"[people's] skins were different colors. Black kids didn't talk like black kids. Asian kids didn't bust their asses to excel in school. White kids, by and large, didn't have any problem getting along with black and Asian kids" (58).
Through this description, Stephenson creates an ethnicity that is comprised of different races to institute Hiro as a transnational individual. It also suggests that transnationality is an ideal state (in mind, body, and metaphorically) that can be aspired to, and yet that is not without complications.
As a military brat (someone who was born and raised into a military family), Hiro Protagonist is aware of his diasporic identity. This identity is based on the fact that he and his family lived on different places on the globe: several states, Germany, Korea. These places were "all the same franchise ghettos, strip joints" where he ran into "school chums he'd known years before" (58). Through Hiro, Stephenson presents a community that is dispersed, timeless, and borderless. Yet through this diaspora, it becomes a community that is restless and always on the move. Likewise, Hiro does not have just one origin, or any origins based on race, residence, and point of departure. In essence, as a mixed person & military brat, he possesses a global identity that encompasses many different cultures, but he does not belong to any one of them. For example, Hiro is aware that his father is black and his mother is Korean, yet this knowledge does not dictate whom he affiliates with or how he identifies himself. He is comfortable in his hybridity by growing his hair in dreads (iconic of his "blackness") and looking out with his Asian eyes. In being comfortable of his hybridity, his character is reflective of Anzaldua's mestiza identity, by recognizing his status as an entity that is not bound by any borders. Furthermore, he complicates this status by taking on the name "Hiro" and by wielding a katana, which are emblematic of Japanese culture.
It seems to me so far that Hiro as a forefront character in Snow Crash suggests that a Hiro-esque consciousness is the ideal future and something to aspire to. However, an encompassing character such as him, has a homogenizing effect in its assumption that all cultures and races converge into one, such as the "military ethnicity." I feel that this suggestion is problematic because it begins to reduce the differences (as well as each of ethnicity's significance to society) into commodities that can be easily exchanged without any regard to its history and relevance to society.
Questions
- What do new ethnic categories imply in regards to Hiro's, Y.T.'s, Uncle Enzo's backgrounds? Are they ideal in regards to the society they (and we) living in, and the time that we operate on?
- What constitutes a "nation" according to Stephenson? Throughout the novel, there are various "nations:" Hong Kong, Mexicali, Nippon, Black Sun, Metaverse, etc. Who belongs and how does one belong to a nation or community?
1 comment:
Lovely, this is a great response. I will try to remember to share it with the class!
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