The Contract Says: We’d Like the Conversation to Be Bilingual

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2018

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Related Poems

“Scene from the Movie GIANT” by Tino Villanueva (1993)

The titular poem from Tino Villanueva’s collection, Scene from the Movie GIANT (1993) critiques Hollywood’s depiction of Mexican Americans, exposing the deeply racist stereotypes lobbied against the Latinx community within popular media. The poem depicts a 14-year-old boy watching the 1956 blockbuster film Giant, an American western film starring Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor. On the surface, the film portrays the rise of the newly rich oil barons and subsequent fall of the cattle aristocracy in the American West. However, it is also a film riddled with racist stereotypes. Villanueva uses the image of the boy, and his Mexican American identity, to expose how damaging racist portrayals are to minority communities. Villanueva’s poetry grapples with the same representational and identity politics found within Ada Limón’s “The Contract Says: We’d Like the Conversation to be Bilingual,” exposing that racial tokenism is not merely a contemporary issue but rather a deep-rooted problem in American history.

“My Spanish” by Melissa Lozada-Oliva (2017)

Guatemalan-Colombian American poet Melissa Lozada-Oliva published the poem, “My Spanish,” in her debut collection of poetry, Peluda (2017). “My Spanish” expresses the struggle of being Latinx and not being able to speak Spanish. Lozada-Oliva subverts the commonly held assumptions that all Latinx people are bilingual (see: Contextual Analysis), using the same tongue-in-cheek humor as Limón to reveal the tension that exists at the intersection of cultural and racial identity. Lozada-Oliva writes within the same contemporary moment as Limón, adding her unique perspective as a Latinx female poet to the literary canon. “My Spanish” is equal parts authoritative and vulnerable, exposing the complexities that exist beyond racial stereotyping.

“Iron” by Elizabeth Acevedo (2018)

Poet Elizabeth Acevedo discusses the challenges of being a female poet of color in her poem “Iron,” which was originally published in Poetry Magazine (2018). “Iron” parallels Ada Limón’s “The Contract Says: We’d Like the Conversation to be Bilingual” in both its form and content. Acevedo constructs the majority of the poem out of two-line stanzas, otherwise known as unrhymed couplets (see: Literary Devices). These brief stanzas come together to form an all-together lengthy poem, responding to the suffering of African Americans in the United States and the inhumane ways their deaths are portrayed within the media. Acevedo’s “Iron” interrogates the notion that minorities should only write about inequality and trauma, calling out the systems of oppression against people of color by describing how love triumphs over the brutality of the modern world. Acevedo writes with the same nuance as Limón, publishing “Iron” in the same contemporary moment as Limón’s “The Contract Says: We’d Like the Conversation to be Bilingual.”

Further Literary Resources

“Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference” by Audre Lorde (1984)

Author and activist Audre Lorde’s essay “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference” urges women to recognize the various forms of oppression that impact them—be it sexism, racism, ageism, or anti-gay beliefs—in order to understand difference outside the traditional binary of good or bad; dominant or subordinate. Lorde argues that an individual’s differences to those around them do not make them inferior, but rather, act as a source of empowerment, serving as a tool for authentic living, education, and societal change.

Limón’s poetry subscribes to Lorde’s notion of difference as power. “The Contract Says: We’d Like the Conversation to be Bilingual” is, at its core, a poem about power dynamics as told from the perspective of a domineering company restricting the voice of a non-white female poet (presumed to be Limón herself) (see: Contextual Analysis). Lorde’s work adds a unique and necessary historical perspective to Limón’s poetry, exposing just how long female writers have been fighting to be heard within the canon of modern literature.

“La conciencia de la mestiza: Towards a New Consciousness” by Gloria Anzaldúa (1987)

Renowned feminist scholar Gloria Anzaldúa coined the term “mestiza consciousness” in her essay “La conciencia de la mestiza: Towards a New Consciousness” (1987). Anzaldúa argues that the mestiza, or “mixed race” consciousness, allows individuals with multicultural backgrounds to fully accept every part of their identity, even the parts that previously conflicted with one another. Anzaldúa believes that by fully accepting the self as multifaceted, it is even easier to accept and embrace difference in strangers. Anzaldúa’s essay is grounded in feminist and race theory, serving as the optimistic counterpart to Limón’s “The Contract Says: We’d Like the Conversation to be Bilingual.” While Limón uses sarcasm and wit to expose the inequities that impact female writers of color, Anzaldúa centers hope and empathy as the tools necessary to move beyond the stereotyping and disrespect analyzed in Limón’s poem.

“Delusions of Whiteness in the Avant-Garde” by Cathy Park Hong (2014)

Poet Cathy Park Hong confronts the racist tradition of avant-garde (experimental) poetry in the essay “Delusions of Whiteness in the Avant-Garde,” arguing that authorial context is imperative to understanding a poem in full. Hong exposes how the innovations made by poets of color in both the content and form of modern poetry have gone largely unacknowledged. The overwhelmingly white institution of poetry claims to be “post-identity”; however, Hong asserts that this notion only further erases the voices and experiences of minority writers. Limón calls out the same expressions of white privilege in her poem “The Contract Says: We’d Like the Conversation to be Bilingual,” making Hong’s essay an extremely resonate pairing to Limón’s work.

Listen to Poem

Listen to Ada Limón read her poem “The Contract Says: We’d Like the Conversation to be Bilingual” and others in the unabridged audiobook of her collection The Carrying (2018)

Poet, Ada Limón, gives voice to her poem, “The Contract Says: We’d Like the Conversation to be Bilingual,” in the audiobook of her collection The Carrying (2018).