The four-storeyed country

The four-storeyed country

The four-storeyed country was first printed out in April 1990 authored by José Luis González. The book contains seven theses, each focusing on a different theme. The book focuses on responding to a discussion of Puerto Ricans and their association with independence. José Luis González wrote this book to answer a question posed to his by a student: his thoughts on North American colonial interventions on Puerto Rican culture. In his interpretation, he argues that every society comprises two categories of cultures; the oppressed and the oppressor. In other terms, he alluded to popular and elite culture, and he even goes ahead to compare Puerto Rico’s complex historical unfolding to floor floors in a structure. His interpretation was so monumental since it gave him proper comprehension of what was happening. More so, it gave Puerto Ricans a sense of pride within their personality, culture, and Puerto Rican culture their nationality.

The first story emphasizes that African bondages and their children sold to Spanish colonialists were the first categories of human beings to classify themselves as Puerto Ricans. The second story was pigeon-holed on two categories of migration. They included the evacuees from Spanish-American battles of liberation. The other one consisted of migratory waves from Catalans, Corsicans, and the Canaries that were key to attracting economic benefits and land promises. The third story was Puerto Rican culture division into oppressors and the oppressed. More so, the role of the Spanish-American battle played in curbing these categories of culture to merge. Lastly, the four-story posits about the modernization of Puerto Rico that caused massive loss of jobs amongst Puerto Rican hence forcing them to José Luis González challenge the historical narratives and nationalist visions created by pro-Independence leaders a migrate to the US where they were discriminated against.

José Luis González challenges the historical narratives and nationalist visions created by pro-Independence leaders when he posits that pro-independence voters have rarely risen beyond five percent in the last four decades. According to him, these decades have been characterized by an escalation of independence crunches. He suggests efforts to foster a serious association amongst leaders, intellectuals, and the working group to rectify this.

José Luis González implies that if Puerto Rican society had experienced more evolution similar to the one experienced to other Caribbean islands, the Puerto Rican national culture would have been the most popular at that period. The pride that the people reassert in their culture, personality, and nationality may lead to them to the position of dominating culture.

In my view, salsa lyrics Curet Alonso’s salsa lyrics emphasize identification with one culture. However, there is a disparity between the two groups once recognizing salsa lyrics as a Cuban song branded with another name. In contrast, others do identify with it from a culture distinct from Cuban culture. Curet Alonso’s salsa lyrics may help strengthen the Puerto Rican culture by identifying with their practice.