American Identity is what one represents as common value and their belief in individual freedom. It is not about where you come from or what color skin you have, it is about who you choose to portray based on your personal strong beliefs. In the writing of both Okita and Cisneros it is clearly stated how they both experience American Identity in similar yet different ways. In Okitas' poem it is shown how her heritage affects the way people look at her. On the other hand Cisneros' short story it is stated that Micaela does not show interest in her cultural background but instead towards the American culture, and how that effects her and her family. In Dwight Okitas' poem "Response to Executive Order 9066" Okita tells from the beginning how she is more comfortable with eating hot dogs rather than using chopsticks half the time. She goes a bit more into depth about her character and how she is a fourteen year old girl who has a best friend named Denise who she also mentions is a "white girl". Later in the poem she gives an explanation on how Denise told her "you are trying to start a war". However as a young character, she is not sure on what to say but hands Denise a pack of tomato seeds following with "when the first tomato ripened she’d miss me." Okitas' poem illustrates how being American did not get her out of racial comments due to the fact that she has …show more content…
Also, in the story, Micaelas' grandmother describes the american culture as cruel by stating the following "grandchildren born in that barbaric country with its barbaric ways." That establishes how Micaelas' grandmother feels towards the United States. Micaela also points out how her grandmother is so "awful" which leads to one thinking she feels that way about her grandmother due to her own dislikes towards her Hispanic
The exact idea on the American identity differs from each person. In Okita's poem, "Response to Order 9066," and in Cisneros's short story, "Mericans," they both touch on their own ideas on what makes an American. The poem tells of a young Japanese girl's experience as an American before and after Order 9066. It describes how the girl and her friend's relationship broke due to the negative views on Japanese-Americans soon after the order. In the short story, a young Mexican girl doe not enjoy or embrace her own culture and would rather do activities other Americans do for fun. Later in the the story, the girl and her siblings surprise an American photographer that they could speak English soon declaring that they are "Merican." Both Okita's poem and Cisneros's short story show that cultural heritage and physical appearances do not determine what it means to be an American.
Both Dumas and Cordero are growing up in a culture that is different from their parents’; this difference is one reason why both girls have a feeling of ‘otherness.’ Even though both girls feel a struggle between their heritage and the American culture they live in, they deal with this struggle in dissimilar ways. Although Cordero does love her family, she feels as though she is trapped by her Mexican heritage. She is surrounded by Mexican-American females who are oppressed, unsatisfied, and often longing for a different life. We get many stories of her grandmother, cousins, and neighbors who are stuck in a place of discontent with no way out; and she does not be part of an endless loop of females who are under the control of men.
She explains how Mexican and Chicano literature, music, and film is alienated; their culture is considered shameful by Americans. They are forced to internalize their pride in their culture. This conflict creates an issue in a dual culture society. They can neither identify with North American culture or with the Mexican culture.
...rself in between the two, and in doing so partially “unmakes” the ethnic identity passed on to her from her ancestors. The question of whether she is more assimilated into American culture or is more dissimilated from the culture of her ancestors is arbitrary and ambiguous. She is simultaneously both and neither; she is a new person who enjoys the American way of life but will always feel burdened by the “weight” of her ancestors “upon [her]” (297).
#1.The thesis in “A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood” by Judith Ortiz Cofer is that because of the stories her grandmother told every afternoon when she was a child, her writing was heavily influenced and she learned what it was like to be a ‘Puerto Rican woman’. The thesis of the selection is stated in the first and last sentence of the second paragraph: “It was on these rockers that my mother, her sisters, and my grandmother sat on these afternoons of my childhood to tell their stories, teaching each other, and my cousin and me, what it was like to be a woman, more specifically, a Puerto Rican woman . . . And they told cuentos, the morality and cautionary tales told by the women in our family for generations: stories that became
One of the basic reasons for the Rivera family to emigrate from Mexico to the North is because America is the only as well as the best choice they have. They choose America to bring their daughter, Maribel- who suffered from a brain damage after an unfortunate accident, because as instructed by the doctors, only in America Maribel might have an opportunity of recovering with the right way of education and effective care for her condition. Many families migrate to the United States from a country half a world away with a desire to change their life to the positive situation which meets their expectations of qualified life elements, such as climate, traffic, education policy and safety; while in this novel, the Rivera family decides to emigrate to America, which is not so far from Mexico. Although the distance between the two countries is not great, America is like a new continent to the Rivera family, when they, as well as any other immigrant families, some of whom are at middle age,
Defining exactly what shapes ethnic identity in the United States is the hardest question I can imagine being asked. As a child born in the United States, I find this question so difficult because I have been exposed to a large variety of cultures within the small boundaries of my own family. This makes it very difficult to determine one, or even a few characteristics that define ethnic identity. In the case of many of these novels, the task of defining ethnic identity is not so complicated. The list of determinants that I believe to define ethnic identity includes language, geographic location, and tradition.
