that the national identity is primarily Mestizo with a significant contribution from Africa. González calls the African slaves and Mestizo peasantry the first Puerto Ricans because they were the first inhabitants who had to make the island their home. Having witnessed successful uprisings in neighboring Haiti, the Spanish authorities encouraged white immigrants to settle in Puerto Rico in an attempt to "whiten" the population, then thought to be tilting dangerously to the advantage of the Afro-Antilleans. These immigrants became the small but influential class of landowners and, later, urban professionals. Afro-Antilleans and Mestizos constitute the first "storey," or tier, of the "Puerto Rican house" of the title story, landowners the second, urban professionals the third, and the managerial class the fourth. "González is one of the most eloquent and important of Puerto Rico's contemporary writers. He rightly criticizes the vision of the past by which Spanish governance is gilded, while deep divisions within Puerto Rican society are glossed over. Any serious student of Puerto Rico, whether in literature, history, or the social sciences should be familiar with this essay." -- Sidney Mintz, The Americas "González is one of the most eloquent and important of Puerto Rico's contemporary writers. He rightly criticizes the vision of the past by which Spanish governance is gilded, while deep divisions within Puerto Rican society are glossed over. Any serious student of Puerto Rico, whether in literature, history, or the social sciences should be familiar with this essay." -- Sidney Mintz, The Americas

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