Xueying Wu

Martin Espada is a Hispanic poet and attorney of Puerto Rican origin. Espada is famous for his poetic verse filled with political activism and compassion. His newest poetry collection Floaters won the 2021 National Book Award for Poetry. In the first section of Floaters, poems revolve around Hispanic immigrant experience in the Trump era. Based on close reading of five poems in the first section, this paper discovers Hispanic immigrants’ dilemmas of being objectified and stigmatized by the American mainstream and the poet Espada’s reclaiming of authentic Hispanic identity. Furthermore, this paper manages to propose a future of racial harmony after the reclaiming of identity from perspective of Hispanic immigrants. By highlighting the Hispanic characters of resilience, unity and vitality in the poetry, Hispanic immigrants are granted the voice to speak up against negative stereotypes. The proposal for future racial relations in Hispanic voice empowers them in domestic affairs, contributing to ease their plight of being the “Sleeping Giant”.

Floaters; Martin Espada; Identity of Hispanic American; Racial Harmony

[1] Delgado, Anjanette. 2021. Floaters: Poems [OL]. https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/floaters-poems (accessed 16/05/2023). [2] Espada, Martin. 2021. Floaters: Poems [M]. WW Norton & Company. [3] Link, B., & Phelan, J. 2001. Conceptualizing stigma [J]. Annual Review of Sociology 27: 363–385. [4] Nussbaum, M. 2006. Objectification [J]. Philosophy and Public Affairs 24(4): 279–283. [5] Schraffenberger, J. D. 2021. A Review of Martín Espada’s Floaters [OL]. https://northamericanreview.org/online/2021/floaters (accessed 16/05/2023). [6] Stefano, Dante Di. 2021. And the Dead Still Have Names: A Review of Martín Espada’s Floaters [OL]. http://www.southernhumanitiesreview.com/review-martiacuten-espadas-floaters-by-dante-di-stefano.html (accessed 16/05/2023).

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