Danielle Alba, Department of Foreign Languages, University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire
Background on the Author:
 Raised in Ponce, Puerto Rico to a politically
powerful family
 Rosario Ferré is best known for the use of
allegory, imagery and duality in her fiction as
commentary on social and political issues.
 One important aspect of Ferré’s writing
which has often been ignored in analysis is her
commentary on the environmental damage
done in Puerto Rico, primarily through major
Puerto Rican industries of the twentieth
century: sugar, cement and pharmaceuticals.
 Repeated use of environmental
representations throughout her texts and their
English/Spanish translations implies that Ferré
views the environmental damage done to the
island to be worthy of further presence in her
work.
(Right) Portrait of Rosario Ferré
http://humanidades.uprrp.edu/ingle
s/images/sargasso/rosario_ferre.jpg
An example of the analysis:
 Ferré’s commentary on environmental damage
regarding water is most exemplified within the first
150 pages of the novel The House on the Lagoon.
“A sugar mill, the Central Oromiel, had been
established on the lagoon’s shores and emptied the
foul smelling sludge from its rum distillery into its
quiet waters, turning the lagoon into a quagmire.”
(1995,10)
Research Methods:
 Review of primary and secondary literature
on Ferré’s work including six novels, published
between 1973 and 1996.
 Review of scientific and governmental
reports and data on environmental damage to
Puerto Rico.
 Research yielded many examples of Ferré’s use
of imagery of environmental damage
 The confirmation of a historical basis behind her
environmental commentary
 Ferré’s repeated representation of
environmental damage is evidence of her believing
it to be as important of an issue for Puerto Rico as
other social and political commentary made in her
work.
 The attention popular fiction authors such as
Ferré bring to these issues can be used to help in
bringing awareness to the public.
(Right) Ferré’s first English novel, The
House on the Lagoon (1995). The first 150
pages of the novel includes multiple
instances of water pollution.
Acknowledgments:
(Above) The Gulf of Mexico and Puerto Rico
http://www.cosmos.ne.jp/~miyagawa/nagocnet/da
ta/prhistory.html. Puerto Rico has been part of the
United States since the end of the Spanish
American war in 1898.
Thesis:
There exists a historical basis behind Ferré’s
commentary on the environmental damage
done to Puerto Rico during the industrialization
movement of the twentieth century which
brought radical industrial change to the island.
Results of the Project:
(Left) Bioluminescent bay
of Puerto Rico, lit by
dinoflagellates. The water
begins to “glow” when the
organisms are disturbed.
http://www.map-puertorico.com/lajas-puerto-ricobioluminescent-bay.html
(Left) Ponce, Puerto Rico,
Apr. 1951. Elsie Hoffman
Barrett photo. Often time
represented by dust,
pollution by Puerto Rican
cement industry is a
reoccuring theme in Ferré’s
novels.
Historical evidence of its occurrence:
 Title 33 of the U.S. code Federal Water Pollution
Control Act Amendments of 1972 and the Puerto Rico
Public Environmental Policy Act of 1970 are meant to
protect wetlands.
 Illegal activities documented such as San Juan
professionals purchasing wetlands for vacation homes
which led to dislocation of local residents, destruction of
mangrove ecosystems and illegal discharge of
untreated liquid and solid waste (Santana Berman 97).
 The Department of Education McNair
Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program and
UWEC Office of Research and Sponsored Programs
for funds used for this research.
 Dr. Eva Santos-Phillips of the UWEC Dept. of
Foreign Languages for time and direction given.
References:
"Puerto Rico Profile: Rosario Ferré." Puerto Rico Herald 5.31 (2001): 1-3. Web. 14 December 2009.
<http://www.puertorico-herald.org/issues/2001/vol5n31/ProfRosFerre-en.html>.Barak, Julie.
"Navigating the Swamp: Fact and Fiction in Rosario Ferré's "The House on the Lagoon"." The Journal of
the Midwest Modern Language Association 31 2 (1998): 7. Print.
United States Department of Health and Human Services. Public Health Service. Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry. Division of Toxicology ToxFAQs. “Malathion.” 2003.
Berman Santana, Deborah. Kicking Off the Bootstraps. Tucson, AZ: The University of Arizona Press, 1996.
Print.
Colman, Cathy A. "In Short: Fiction." New York Times Book Review 3/24/1991 1991. Print.
Cook, James. "Operation Bootstrap." Forbes 150 4 (1992): 50-51. Print.
Dietz, James L. Economic History of Puerto Rico: Institutional Change and Capitalist Development.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1986. Print.
Ferré, Rosario. La Casa De La Laguna. Barcelona: Emece Editores, 1996. Print.
---. Maldito Amor. 1986. Print.
---. Papeles De Pandora. Mexico, D.F.: Editorial Joaquin Mortiz, S.A., 1976. Print.
---. "Sweet Diamond Dust: And Other Stories." New York: NAL Trade, 1988. Print.
---. The House on the Lagoon. New York: The Penguin Group, 1995. Print.
---. The Youngest Doll. New York: University of Nebraska, 1991. Print.
Hancock, Ralph. Puerto Rico a Success Story. Princeton, NJ: D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., 1960. Print.
Reyes, Darwin R., et al. "Toxic Evaluation of Organic Extracts from Airborne Particulate Matter in Puerto
Rico." Environmental Health Perspectives 108 (2000): 5. Print.
Santos-Phillips, Eva. "Rosario Ferré and Her Narrative of Shattered Dreams." The Toronto Review of
Contemporary Writing Abroad 19 2 (2001): 16. Print.
Skanavis, Constantina. "Groundwater Disaster in Puerto Rico the Need for Environmental Education."
International Perspecitives (1999): 6. Print.
United States. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). “Superfund National Priorities Lists, Purto Rico
Sites.” Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 2010.
Villaronga, Gabriel. "Un "Pequeño Pittsburgh" Borincano: La Ciudad Imaginada Del Discurso Desarrollista
De Fomento." Centro Journal 19 (2007): 23. Print.