Are we here to stay or simply passing along the way?: The House You Pass On the Way

I absolutely LOVED Jacqueline Woodson’s The House You Pass on the Way.  It is the first book I have ever read about an interracial family.  I also loved this book for all of the issues that it brings up such as:  family, race, love, sexuality, and the coming-of-age story.  That is all the more reason why I have greatly enjoyed the multicultural portion of this class.  I have the opportunity to read books that are new to me, challenge my thinking, and broaden my perspectives. 

I can relate to Stagerlee and her family because my immediate family also dealt with a similar situation.  When my sister, who is white, began to date a black boy when she was in high school, my mother’s family “disowned” my family.  Seven years passed between us before they would talk to us again.  Now my sister is married to a Bulgarian man, and they have a child.  Her interracial marriage and interracial child are approved by my mother’s family because the man is not black.  Even though there is communication now among my extended family, things have never returned to the way they used to be.  I can definitely relate to the isolation that Stagerlee’s family feels.

One of my favorite parts of the book is the very end when Stagerlee is thinking, “They were both waiting.  Waiting for this moment, this season, these years to pass.  Who would they become? She wondered.  Who would they become?” (Woodson, 1997, p. 99).  I think this is how most young adolescents feel.  It may even be how some adults still feel.  You live your life aspiring to be the person you are meant to be.  Who will that person be?  How do you know when you have arrived?  Are we at a place in our lives where we are just passing on the way?  I would like to think so!  On our journey to become future teachers, we are passing by many places that are making us stronger, wiser, and more understanding. 

The article Who Can Tell My Story? by Jacqueline Woodson addresses the importance of writers telling their stories.  For a story to be one of true cultural authenticity it must be a story that the author has experienced or lived in some form.  As Woodson (2003) points out maybe those “experiences and the memories have filtered through [them] to us and by extension become our own…But if I take the beauty of these works and filter my own experience through them, I can create something that is mine” (p. 42).  Woodson (2003) also states, "My belief is that there is room in the world for all stories, and that everyone has one.  My hope is that those who write about the tears and the laughter and the language in my grandmother’s house have first sat down at the table with us and dipped the bread of their own experiences in our stew" (p. 45).

I love the image that Woodson left in my mind!  This is what creating authentic stories are all about…learning to walk in someone else’s shoes or to dip your bread into their stew.   

The story about Ben was an intriguing one, and I appreciated David’s perspective on slavery.  The struggles, concerns, and fears have been present between blacks and whites for a long time.  Lester (1971) points out, “But that is how it is with people, isn’t it?  We spend our lives not really knowing what we think and feel, afraid that if we do, it may totally disrupt our lives” (p. 62).   This sentiment is true of people no matter what skin color they wear.  This is how Stagerlee felt in The House You Pass on the Way.  If you never process your thoughts and feelings, you never have to deal with those thoughts or feelings.  Is it easier or harder to live life that way?  That is something to ponder about on a later day.   

In the article Cultural Politics from a Writer’s Point of View by Katherine Paterson, she makes a statement that sums up my take on multicultural literature so far.  Peterson (1994) states, "So, no, my books will never be politically correct- that is, they will always run the risk of offending someone.  My characters will never be blameless role models for today’s children and youth.  They and their stories will invite disappointment or even disapproval   from left, right, and center-  In short, from any reader who looks to fiction to support a point of view rather than to mirror human experience" (p. 91).

Multicultural literature is about presenting different perspectives on life and telling the story from someone else’s shoes.  I have no doubt that there will be books that will offend me and books that I just will not like, but that does not mean that I will not take away something from every book that I read. 

 

*(I realize that the references are not in the correct font or indented correctly...I could not make blogger cooperate with me in the correct form)*

Lester, J. (1971).  Ben.  The long journey home: Stories from black history. (pp. 60-88).  New York, NY:  Dial. 

Paterson, K. (1994). Cultural politics for a writer's point of view.  New Advocate, 7(2), 85-91.

Woodson, J. (1997). The house you pass on the way. New York, NY: Delacorte Press.

Woodson, J. (2003). Who Can Tell My Story?  In D. L. Fox & K. G. Short (Eds.), Stories matter: the complexity of cultural authenticity in children's literature (pp. 41-45).         Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.