El Bronx Remembered by Nicholasa Mohr
"El Bronx Remembered" by Nicholasa Mohr is a collection of short stories that vividly portrays life in a Puerto Rican neighborhood in New York City during the 1960s and 1970s. The stories are rooted in Mohr's own experiences and focus on the voices of children, adolescents, and young adults, highlighting their challenges and triumphs within the context of a rapidly changing urban landscape. Central to the narratives is the exploration of Nuyorican culture, which embodies the fusion of traditional Puerto Rican values and the realities of city life, presenting a complex backdrop that influences the characters profoundly.
Through her narratives, Mohr addresses significant issues such as linguistic barriers, cultural identity, and the impact of racism, illustrating the struggles faced by Puerto Rican immigrants and their descendants. While some characters confront and overcome these obstacles, others grapple with the harsh realities of the barrio, including drug abuse and gang violence. Notably, Mohr's work transcends mere social criticism; it offers a nuanced perspective that underscores resilience and growth within the community. By linking the Puerto Rican experience to broader issues of marginalization, particularly those faced by women and LGBTQ+ individuals, Mohr's stories contribute significantly to the landscape of Latino literature and the understanding of Puerto Rican life in the United States.
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Subject Terms
El Bronx Remembered by Nicholasa Mohr
First published: 1975
The Work
Nicholasa Mohr’s El Bronx Remembered is a collection of short stories depicting life in a Puerto Rican barrio in New York City during the 1960’s and 1970’s. Well known for her treatment of child, adolescent, and young adult characters, Mohr’s depiction of Puerto Rican urban life concentrates on subjects of particular importance to those age groups. Mohr’s narratives do not offer a denunciation of the troubled lives of these immigrants and children of immigrants. Instead, her stories bring forward voices that were often, in literature, considered unimportant. Female characters of several age groups and social backgrounds stand out for analysis.
Mohr writes from autobiographical memories; she grew up in a barrio much like the one in her stories. In her hands, the barrio is a strong presence that affects the lives of her characters in myriad ways. City life and traditional Puerto Rican family values are set against each other, producing the so-called Nuyorican culture, or Puerto-Rican-in-New-York culture. The clashes within that hybrid culture are the thematic center of Mohr’s short stories.
The introduction to the collection sets a strong historical context for the stories. The 1940’s saw an increase in Puerto Rican migration to New York. The arrival of thousands of immigrants changed the ethnic constitution of the city, especially of Manhattan’s Lower East Side and the South Bronx. El Bronx, as it is called by the Puerto Ricans, became home to new generations of Puerto Rican immigrants. The center of Nuyorican culture, El Bronx challenges the Nuyorican characters in their struggle to survive in a world of rapid economic and technological changes.
The short stories in El Bronx Remembered speak openly about the struggles of the first immigrants with linguistic and other cultural barriers and with racist attitudes within institutions. Mohr’s stories, however, attempt to go beyond social criticism. Puerto Rican characters challenge such obstacles. Some succeed in their attempts. Others are overwhelmed by city life, facing the barrio’s multiple problems, including drug abuse and gang-related troubles. The message, however, is not pessimistic. Although some characters succumb to tragedy because they are ill prepared to face adversity, others around them survive by learning from the plight of the weak.
Mohr’s contribution to ethnic American literature is significant. She has made an important contribution to Latino literature by describing Puerto Rican life in New York City. Her writing has a twofold significance. One, it links the Puerto Rican experience to that of other groups, emphasizing women’s issues and those of other marginal characters, such as gays, within the Puerto Rican community. Two, Mohr’s work provides a link between the literature written in English about Puerto Rican life in the United States and the literature in Spanish on Puerto Rican issues.
Bibliography
Barbato, Joseph. “Latino Writers in the American Market.” Publishers Weekly 238, no. 6 (February 1, 1991): 17-21.
Mohr, Eugene V. The Nuyorican Experience: Literature of the Puerto Rican Minority. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1982.
Reed, Ishmael. Hispanic American Literature. New York: HarperCollins, 1995.
Zarnowski, Nyra. “An Interview with Author Nicholasa Mohr.” The Reading Teacher 45, no. 2 (October, 1991): 106.