Grace Paley, in the work “A Man Told Me The Story of his Life” allows an immigrant to tell a hard wrenching version of his life story, in a few lines. The authors writing style, which is stripped down, and extremely bare, is used to accentuate the otherness of the main character, which places the theme of discrimination at the center of the story’s theme. Thus, Paley subtly makes a point about discrimination, the perpetuation of stereotypes, and the way that it impacts lives through the Vincente character.
Though Vincente is a Spanish name, and it can be assumed, that he is a Hispanic immigrant, to English speaking America, overall the application of foreignness, in his speech and life story are subtle enough that he becomes a representative for any immigrant, who is raised in a country that is not the nation of their birth. This is primarily demonstrated by barely perceptible deviations in his grammar. For example, he states “When something goes wrong, I’ll understand how to make repairs” The use of the word “repair” is unusual, when applied to the human body, and reflects the otherness, or foreignness of Vincente as a speaker. Similarly, “she suffered pain” is a non-native, though technically grammatically correct construction. This allows his otherness to become central to the story, or the primary theme of the text.
When foreignness is made a central theme in the text, it alters the perception of the educators’ motivation in discouraging his decision to become a doctor. The “tests” say he would be a good engineer, but he has the passion to be a doctor. They say that they do not “know” if he would be a good doctor, nor do they take any steps to find out. This is significant, when paired with the doctors at the end who do not know what to do to save his wife. It is clear that they were not discouraged, despite a lack of aptitude, to seek another profession. Instead, they were allowed to go on to become doctors. This could be credited to the fact that Vincente was a foreigner, and so seen as having less potential, when compared to the white, or native, students, who did become doctors.
It is further interesting that the teachers encourage him to pursue engineering, which is closely tied to construction, and the building trade, which are stereotypically more appropriate fields for immigrants, than medicine. It would be assumed that he would have the ability to work with his hands, because of his national background, whereas medicine might feel less of a natural fit, based on his ethnicity alone.
Also, just as the teachers did not give Vincente the tests which might have determined that he had a talent for medicine, the did not immediately pursue tests that would have revealed what was wrong with her. Instead, they put forward stereotypic questions, like “How many children do you have,” based on the stereotype that many immigrants have large families, or too many children, or “did you have too much company”, based on the stereotype that they have close, large families, that are tiring. As a result, her very real medical problems are ignored. The same lack of further testing, which prevented her husband from becoming a doctor, would have sent her to her death.
This discrimination is further demonstrated, when he goes into the Army and is made a cook. Despite his known proclivity, or natural talent in Engineering, he is made a cook, further demoting him or discrediting him, as a result of his foreignness. He is made to serve his military peers, like a second class citizen, instead of serving in an area, in field medicine, or in engineering, where he would have served a significantly more useful, and more skilled role.
“A Man Told Me the Story of his Life” is significant in that it uses a very parse language to communicate the theme of discrimination, and otherness within a short text. Otherness is allowed to define his life, and stereotyping and discrimination decides his path. As a result, his life story is less than it might have been otherwise. I felt that it was dispassionate, and that his use of language shrank as he moved further and further from his destiny in pursuing medicine, but then grew again when he diagnosed his wife. This demonstrates the absolute power that discrimination sways over the immigrant’s life. While his life has not be unsuccessful, it has been fully defined by others, rather than his own passions and ambitions, and has forced him to remain within the stereotypical roles allotted to him by society.
Works Cited:
Paley, Grace “A Man Told Me the Story of His Life” 1985.
