Judith Ortiz Cofer's The Myth Of The Latin Woman

Identity is not easy to form when being judged and suppression get in the way. Powerful women like Judith Ortiz Cofer, Mazine Hong Kingston, and Alice Walker are just some examples of people who are able to create their identities and express their writing through the power of language for others benefit. Judith Ortiz Cofer’s essay, “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria” explains her experiences of being a Latino women in America and how the struggles of being herself created who she is today. Maxine Hong Kingston’s essay, “No Name Women” explains the shun of one women when she decides to commit adultery and the impact of a mother telling her daughter this story. Alice Walker’s essay, “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens”

By rewriting her mother’s tale of her non-named aunt, Kingston is trying to cope with the fact that she is the first generation Chinese-American in her family. Her entire family and surrounding village punished her aunt for committing adultery. The reasoning behind it is said that, “adultery, perhaps only a mistake during good times, became a crime when the village needed food” (236). Her aunt was seen as a woman indulging herself in sexual activity when families were barely making ends meet. The villagers planned an attack at her aunt’s house on the day of the baby’s birth to punish her and her family for the crime she committed. Kingston rewrote this story based upon her own understanding of Chinese culture where women always obey orders given. Kingston’s aunt was conditioned to follow orders and could not gather the strength to decline the man’s forcing hand. This example emphasizes how women and men were suppose to act, “Women in old China did not choose. Some man had commanded her to lie with him and be his secret evil…she obeyed him; she always did as she was told” (230). Even more shocking is that the man who basically raped no name woman is the man who is assumed of starting the riot. Kingston wrote this piece as a narrative to explain her understanding of her Chinese culture while trying to justify her aunt’s actions with her American

Walker wanted to highlight the African American women during the time of her mother and grandmother who were said to be a spiritual waste. These women who could have been poets, musicians, even painters had to be silent. Their identities were darkened by the depressed era surrounding them. Alice wanted to give insight of their special talents even though they could not express it themselves. She was able to reflect her personal stories, the wonders of her mother’s garden, and the other creative and brave women. She grew up in an America where she observed bright, creative women forced into a life of dark deprivation. She experienced the loneliness of being a slave with talent being wasted. Walker concludes with, “And so our mothers and grandmothers have, more often than not anonymously, handed on the creative spark, the seed of the flower they themselves never hoped to see: or like a sealed letter they could not plainly read” (454). Alice Walker has the motivation to keep writing because of the brave women in her life. Alice emphasized her identity that was created by these women in her work. Walker got her identity by seeing strong women express themselves even when they are slaves. Walker discovered that she needed to find her own “garden” like her mother found