In 1929, the publishers of Índice, the Puerto Rican magazine, were curious about their contemporary countrymen, and wondered who they were and what they were like. To aid in the discussion, they posed three specific questions: 1) Do you think there is a clearly defined Puerto Rican character or personality? 2) Is there an unmistakably and authentically Puerto Rican way of being? 3) What are our fundamental national character traits? The Puerto Rican poet Antonio Coll Vidal answered yes to the first question, although with serious reservations in light of the many signs indicating an imminent and extremely dangerous erosion of the Puerto Rican character. Coll Vidal suggests that the main reason for that process is the colonial status of the land. In response to the second question, he answered that there is indeed an authentically, unmistakably Puerto Rican way of being. Whenever Puerto Ricans of any kind get together they assert?albeit at an almost subconscious level?that they have their own unique way of being. We understand to each other, we have our own way of communicating, and our own way of behaving. He answers the third question by claiming that we are a mixture of races, customs, lifestyles, and dogmas. We have absorbed them all, especially the dogmas, which we have adopted and adapted. We are Indians, whites, blacks, and mestizos, but we are endowed with our own particular psychological unity.
