Mingo as the Mexican-American Son

25 show that Mingo is not a low field-workers. The clipboard and money box represent that Mingo is a professional field-worker. As described, Mingo also plays bowling. His clothing shows that he plays bowling before he comes into the house. Bowling is a sport which is usually played by Anglo professional blue-collar worker. It means that Mingo socializes with the Anglo-American. He feels comfortable hanging out with the Anglo-American. This comes in contrast with the other family members who see the Anglo-Americans as superior figures. Food choices usually reflect the lifestyle of a person. In this case, the food eaten by Mingo reflects the food eaten by the Anglo-Americans. Mingo prefers to eat American typical food than eating Mexican food that can be easily obtained in the neighborhood. Talking about Mingo‟s first dinner since he comes back home, all of the family members want to celebrate it by cooking home-made Mexican food for him. On the other hand, he refuses and prefers to eat steak in town. “No thanks. I had steak in town” Valdez, 1989: 996. Meanwhile, steak itself is a common food eaten by the Americans. Steak is considered as a high-priced food. This shows that Mingo does not miss home cooking although he is away from home for a long time. After living in the neighborhood for a while, his habit that makes him into an American is getting serious. He keeps American ‟s typical food in the refrigerator, such as bread, steaks, milk, eggs, orange juice. Like what Lupe mentions in the dialogue, “Besides, there‟s plenty of food there – bread, steaks, milk, eggs, orange 26 juice.” Valdez, 1989: 1020. It means that Mingo eats American food for his everyday life. The researcher finds that Mingo prefers to eat American food in order to make himself looks like a common Anglo-American who eats such food. Developing individualistic character just like the Anglo-Americans, he also keeps American food only for himself. He does not allow anybody to eat his food, even his pregnant and hungry sister. This shows that Mingo does not care about his family. He only cares about himself and his American things. One of the important things that makes Mingo as a Mexican-American is the language he uses. From the beginning, Mingo always uses English to communicate in everyday life. This does come in contrast with the other family members who use Spanish English and Broken English to communicate with others. At first, Mingo understands the language they used. However later, he slowly changes into someone who does not understand Spanish English at all and uses grammatically correct English. The most obvious proof is when Belarmino yells some American stereotype in Spanish to Mingo. He does not understand Spanish and he replies Belo by telling him to speak in English. Belo says that Mingo is Americanized, broken down, rootless, shameless, self-centered, useless, stingy, softheaded, stubborn, foul- mouthed, amoral, drowned, and insane. Then, Mingo answers repeatedly SPEAK ENGLISH Valdez, 1989: 1030. This shows that Mingo is in the process of forgetting his mother-tongue language. 27 From the stereotypes, the researcher also concludes that Mingo turns into an Anglo- American. This is seen from Belo‟s point of view on Mingo. Belo yells American stereotypes, according to Mexicans, to Mingo. He says that Mingo betrays their people as he becomes more Americanized. According to Gordon, there are several American traits that play important role on a person‟s characteristic. Mingo‟s appearance and habitual daily life represents an Anglo-American, which he tries so hard to be. Mingo wants to be one of them. Not only his appearance and his habit in daily life, but his way of thinking also show that he no longer belongs to the family. American traits by Gordon that represent Mexican-American Mingo are: hard working, materialistic, practical, adventuresome, optimistic, impatient, and incline towards violence, and patriotic and nationalistic. These American traits are owned by Mingo and they lead Mingo to reach his American Dream, and later he eventually becomes an Anglo-American. Mingo is a hard working person. It can be seen in previous part where he comes home and brings money box. This shows that Mingo works hard to reach the position of an elite or professional worker. His money box implies that Mingo has higher position than any paid field-worker. Compared to other family member, Mingo is quite successful since the family members do not work or try to find any jobs. Mingo is materialistic and also optimistic. In this case, materialistic is a person who is middle-class oriented. Mingo is obsessed with middle-class things. It is 28 seen from the way he dresses, the food and beverages he consumes, the things he owns, and his obsession to fit in middle-class society. This can be seen through the beverage that he drinks, an Old Crow Whiskey. Mingo underestimates his father‟s 35-cent drinks. He says that he will buy his father a 6.50 Old Crow Whiskey, an American product. Mingo also owns a credited Chevrolet car which later he trades it with more expensive Chevrolet car. Chevrolet is considered as a prestigious American brand car. LUPE : A Chevi Mama, un Chevi CRUZ : Blessed by the name of the Señor. That one is ours, Mingo? MINGO : All ours, only forty more payments to go. [Everyone looks out the window except PEDRO .] What‟s wrong, pa? Ain‟t you going to see? PEDRO : For what? They going to come for it in two months. MINGO : Not this baby. I‟m gonna keep up all my payments. Valdez, 1989: 997 Mingo credits a Chevrolet car. He is optimistic that he will keep his payments. However his family members are uncertain if Mingo can fulfill the payments. On the other side, Mingo is so confident in keeping up the payments because he will find a job and make a lot of money. He is optimistic even though his other family members say that he will not make the payments going. Cruz and Joaquin are pessimistic about their life. Cruz admits that her family will never be rich because they live only from Pedro‟s welfare. Along with that, Joaquin says that nobody is going to get rich from working on the fields. It can be seen that Mingo has no support from his family. However, Mingo is so confident at getting money. He believes in every little chance. He is going to work hard in the land of opportunity, yet he starts from the bottom. 29 CRUZ : We always been poor, my son. MINGO : [Determined .] That‟s true, mom. But now things are gonna be different. I‟m here now, and we‟re going to be rich – middle class I didn‟t come out the war without learning nothing. Valdez, 1989: 998 This conversation implies that Mingo learns a lot of thing in the war. It causes him to think that he can fit in middle-class society even though he is actually from lower class society. Mingo is a practical person. It is proven since he is the only one on the family who admits Belarmino is a head. “Stop wasting money on beans and tortillas. Admit Shorty‟s a head” Valdez, 1989: 1022. On the other side, Cruz, their mother, still refuses to admit that Belarmino is a head. Cruz still sees Belarmino as a handicapped son and does not want to realize that Belo only makes her suffering. However, Mingo sees that Belarmino burdens of the family since he cannot work and only eat all the time. Mingo feels that Belarmino is the reason of why the family cannot be successful. Mingo is adventuresome, which comes in contrary to his family members. He is not afraid to try something new and to leave his former habits. He says to his family that they will move to a new house. A better house.“Padre, madre, so what? I‟m talking about Prune Blossom Acres. America‟s at our doorstep. All we have to do is take one step.” Valdez, 1989: 1003. Mingo is so excited to move his family into the house located in a different neighborhood, in which he believes that it is closer to America. However, the other family members are not excited. Mingo‟s families are worried about their new neighborhood, and they do not want to move away from their old house. Simply, they do not have enough confident to face new environment, they 30 feel insecure to socialize with higher class people. They seem troubled to do adaptation with new people n new neighborhood. On the other hand, Mingo is so excited to move into the new house and to be accepted as an American. He does not let anybody in the house buries his dream to live in a higher level society. Mingo even mocks his father‟s house as a dirty place to live. CRUZ : And the gringos? MINGO : Whatta you mean, gringos? CRUZ : Who else lives in new houses? MINGO : Americans, ma. Americans citizens like me and y – [Pause.] Aw, whatta you trying to do? Get me defeated too? You wanna spend the rest of your live in this stinking barrio?” Valdez, 1989: 1004. The family members, especially Cruz, are worried about the new neighborhood. They are worried about living in new neighborhood filled with gringos or Anglo-Americans, a neighborhood with no Mexican-Americans. However, Mingo is very proud to call himself an American. From the conversation above, Mingo looks a little bit uncomfortable with the word gringos, which is usually used by Mexican- Americans to call Anglo-Americans. Mingo prefers to use the term Americans, instead of gringos because he wants to cut the ties with his Mexican blood. This kind of term annoys Mingo. He feels resentful and very annoyed when Pedro calls the citizen of the United States of America with Americanos. He spontaneously yells “Americans” to correct Pedro‟s choice of word to call American citizen. “Americanos? Americans” Valdez, 1989: 996. Americanos is a term used by Latin-Americans to refer American citizens. Mingo is annoyed when somebody 31 calls him that term. It is because the term Americanos still has relation with Spanish language, his mother tongue, which he wants to cut off. The conversation between Belarmino and Joaquin below strengthens the idea that Mingo is truly Americanized and different from the other family members. The other family members state that Mingo is a gringo or gavacho. These terms are used to insult an American, specifically Anglo- American. BELARMINO : You, tu, tu Mexican Pendejo Mira, esperate Trans: Look, wait a minute.