Self-Segregation In 'Mericans' By Sandra Cisneros

“Mexican-American”, and so on. This self-segregation is counterproductive to the concept of the “melting pot” that America was founded on. It creates division and a lack of unity among Americans. Instead of focusing on what makes us different, we should focus on what makes us the same: our shared values and beliefs in freedom, democracy, and the American Dream. It is time to move away from self-segregation and towards a united America.

States.

Everyone had to prove that they were independent, capable, and willing to integrate into the cultural melting pot with its own identity of hard work, grit, and determination, which established and fostered success in American society. However, not everyone who chooses to take the adventure and risk associated with becoming American wishes to share in this identity. Many feel it necessary to shun the American identity and observe it with a level of disdain, disregarding the reasons themselves or previous generations may have immigrated to America for. In the short story “Mericans,” Sandra Cisneros illustrates this concept through a character in the story. “The awful grandmother knits the names of the dead and the living into one long prayer fringed with the grandchildren born in that barbaric country with its barbaric ways” (Cisneros). In the story, it is later identified that the children in reference were indeed born in the United States. The “awful grandmother” has an incredibly low opinion of the society in which her grandchildren were born. Barbaric - let’s take a look at that word, shall we? “Without civilizing influences; uncivilized; primitive” (barbaric). The detriment of that perception seems to be counterproductive to the melting pot concept of the United States. pot society can benefit from placing a higher value on education. It is important to recognize that academic success is not solely based on race, but rather on the values and priorities instilled by one's upbringing and culture.