Bilinguality Analysis

As a child, I did not notice that our society was full of labels for people. I also did not realize that I was different to my teachers and friends. I have brown eyes, dark hair and slanted eyes, and I spoke more than one language English and Spanish. I have been labeled on my physical appearance and been judged mentally by society of who I am supposed to be. I will be discussing how I learned about my ethnicity has shaped who I am today. Also, how I have felt marginality throughout my life, and how I have learned to understand it and how I’m seen from society.
To begin with, discovering my ethnicity at early age has shaped me to who I am today. The true definition of ethnicity as stated by Richard T.Shaefer in Racial and Ethnic Group “is a group set apart from others because of their nation origin or distinctive cultural patterns” (6). The beginning of my realization
“Marginality is the status of being between two cultures as in the case of a person” (Shaefer 13). When I was fifteen years old I felt marginality for the very first time. I loved listening to Nirvana and Pearl Jam. I recall one day my mother coming into my bedroom and demanded for me to turn off the music because it was just American trash. She advised me to listen to Mexican music and to learn from it that maybe it would help me be more Mexican. And that I had to feel proud of what it offered. I felt so confused and lost I loved my rock; I did not mind the Mexican music. I just felt more connected to my music because it had more meaning to me plus it was one of the few things I had in common with my friends. The feeling of marginality made me feel invisible to my mother, my ethnicity, and my country. Once again I had to learn and accept that there are many Mexican Americans and many other people who go through marginality. And mentally I can identify myself with having two cultures within me, I have learned to embrace it and enjoy