…ahhh, you Mexican, me Mexican…ahhh this one familia Mexican, eh? Mingo, no Mingo esgringo.Comprendes? … BELARMINO : Mingo eesgavacho, eh? JOAQUIN : Simon Trans: Yeah, sure., and a t‟ief. Valdez, 1989: 1011 Mingo is said to be a thief because he only cares about himself. He is accused of taking money from his worker. The fact that a lot of Mexican was given a low wages during that period of time, they have to pay insurances, lunches, and taxes. Still, their wages are so low that they could not pay all their basic needs. In this context, the workers have no choice but to owe money from their superior worker, Mingo. In Mexican tradition, people always come first than the person himself. However, Mingo never thinks about other people‟s problem. He is impatient towards his „own people‟, the Mexican-American who are employed as a low-worker. Mingo only cares about himself and his American Dream. He does everything to make his dream comes true, even though he has to betray his family, friend, and race. 32 Mingo is patriotic and nationalistic. This can be seen from the beginning. Mingo just comes home from the war, and he is proud of being one of the soldiers. Becoming a soldier is a hard walk of life since a person has to leave and risk everything behind to defend the country. The war is the starting point where Mingo finds his first American Dream. He says it to Joaquin, when he wants Joaquin to be like him. “Listen man, there‟s only one thing I ever wanted in this life. That‟s not to be poor. I never got that until I become a Marine.” Valdez, 1989: 1019. Mingo‟s nationalism is also seen from the things he owns. He drives Chevrolet, an American brand car, and he trades it with another Chevrolet. He also drinks American brand Whiskey, Old Crow. Even though those American products are not the best of their kind, Mingo is proud of having them. Researcher takes a note that Mingo wants to help his family to get out of their slum neighborhood. Mingo is determined to make it happen. However, his family still tightly holds their culture, and their togetherness. From Mingos perspective, it will slow down his way to be an Anglo-American. He cannot reach his dream if he still has relation with his family: insanity and poverty. Mingo only cares about himself, and then he slowly forgets where he comes from. I trade it in for my Chivi. about his new red sports car I also took 200 bucks outta the bank and bought new clothes. See? Everything new. You should see how great it feels Instead of the head, Im spending money where it counts: on self improvement. And with my credit, I can get anything else I want. Thirty dollar shoes, color TV, a Hi-Fi stereo, a new bowling ball, steak dinners, cocktails I can even go to college. Sure State College The G.I. Bill will foot the bill. Heh, you get that? G.I. Bill foot the bill? I know its below your mental intelligence to comprehend the simplicity... [During this speech 33 MINGOs voice changes from a Chicano accent to the nasal tones of an Anglo: he also begins to talk down his nose at his mother .] Valdez, 1989: 1022 From Mingo‟s speech above, the researcher sees that Mingo wants the best for himself, not his family. He does not care if his family agrees with him or not. He will do anything to achieve what he wants. Mingo wants to be accepted in an Anglo- American society even though he is a Mexican-American. He wants to be one of them. In his speech, Mingo even mocks his family as low-educated people like other Mexican-American. As written on the stage direction, Mingo voice changes from a Chicano accent to the nasal tones of an Anglo. This explains that in his unconscious mind, when talking about his “almost reached” American Dream, Mingo turns into someone different. Mingo has not yet reached his American Dream, but almost. He only needs one more important thing to do, letting go of his past. It is obvious that Mingo starts to forget everything. He forgets his passed- away father, his sister, and moreover, he forgets that he belongs to the family. It can be seen when Joaquin mocks Mingo that he is now a White. Mingo el gringo Valdez, 1989: 1024. Joaquin also curses to Mingo that he is a sell-out traitor to his family. Mingos effort to differentiate himself from the family is getting stronger when he mocks Joaquin Like a stinking Mexican Valdez, 1989: 1025. Mingo thinks that he is not one of them, but sadly, he is. They are from the same parents, the same neighborhood, and even the same ethnicity, but they are not the same anymore. 34 In How to Analyze Drama, Reaske said that dialogue between character, hidden narration, and character in action plays important role in understanding a character. There are some dialogue, narration, and action that show how Mingo tries so hard to make his American Dream comes true. When Mingo comes into the house, Pedro is having arguments with Joaquin. Then Pedro said to Joaquin “Why don‟ you be smart like your brother here. He don‟ go around wis stupid babozadas. He is a serious hombre con respeto y dinero. Trans.: Man with respec t and money” Valdez, 1989: 1015. From Pedro‟s dialogue above, it implies that Pedro admits Mingo as a successful person now. Mingo is able to fulfill his ambition and become a successful man only in three months. This is a contradictory situation to the ir parents‟ fortune. The family has been living in the United States way longer than Mingo, but they still have no job. They still live in meager and limitations. They do not have Mingo‟s determination. Unlike his parents, Mingo works hard to reach his own dreams. At that time, Pedro also irritates Joaquin “…just lousies like this one. And cowards T‟iefs Useless cabrones Tha‟s all I got for sons” Valdez, 1989: 1014. Pedro mentions Mexican stereotypes. Then unexpectedly, Mingo speaks “And we‟re only ch ips off the old block, no pa?” Valdez, 1989: 1014. From the conversation, Mingo states that his father is as loser as his brother in an indirect way. Mingo has intention to reflect on the famous idiom “like father like son”. Based on this fact, it shows that Mingo feels like he does not belong to the family as he never sees himself as a loser. 