MOHR, Nicholasa

Born 1 November 1935, New York, New York

Daughter of Pedro and Nicholasa Rivera Golpe; married Irwin Mohr, 1958 (died); children: David, Jason

The youngest child in a family with six brothers, Nicholasa Mohr was born in El Barrio, Spanish Harlem, where her parents had moved from Puerto Rico at the height of the Depression of the 1930s. Like several of her young characters, Mohr's artistic abilities were recognized at an early age. In spite of her talent, she attended a trade high school, a decision made by a grade school counselor who felt that "because I was a child from a poor Puerto Rican family, I most likely could not go on to higher education." Subsequently, she studied at the Art Students League of New York (1957), Brooklyn Museum Art School (1961-63), and Pratt Center for Contemporary Printmaking (1966-70), and established an active career as a graphic artist.

Mohr began writing when the words, phrases, and bold figures of her prints caught the eye of one of her collectors, the head of a publishing house. Through her agent, he suggested that Mohr try writing stories about her experiences. After some encouragement, she took the suggestion seriously and in 1973 published her first novel, Nilda (reprinted 1986). Since then she has written fiction, short stories, screenplays, and articles for both children and adults.

Mohr is the first Puerto Rican woman on the mainland to write in English about the experiences of first-generation Puerto Rican—Americans. Her writing is characterized by simplicity in its structure and in its choice of words. Short sentences and a matter-of-fact, episodic style paradoxically create vivid, detailed scenes of streets and neighborhoods, and introduce complex, sometimes controversial, characters and themes. The individual experiences and feelings of her characters demonstrate the clash between white and Puerto Rican cultures as well as the tensions between Puerto Ricans from the mainland and those from the island. Other themes explored in her work include the resilience of the human spirit, the role of ritual and celebration in family life, the difficulty of moving from the country to the city, and the effects of institutionalized racism.

Together, Nilda and Mohr's short story collections, El Bronx Remembered (1975, 1986, 1993) and In Nueva York (1977, 1993), comprise a history of the everyday struggles of Puerto Ricans in New York City over a 30-year period (1941-70). Written for the general public, the books were published as juvenile trade books and marketed as young adult literature. They continue to spark controversy over their appropriateness for young people because Mohr incorporates homosexuality, teenage pregnancy, graphic language, racist violence, and shocking effects of poverty in these stories of urban life.

Nilda, a coming-of-age story, is set in El Barrio during World War II. Told from the point of view of Nilda Ramirez who is nine at the outset of the novel, the story's parameters expand as Nilda's understanding of life expands. Her struggle to become herself is the foreground as her mother's struggles to nurture and maintain a family of six is the background. The two stories come together when Nilda is left confused and overwhelmed after her mother's death. With only the legacy of her mother's final words, "I have never had a life of my own…hold onto yourself.… A little piece inside has to remain yours always," Nilda turns to her art for solace.

Many of the women in Mohr's short stories struggle to keep this "little piece inside" intact. The importance of self-determination and self-expression for women is most explicitly explored in Rituals of Survival: A Woman's Portfolio (1985), a short story collection for adults. Zoraida, Carmela, Virginia, Amy, Lucia, and Inez contend with poverty, rigid role expectations, racism, and internal confusion as they fight to maintain their inner lives. Whether triumphant or defeated, each is transformed as she steps toward self-identity.

With Felita (1979, 1990) and its sequel, Going Home (1986, 1989), Mohr began writing specifically for children. The fresh outlook and lively, independent spirit of each of these books rests in the characterization of Felita. In both, the harsher realities of the world are balanced by the ordinary events and crises of growing up. In the former, her family is driven from a white neighborhood by violent racist harassment and Felita and her best friend experience jealousy and misunderstanding over the lead in the class play. In the latter, Felita's summer in Puerto Rico is marred by being an outsider on her "own" island while she works on sets for a local youth group's play.

Providing an animated and loving, yet uncompromising portrayal of the Puerto Rican-American community, Mohr's writing focuses on details, in both setting and experience, to capture the spirit and resilience of individuals and their community. This illumination of details and incidents effectively shapes itself into compelling portraits of individuals as well as of the whole in many stories, although it sometimes creates narratives lacking in drama or depth. Overall, Mohr's literature for both children and adults is valuable as a unique and significant artistic rendering of the experiences of Puerto Rican-Americans.

Other Works:

All for the Better: A Story of El Barrio (1993). Old Letivia and the Mountain of Sorrows (1994, 1996). Growing Up Inside the Sanctuary of My Imagination (1994). The Song of El Coqui and Other Tales (1995). The Magic Shell (1995). A Matter of Pride and Other Stories (1997).

Contributor to:

Revista Chicano-Riqueña (Spring, 1980; Spring, 1981; 1983), Ethnic Lifestyles and Mental Health (1980), Perspectives: The Civil Rights Quarterly (Summer, 1982), The Americas Review (Fall 1986-Winter 1986, Summer, 1987), Images and Identities: The Puerto Rican in Literature (1987), and others.

Bibliography:

Ferguson, M. A., ed., Images of Women in Literature (1991). Hunter, S., Writers (1998). Hernandez, C. D., Puerto Rican Voices in English: Interviews with Writers (1997). May, L. A., "Nicholasa Mohr: A Woman's Perspective in Nuyorican Literature" (thesis 1993). Morales, M. E., "An Introduction to the Neo-Rican Experience in the Works of Nicholasa Mohr: A Socio-Historic Literary Analysis" (thesis 1992). Rodríguez del Laguna, A., ed., Images and Identities: The Puerto Rican World in Two World Contexts (1987). Telgen, D. and Kamp, J., eds., Latinas! Women of Achievement (1996).

Reference works:

Biographical Dictionary of Hispanic Writers in the U.S. (1989). CANR (1991). CLR (1991). Fifth Junior Book of Authors (1983). Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the United States (1995).

Other references:

Americas Review (Summer 1987). Latino Biographies (1995). MELUS (1978). Reading Teacher (Oct. 1991). Revista/Review Interamericana (1979-1980). Revista Chicano-Riqueña (Spring 1980). English Journal (1978). Turner, F., "The Myth of the American Dream in the Works of Nicholasa Mohr," (unpublished paper, Amherst College).

—SUSAN GRIFFITH