council may see certain aspects of the novel as "culturally insensitive" especially if they are using Uncle Paolo as an example but to say that that makes the entire novel not worthy of recognition is unfair. If that is the case then The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be stripped of its praise. The claims of racism all lies under personal interpretation and to use only that claim as an argument should have been worthy enough to take away Yamanaka's award.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I whole heartedly agree with you on this, taking a single character out of the book is like taking a single verse out of the Bible to defend a whole argument, personal interpretation comes in to play much too much for this to be the central basis of their argument. If they solely focus on this one aspect the committee obviously missed the point of the very heartfelt journey Yamanaka's characters went through.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you in judging Yamanaka's intentions. Given that you characterized Ivah as a teen girl (when in truth, many of these characters are young adults), I feel that critics over-attach the novel's promiscuity to racial identity. I believe the novel's sexual presence is in fact more closely associated with the timeless coming of age story, wherein these characters are in the process of sexual identity. Yamanka's inclusion of this journey is very organic to the human process of development, and to say it is a dirty Filipino development is simply outlandish.
ReplyDeleteWell written, Jerrell! I think that the award should have been revoked, based on the purpose of the society, but like I said in my blurby-thing, if it was from another society or organization, then there should have been no retraction of the award, whatsoever. Maybe even more awards.
ReplyDelete