Identity In Grande's Across A Hundred Mountains

Across A Hundred Mountains (Grande, 2006) tells the parallel story of two young Latino women, Juana and Adelina, trying to maintain their family ties against a barrage of societal and internal struggles. Crises emerge in the lives of both women which send them on an unlikely collision course with each other. Written by Grande (2006), this fictional story is based on the author’s life and teeming with truths Grande herself likely experienced. Grande, whose father also left her family in search of work in “el otro lado” (p. 35), was born in Mexico (Grande, n.d.). Grande’s mother would follow in her father’s footsteps only two years later, leaving Grande to care for her siblings in Mexico (Grande, n.d.). Then in 1985, Grande would illegally

Identity can be thought of as the sum of a person’s personality, including their concept of self, and evolves over the course of a lifetime (Kroger, 2003). The major events that define identity usually begin in adolescence- the time that an individual begins facing and directly responding to life challenges (Kroger, 2003). Erik Erikson is often regarded as the father of modern identity theory. Erikson’s theory focused on healthy personality and highlighted the major processes that comprise identity development (Kroger, 2003). According to Erikson, a healthy personality is based on the totality of three different aspects of identity: a person’s ego identity, personal identity, and their social identity (Kroger, 2003). These three aspects are constantly evolving through a process of self discovery that takes place across personal, societal and social contexts (Kroger, 2003). Erikson theorized that these developments occurred in predictable and connected stages of psychosocial development- meaning that the developments occur at set times in an individuals life and that success in later stages is depending on the outcome of earlier stages (Kroger, 2003). These eight interrelated psychosocial development stages begin in infancy and culminate in late adulthood. According to Erikson, as a person manages crises in each stage

Grande (2006), places strong emphasis on Juana’s family as the source of her challenges and protection against the hardships she faces. Juana’s sense of family belonging is intense but not limited to immediate family and close friends (Grande, 2006). At various points throughout the story Juana references connections between new acquaintances and family members (such as scents on women provoking thoughts of her mother or Don Ernesto representative of a second father figure) (Grande, 2006). In fact, within Latino culture the concept of family often extends to family networks, friends, neighbors, and organizations within the community (Skogrand & Hatch, 2005). The term Latinos use to describe this extended family is “familismo”. In general all members of the familismo support one another and help the family survive crises which arise (Skogrand & Hatch, 2005). This is evident in community members that come to Ama and Juana’s aide following Don Elias’ attempt at alienating them and in the help Juana receives along her quest from varying people (Grande, 2006). Another example of the concept of familismo occurs towards the stories end, when Jose tells Juana that Antonio secretly informed him of the connection between Dona Matilde and Juana- this is the extended families attempt at aiding Juana in