35 This type of conversation also happens between Mingo and Joaquin later after Pedro died. Mingo cries about Mexican stereotype to Joaquin who dresses up like one. “Greasy, low, ignorant, lousy...” Valdez, 1989: 1025. From this part, it is shown that Mingo judges Joaquin as a person with lower social status compared to him. Mingo sees himself as a person that is way better than his own brother. Mingo looks do wn on his brother‟s choice of clothes which resembles a Chicano. Indirectly, Mingo sees a Chicano as a low person. Looking back to the middle of their fight, there is Mingo‟s word: “Then call the cops. Go on Who you think the law‟s gonna believe, me or you?” Valdez, 1989: 1015. This question is addressed to his Chicano brother who makes him smashes a guitar on Mingo‟s head. Based on this action, the researcher can see that Mingo underrates Chicano. Mingo begins to think like common Anglos who look Chicano as a liar, cannot be trusted, even by the government. As mentioned earlier, Mingo also no longer respects his father. This is strengthened by Mingo‟s dialogue to his father that he wants to take over and decide everything. He also says that Pedro has failed to be a good leader for the family. Mingo‟s behavior shows that he underestimates Pedro because the family still lives in a poor condition and has no money under Pedro‟s lead. You‟re nothing. If it wasn‟ for me, we‟d still be in gutter, like usual. Confess it. You could never handle Shorty‟s hunger. You had to drag us all to the fields together with mi „ama. And for what? We still ended up owing the store just to feed the head That head‟s a pushover for me. From now on, I‟m in charge here and you can do what you damn well please. Valdez, 1989: 1016 36 Besides Pedro, Mingo also blames Belarmino, whom he calls Shorty, because he only can eat and do nothing. Indirectly, Mingo blames his family because they do not work hard in the land of opportunity to make their life better. Therefore, Mingo has to take over the lead so the family will suffer anymore. Mingo ever said that “This is a free country, man. There‟s no law against making money.” Valdez, 1989: 1019. This shows that Mingo will do anything to get more and more money. He will never let anything or anyone gets in his way. It is proven when Mingo does not let one of his family members bother his American Dream. He believes in himself that he can do anything to realize his dream. From Mingo‟s desire, Joaquin realizes that his brother is indeed different with the rest of the family members. He knows that Mingo wants to be an American, Anglo-Americans to be exact, so badly. Joaquin hates how Mingo changes into “real American‟ like Mingo himself always wanted to be. Finally Joaquin understands that his brother no longer belongs to the family. JOAQUIN : Simon, I‟m cross-eyed. But you wanna be a gavacho so bad, you can‟t see nothing. You hated mi „apa. You hate all of us You and your new clothes and bowling ball and shit. Well, take a good look, ese. We‟re greasy and lousy but we‟re your family MINGO : Damn rights, my family But you don‟t have to be greasy and lousy JOAQUIN : You d on‟t have to be a gavacho Valdez, 1989: 1019 Mingo is ashamed by Joaquin‟s greasy and lousy look. Then, Joaquin curses Mingo in Spanish. Joaquin gets mad at Mingo. In reply, Mingo just yells back and commands him to talk in English. “You talk to me in English” Valdez, 1989: 1019. 37 From Mingo‟s respond, the researcher concludes that Mingo does not want his brother speaks to him in Spanish. Mingo wants Joaquin to respect him by speaking in English. This also shows that Mingo‟s capability of understanding Spanish becomes lower. As researched, Mingo is different from the rest of the family members. He is Americanized, unlike his family members who still hold tight their tradition. Mingo‟s ways of thinking are also different from the rest of the family. He wants to be accepted by the Anglo-American society while the other family members do not want to be labeled as American, even though they actually are. In order to reach his American Dream, Mingo has to let go of his past, which means he has cut off with the family, his family. Slowly but surely, Mingo is in the process of forgetting his family and race. MINGO : [Pause.] NOBODY I don‟t have nothing to do with these people. I just room here. I‟m a college student. CRUZ : Tell him, Mingo, explain – you got the words. MINGO : What my landlady here means, officer, is that the punk you want is right there. He‟s the Supermarket Thief. Valdez, 1989: 1027 From the conversation above, the researcher sees that Mingo tries to cut the ties with his family. Mingo denies that he is a part of the family. He says that he has no relationship with the people in the house and he is just someone who rents a room there. He does not admit Joaquin as his brother because he steals from the supermarket and acts like a Chicano antihero. Mingo even helps the officer to find Joaquin as Mingo sees him doing something wrong. Mingo‟s act is quite different 38 from most of the Mexicans act as they usually protect their family in such cases. However, Mingo prefers to save himself by saying that he is not part of the family and chooses to give up on his brother. Following this event, Mingo then also decides that it would be better for him to leave the house and so he goes away.

