{"id":1096,"date":"2024-05-06T11:45:47","date_gmt":"2024-05-06T15:45:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/hispanic-studies-3257-spring-2024\/?p=1096"},"modified":"2024-05-20T20:46:52","modified_gmt":"2024-05-21T00:46:52","slug":"leyendo-a-liliana-colanzi-entrada-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/hispanic-studies-3257-spring-2024\/country\/bolivia\/leyendo-a-liliana-colanzi-entrada-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Leyendo a Liliana Colanzi: Entrada #3"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Los ojos m\u00e1s verdes\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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El cuento <\/span>Los ojos m\u00e1s verdes<\/span><\/i> originalmente no estaba incluido como parte de <\/span>Ustedes brillan en lo oscuro<\/span><\/i>. Sin embargo, el editor decidi\u00f3 incluirlo en la segunda edici\u00f3n y sirve como una exposici\u00f3n poderosa de temas de raza e identidad.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Como muchos de los cuentos de Colanzi, la narradora, Ofelia, es una chica joven, de solo diez a\u00f1os. En ocasi\u00f3n de su cumplea\u00f1os, la chica vuelve al pueblo rural de su madre. Su familia va a cenar a un restaurante chino, donde encuentran al Se\u00f1or T, un cantante fracasado quien vive en el pueblo. El se\u00f1or T saluda a Ofelia y su familia, y hace un comentario sobre los ojos de Ofelia, \u201cEs una chica guapa, dijo, una l\u00e1stima que no haya sacado los ojos de su padre\u201d (72). M\u00e1s tarde en la noche, Ofelia recibe una galleta de suerte que promete cumplir todos sus deseos, \u201cse cumplen todo tipo de deseos, llame al 666-666″. Esa noche en casa lo \u00fanico en que puede pensar Ofelia es tener ojos verdes. Reflejando sobre los rasgos de su perfil que ha heredado de su madre y de su padre, \u201cpens\u00f3 que hubiese querido haber nacido con los ojos verdes de su padre [\u2026] Pero tanto a ella como a sus cinco hermanos les tocaron los ojos rabiosamente oscuros de su madre, la novena hija de un maestro rural borracho y de una mujer muy pobre.\u201d Esta cita muestra como Ofelia entiende a los rasgos f\u00edsicos como muestras poder, dentro de una sociedad afectada por el legado del colonialismo y el racismo. Entonces, Ofelia llama al n\u00famero en el papelito de la galleta de la suerte, y una secretaria le da instrucciones de ir a visitar al personaje del \u201cjefe\u201d. Cuando va y visita al jefe Ofelia le pide que por favor le de ojos verdes. Ofelia ofrece al jefe dinero para cumplir su deseo, pero el jefe requiere solo una firma. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

En el momento de firmar el papel Ofelia pierde sus ojos marrones para ojos verdes, dejando atr\u00e1s no solo un aspecto f\u00edsico, pero tambi\u00e9n pierde partes de la memoria colectiva que cargaron sus ojos. Ofelia describe que, en el momento de perder sus ojos oscuros, perdi\u00f3 tambi\u00e9n la habilidad de recordar \u201clas texturas de las frutas del monte y los rostros de los ni\u00f1os del barrio.\u201d El deseo m\u00e1s \u00edntimo de Ofelia es tener caracter\u00edsticas europeas, aunque le cuesta memorias personales y aspectos de su identidad muy valorados. Adem\u00e1s, el cuento comenta sobre el patriarcado mientras es un hombre quien hace el comentario sobre los ojos de Ofelia y es tambi\u00e9n un hombre quien puede otorgar a Ofelia su deseo de ojos verdes. Incluso el jefe habla sobre las otras ni\u00f1as que le han pedido deseos, pero no sobre ning\u00fan ni\u00f1o. Un comentario hecho por un hombre (Se\u00f1or T.) forma los deseos de Ofelia, y tambi\u00e9n es un hombre quien decide si se puedan cumplir sus deseos.\u00a0Entonces, lo que parece ser \u00a0un cuento simple sobre una ni\u00f1a quien desea ojos verdes, resulta ser un comentario sobre la p\u00e9rdida de la memoria colectiva y el racismo end\u00e9mico como resultado del colonialismo, y sobre la omnipresencia del patriarcado en el contexto contempor\u00e1neo.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The short story “The Greenest Eyes” was originally not included as part of “You Shine in the Dark.” However, the editor decided to include it in the second edition, and it serves as a powerful exposition of themes of race and identity.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Like many of Colanzi’s stories, the narrator, Ofelia, is a young girl, only ten years old. On the occasion of her birthday, the girl returns to her mother’s rural town. Her family goes to dinner at a Chinese restaurant, where they encounter Mr. T, a failed singer who lives in the town. Mr. T greets Ofelia and her family, and makes a comment about Ofelia’s eyes, “She’s a pretty girl, he said, a pity she didn’t get her father’s eyes” (72). Later that night, Ofelia receives a fortune cookie promising to fulfill all her wishes, “all kinds of wishes come true, call 666-666.” That night at home, all Ofelia can think about is having green eyes. Reflecting on the traits of her profile that she has inherited from her mother and father, “she wished she had been born with her father’s green eyes [\u2026] But both she and her five siblings ended up with the fiercely dark eyes of their mother, the ninth daughter of a rural drunkard teacher and a very poor woman.” This quote shows how Ofelia understands physical traits as displays of power within a society affected by the legacy of colonialism and racism. So, Ofelia calls the number on the fortune cookie slip, and a secretary gives her instructions to visit the character of the “boss.” When she goes and visits the boss, Ofelia asks him to please give her green eyes. Ofelia offers the boss money to fulfill her wish, but the boss requires only a signature.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the moment of signing the paper, Ofelia trades her brown eyes for green eyes, leaving behind not only a physical aspect, but also losing parts of the collective memory carried by her eyes. Ofelia describes that, at the moment of losing her dark eyes, she also lost the ability to remember “the textures of the mountain fruits and the faces of the neighborhood children.” Ofelia’s most intimate desire is to have European features, although it costs her personal memories and aspects of her highly valued identity. So, what seems to be just a simple story about a girl who wishes for green eyes turns out to be a commentary on the loss of collective memory as a result of colonialism.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Furthermore, the story comments on patriarchy as it is a man who comments on Ofelia’s eyes and it is a man who can grant Ofelia her wish for green eyes. Even the boss talks about the other girls who have asked him for wishes, but not about any boys. A comment made by a man (Mr. T.) shapes Ofelia’s desires, and it is also a man who decides whether her wishes can be fulfilled.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Los ojos m\u00e1s verdes\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 El cuento Los ojos m\u00e1s verdes originalmente no estaba incluido como parte de Ustedes brillan en lo oscuro. Sin embargo, el editor decidi\u00f3 incluirlo en la segunda edici\u00f3n y sirve como una exposici\u00f3n poderosa… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1146,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bolivia","category-liliana-colanzi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/hispanic-studies-3257-spring-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/hispanic-studies-3257-spring-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/hispanic-studies-3257-spring-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/hispanic-studies-3257-spring-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/hispanic-studies-3257-spring-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/hispanic-studies-3257-spring-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1096\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/hispanic-studies-3257-spring-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/hispanic-studies-3257-spring-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/hispanic-studies-3257-spring-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}