At the beginning of the essay, Anzaldúa recounts a time when she was at the dentist. He told her, “We’re going to have to control your tongue” (33). Although he was referring to her physical tongue, Anzaldúa uses this example as a metaphor for language. The dentist, who is trying to cap her tooth, symbolizes the U.S. who is similarly seeking to restrict the rights of minority groups. Nevertheless, the tongue is preventing the dentist from doing his job. Likewise, there are several minority groups who refuse to abide to the laws of dominant cultures and are fighting back. Anzaldúa also touches on a personal story that happened at school. When she was younger, she was sent to the corner because apparently, she spoke back to her Anglo teacher. The author argues that she was unfairly scolded because she was only telling her teacher how to pronounce her name. Her teacher warned her, “If you want to be American, speak American. If you don’t like it, go back to Mexico where you belong.” This short story provides an understanding of what Anzaldúa’s life was like. It demonstrates how even at a young age, she was continually pressured because of where comes
My identity is different from many of yours or you can connect from it. Being Mexican-American is hard like Abraham Quintanilla said, “ We gotta prove to Mexicans how Mexican we are, and we gotta prove to Americans how American we are…”. Always trying to prove to others that we are Mexican and American is hard. People will always judge you no matter what you go as. This is why I am writing this essay because I want others to stop judging how I talk, my personality, and what my identity truly is. Curly hair, brown eyes, brown skin, tall but not too tall, is who I am. A latina with different backgrounds, the meaning of my name, and what my family represents me. The most important part is my identity because is what I want to be viewed as.
Identity is 'how you view yourself and your life.'; (p. 12 Knots in a String.) Your identity helps you determine where you think you fit in, in your life. It is 'a rich complexity of images, ideas and associations.';(p. 12 Knots in a String.) It is given that as we go through our lives and encounter different experiences our identity of yourselves and where we belong may change. As this happens we may gain or relinquish new values and from this identity and image our influenced. 'A bad self-image and low self-esteem may form part of identity?but often the cause is not a loss of identity itself so much as a loss of belonging.'; Social psychologists suggest that identity is closely related to our culture. Native people today have been faced with this challenge against their identity as they are increasingly faced with a non-native society. I will prove that the play The Rez Sisters showed this loss of identity and loss of belonging. When a native person leaves the reservation to go and start a new life in a city they are forced to adapt to a lifestyle they are not accustomed to. They do not feel as though they fit in or belong to any particular culture. They are faced with extreme racism and stereotypes from other people in the nonreservational society.
As we have seen, the role of identity is a key issue in our history. The discrimination and stereotypes pressed upon the Blacks and Mexicans changed their ideas of personal and social identity. The factors that influence identity also made the understanding of this idea hard for both groups. The role that identity played in both groups was a key concept for them to understand in creating their new individuality in the "White America."
The four mothers in the novel have many opinions about America some are positive, and some are negative. The mothers appreciate the female independence, that America offers, They also strongly believe in the American Dream, that their children can be anything in America, regardless of whether or not they start poor, as long as they work hard and believe in themselves. It is clear ...
Moreover, she feels that the "U.S society is gendered and racialized: it expects certain behavior from women, certain bearings from men, certain comportment from queer mujeres, certain demeanor from queer hombres, certain conduct from disabled, and so on"(65 Anzaldua).
Judith Ortiz Cofer is a Puerto Rican whose writing often examines the conflict and the beauty of cultures mixing together, as people immigrate to America. Though she exhibits a strong connection to her Latin heritage, she often seems to also resent that part of her life. There are many standards and expectations in the Puerto Rican society which Cofer writes to subvert, viewing them negatively. As a Puerto Rican woman, Cofer often disagrees with the limits and expectations placed on a woman in Puerto Rican society, and this attitude is the subject of much of her work. In “Claims,” the speaker describes “Grandmother.” Cofer uses this poem to illustrate a family and describe an individual, as well as telling the reader about parts of Puerto Rican culture, such as its views on women’s roles and on sexuality.
Identity is a state of mind in which someone recognizes/identifies their character traits that leads to finding out who they are and what they do and not that of someone else. In other words it's basically who you are and what you define yourself as being. The theme of identity is often expressed in books/novels or basically any other piece of literature so that the reader can intrigue themselves and relate to the characters and their emotions. It's useful in helping readers understand that a person's state of mind is full of arduous thoughts about who they are and what they want to be. People can try to modify their identity as much as they want but that can never change. The theme of identity is a very strenuous topic to understand but yet very interesting if understood. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez and Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki are two remarkable books that depict the identity theme. They both have to deal with people that have an identity that they've tried to alter in order to become more at ease in the society they belong to. The families in these books are from a certain country from which they're forced to immigrate into the United States due to certain circumstances. This causes young people in the family trauma and they must try to sometimes change in order to maintain a comfortable life. Both authors: Alvarez and Houston have written their novels Is such an exemplifying matter that identity can be clearly depicted within characters as a way in adjusting to their new lives.