B. Mingo as Mr. Sunday, his new Anglo-American identity

In the previous part, Mingo‟s presentation is observed as a different type of person compared to the rest of the family. Mingo is Americanized, but his family members are not. He also wants to reach everything on his own, and later he betrays his own family. He does not let anybody breaking his dream to be an Anglo- American and accepted by the society. This part elaborates more about Mingo and his American Dream. For Mingo, the characteristics of American Dream are having middle-class economic level, having higher social status, and accepted by the Anglo-American society. Mingo‟s efforts in reaching his American Dream are proven in the previous part. Mingo joins a state college which is usually meant for Anglo-Americans just to blends with them. Mingo also works hard to buy a house in the Prune Blossom Area where its neighborhood is surrounded by the Anglo-Americans. From his appearance, it can be seen that Mingo is well-dressed. These acts show that Mingo does not want to be seen as a low class immigrant. He wants to be seen as an American citizen with higher social status. 39 Mingo‟s style is also different from the rest of the family. He dresses up in a stylish American way. All of his clothes are new. He wears expensive shoes and drives a sport car. These are different from the rest of the family who dress up just like another Mexican. Mingo also eats different food from the rest of the family. He eats food which is usually eaten by the Anglo-Americans. He eats healthy and fresh food. Meanwhile, the rest of the family only eats tortilla, an original Mexican food. In addition, when his mother offers him a home-made tortilla, he prefers to eat an American food outside. From the way Mingo speaks, he is also different. He uses better English grammar than the others. He rarely ever uses Mexican word. Mingo is also being irritated when somebody says a non-proper term to indicate Americans, like Americanos , Gringos, and Gavachos which are used by the rest of the family. Mingo‟s mindset is also unlike the other family members. He is determined, while others are not. His way of thinking also resembles American traits. He has a dream and wants to realize it even it is not easy to do that. It is not easy because his neighborhood and even his family are not on his side. Mingo is determined to make his dream comes true. He believes in every little chance he has in the land of opportunity. This is contrary to the rest of the family members who only depend on the welfare. On the previous part, the researcher writes that Mingo is just coming from the battlefield, and he reaches success not more than a year. On the other side, the rest of the family members, who lives longer in the 40 neighborhood, do not do anything to make their life better. They are only grumble about it. The study above about Mingo ‟s characteristic is consistent with the theory of American Dream as written in chapter two. It says that inner characteristic of a person plays important role. Indeed, Mingo is. From the outside it is obvious that Mingo is Americanized. At the same time, Mingo‟s characteristics are inspired by American way of thinking. For Mingo, this combination makes everything easier to reach his dream to be an Anglo-American, since the United States itself is a free country. In the previous part, Mingo has to let go of his past to reach his American Dream. He believes that he will not reach his American Dream unless he cuts off his ties with his family and erases the Mexican blood in him. CHATO opens the door to the side room, “ MINGO ‟s room.” MINGO is standing in the doorway. He is dressed in a professional gray suit and is carrying a briefcase. He wears a smart hat and glasses, shoes shined, etc. His face is unusually pale; in fact, it almost looks bleached. Valdez, 1989: 1034 Mingo prefers to forget the family and goes away. Two years after, he comes back. Mingo comes back as a different person. He comes in from his former room. From the appearance, Mingo represents an Anglo-American. His face is as pale white as Anglo-American, not like any other Mexicans. He dresses up as a professional civil servant. He becomes a person like he always wanted. He becomes a person who helps the family. Mingo already reaches his American Dream. From the physical description, the researcher brings to a close that Mingo looks like Anglo-Americans now. Furthermore, his way of speaking also resembles